Microsoft: Everyone stop running so the fat kid Win RT can catch up

RT is pointless

Why on Earth MS never used the WP platform for tablets is a mystery.

As for the cheap Nokia 520 it has one epic fail, no front facing camera.

Microsoft have a mobile strategy?

News to me. What is this windows phone and surface thing you speak of?

WP has the best notification screen - the home one.

Some WP users should stop to complain about the neighboor grass - WP has the best notification screen around, the home screen tiles. Look at the picture in this article: it's all about notifications - and it's configurable. Not a "Candy Crush"-like screen of icons - the same UI used by Windows 3.1 Program Manager.

What WP really lacks is a control center to enable/disable easily some features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.

New phone!

I've had my Windows 8 phone for nearly 2 weeks. I like it, but can't believe it's taken Microsoft so long to get this far.

There seems to be so much really simple stuff missing, and no apps to add them, so I assume the API is quite limited - is it too much to ask for auto on/off & sound profiles?

What is the point of RT??

I don't see the point in Windows RT. Primarily a tablet operating system, but yet there are few decent programs for it, unlike Android or IOS. The big killer program for it is Office, however it runs in an awkward desktop mode, which is fiddly and annoying on touch, and of course no other software runs in this mode. Additionally it is no use for business users due to not being allowed to join a domain, and the licence for Office does not permit business usage (unless something has changed recently).

I have also heard that RT is fairly slow, and despite not being a fan of Windows 8 to put it mildly, my experiences of 8 is that it is fast, so it manages to have the worst features of 8, and none of the improvements.

Microsoft would be better off dropping RT altogether, and giving users a choice of an improved Metro on x86 tablets (with a proper ported version of Office over), and for the rest of us concentrate on producing a rock solid business operating system with a decent UI.

without VBA its a pointless pile of poo

for those still locked in to the windows island.

RT is pointless, WP is the way to go

RT is completely pointless because:

A. It isn't Windows compatible.

B. The Windows Store API, while already greatly improved, offer too little possibilities to create interesting apps, that still have to be coded as desktop apps. As long as this is the case, a Windows Store App only Windows is irrelevant for the consumer.

C. Intel already has a perfectly competitive offering, and it makes much more sense to get a baytrail tablet with full Windows than a limited ARM tablet with next to no battery advantage.

Windows Phone converserly truly is an outstanding OS. For people who understand and like the logic, which btw renders moot the use of many many apps, it is really a joy to use. It really should be the focus point for Microsoft. GDR3 is a great step forward. The next step if you ask me is to make it even more Windows-like Inside, i.e. the horrible tombstoning mechanism that made sense when phones were RAM constrained should be excised from the system with phones with 2GB+ of RAM. So there would be true multitasking and apps would not restart from 0 but truly from a saved state. This would make the back button truly a back button an not give people the impression that the system is bugged (e.g. pressing back on a reopened IE would go back in browser history instead of switching apps). This alone would make me upgrade to a new phone.

The second point would be to extend APIs in a big way, even if this means a small security tradeoff, so that we can see apps that can truly extend the system (true automation based on external parameters such as on Android).

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

> Windows Phone has been a success for Microsoft in 2013

On what planet, in which universe?

This has actually brought me to Blackberry 10

I really liked WP. I had a Lumia 800 and then got a Lumia 820. I also don't care that WP7.x devices have seen no updates to WP8, but the snail-like rate of WP8 updates (i.e. updates that actually matter to current users and not just include support for newer hardware or larger screens) has finally driven me away from WP. I mean come on, a few new ring tones and Drive Mode? Really Microsoft? That was on top of your list? What about the basics? Almost a year on, IE still can't download most files from the web, we still have a single volume control affecting everything from music volume to ringtone volume, clock sync still doesn't work reliably (on WP it fails with some providers where other devices sync just fine) and can't use NTP, apps are generally still locked in their own cage (which also prevents us from having proper file managers), no USB disk mode, very limited Bluetooth support, etc. Funny enough, BB10 (another young mobile OS) does all that, and in its short life has seen much more improvements than WP7 and WP8 have seen combined. Go figure.

WinRT a platform too far?

If Microsoft focused on rapid releases for Windows phone it might have a chance of catching up or even, gasp, overtaking Android and iOS in terms of usability. That may then start to build up the app ecosystem.

WinRT seems to just be DOA. WinRT is like an awkward middle child between Windows Phone and Windows 8.1. Android runs across both phones and tablets. iOS runs across phones and tablets, with a separate OS for desktops and laptops. Wouldn't it make more sense for MS to do the following?

1.Ditch WinRT and have Windows Phone as the default OS for both phones and tablets. Call it "Windows Mobile" or something. I guess this may require changing the hardware architecture for the cheaper tablets.

2. Offer the surface pro with Windows 8.1 as a clearly differentiated top end device, and of course continue promoting 8.1 on both laptops and desktops.

Suddenly, you now have one less ecosystem to support and can refocus all effort currently split across WinRT and Windows Phone into improving your core mobile offering across both form factors.

Merge WP and Windows RT

Apparently, MS is planning to merge windows phone and windows RT in version 9. That would explain the increased attention for RT at this point. Also, WP 8 was about migrating WP to the NT kernel. So, there's a clear convergence going on here.

Pace of a Continental Shelf on a work to rule?

Does this means if we wait a million yeare there will be a sudden phonequake and Windows Phone will overnight become awesome?

Ahahah, AWESOME TITLE!

Seriously, thanks for this great morning laugh - and it's SOOO TRUE. :)

Win RT...

...is a classic stupid, idiotic and horribly mismanaged end product of this utterly incompetent, clueless, lunatic Ballmerian bureaucracy - a tablet that should be omnipresent at every place where they run Windows Server it's nowhere to be seen...

...seriously: just how would the fat, bald, chair-throwing sweaty beancounter explain the fact that THERE'S STILL NO RSAT for Win RT...? Just how much more obvious it should be that had MSFT released its first Surface RT w/ RSAT etc available it would've been thrown into every single storage-server-rack-etc purchase, even at its laughably high ripoff price, because the VAR or the vendor would just toss in its own version (Dell 10", HP wouldn't have pulled out completely) in for any order above ~$25k, gratis?

It would be EVERYWHERE, every Windows Server admin would be using it now, making them ripe for buying one (rather a Surface Pro) for themselves, at home etc etc.

Clueless-worthless MSFT management, that is.

The creation of Windows RT never made sense to me

This was a hurried product in reaction to the success Apple had with the iPad (after multiple failed attempts on Microsoft's part to create a tablet over nearly )

They should have either made it run real Windows, like the Pro, or just modified Windows Phone to deal with a slightly larger screen, as was the case with iOS and Android.

Creating two separate tablet product lines undoubtedly caused customer confusion and hurt Microsoft's already slim chances for success in this market. Creating a third OS for the second tablet line was especially moronic. Now they're hamstringing their phone line (which is actually seeing some moderate success) to benefit their wildly unsuccessful stepchild tablet OS? No wonder Microsoft is becoming less and less relevant in today's tech world.

I don't suppose the egg head genius's could've come up with a way for Windows 8's Metro interface, Windows RT, and Windows Phone could have a common code base and apps work on all three (while full desktop apps would still work in the Windows 8 desktop). That would've been an idea that made sense. That's the antithesis of Balmer. Or perhaps, Sinofsky is the one to blame for that disaster?

Did Ballmer at one time fall in love with a Shopsmith? Nice idea, but look at the market share...

Fat kid?

Surely you mean fat bastard?

> Here are the facts then. Windows RT was and still is Microsoft's vision for all things mobile.

Consultants were hired to determine why WP7 was not selling well. They reported that the problem was: the UI was 'unfamiliar'. To make it 'the most familiar' interface it was decided to force it down the throats of desktop users until they loved it (or died). Then they would _demand_ it on their mobile devices. It's not working.

> Windows Phone 8 as it exists on Nokia devices was an effort to gain a bigger foothold in the mobile industry. A rather successful one at that.

Microsoft phones once held a 42% share of the market in USA. Since then each iteration has broken compatibility with hardware and software WM6 -> WP7 -> WP8. RT is also not compatible with WP8. Market share worldwide is now only about 3.5%. Nokia WP phones have had a $billion subsidy a year and still run at a loss. Surface took a $900million write down and those models still in the warehouses are now obsolete and will have to take further writedowns.

I am not sure why you think it is 'rather successful'.