back to article Windows Phone 8 support to end in 2014

If you're shopping for a new mobe on a two year contract and like the look of a Windows Phone, chances are you'll be compelled to undergo an OS upgrade or face using a handset that's not supported by the end of your deal. The Reg offers this advice with a tip of the hat to Italian site Plaffo, which pointed out a Microsoft …

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  1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    Backwards Compatibility

    "Microsoft's history is one of remarkable consistency when it comes to backwards-compatibility. It's very hard to imagine it would step away from that policy on mobile phones."

    Haven't they already done so in this market more than once?

    1. LarsG
      Meh

      Given

      Their history with mobile phones there will be no upgrade path to the next incarnation. Maybe they will take a page out of the Android book in that if you want to upgrade you have to buy new.

      One to avoid or not?

      1. frank ly

        @LarsG Re: Given

        My two previous Android phones were updated with the next OS, OTA by HTC, though I realise other people's experience may differ. My personal observation is that 'older' phones may find it a strain to run the next OS and be stressed by running the latest versions of apps. e.g. my old HTC Wildfire now runs like treacle fresh from the fridge.

        1. JEDIDIAH
          Devil

          Re: @LarsG Given

          New OS hard on old hardware? As if that should be a great revelation around here...

          It's a general problem. Even Apple products suffer from it (namely iPhones).

      2. Da Weezil

        Re: Given

        Really? That wasnt my experience...... My low powered spare Driod - an orange badged ZTE blade - has been upgraded a couple of times.. Of course being rooted helped... now all it needs is cyanogen to release a stable build for my S3lte.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Linux

        Re: Given @ LarsG

        At least with Android you can root and use CyanogenMod to keep it up to date, good luck with your Windows phone trying that one.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Given @ LarsG

          "At least with Android you can root and use CyanogenMod to keep it up to date, good luck with your Windows phone trying that one."

          No, you can't, in fact. You rarely get an upgrade to a new major Android version from Cyanogen, as it's dependent on the manufacturer's kernel/kernelspace drivers being updated. Those things are aren't available as open source, unlike the rest of Android.

          I wish people would stop trotting that one out. I fell for it, too.

          Cyanogen is awesome, but it won't give you Android 4.xx on many devices that shipped with 2.xx. You'll get a really nice, clean and efficient 2.xx, in most cases- but that's it.

          1. asdf

            Re: Given @ LarsG

            Somewhat true but after seeing custom ICS roms (months before the unbelievable late official ics release last month) for the ugliest hackiest prototype quality phone ever produced the HTC Thunderbolt (the phone that killed HTC lol) if the Cyanogen folks won't hook you up generally someone will (assuming forum trolls don't run the devs off first).

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Given

        "Maybe they will take a page out of the Android book in that if you want to upgrade you have to buy new."

        Not true, if you buy a pure Android phone (i.e. Nexus) Google will keep pushing you updates for quite a while. It's only if you buy something based on Android with the manufacturer's own bloat-ware sat on top of it that you're usually out of luck.

        1. Piro Silver badge

          Re: Given

          Nah, unless you're really screwed (bootloader locked device) you can usually head around to XDA-Dev, Cyanogen, and so on, find yourself a guide and pick out a ROM.

          Even if you have a bootloader locked device, there are some options, such as a recovery that sits inbetween the stock bootloader and acts as a multi-boot option.

        2. fixit_f
          Thumb Up

          Re: Given

          "Maybe they will take a page out of the Android book in that if you want to upgrade you have to buy new."

          My two year old Samsung Galaxy S2 has just received it's second major upgrade, to latest Jelly bean, built by Samsung and deployed over the air by Vodafone. Works flawlessly, and I've not had to muck about with Cyanogenmod builds or anything like that. Only problem is that it reinstalled all the damn vodafone bloatware when it did it, but that's easily removed.....

          So I'm feeling pretty well supported actually given that a 2 year old handset is almost viewed as a museum piece now.....

      5. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        Re: Given

        The Android comparison is totally unfair.

        What Microsoft did when the OS changed, was made all existing apps incompatible, and old phones incompatible with new apps, leaving Windows Phone 7.x owners out in the cold with nowhere to go (they did it several times before too)

        Google have ensured pretty much all Android apps work on yoru phone REGARDLESS of it's OS version. 99% of apps will work all the way back to Android 2.1, 60% or so all the way back to Android 1.5

        1. RyokuMas
          Paris Hilton

          Re: Given

          "made all existing apps incompatible"

          The games I wrote for WP7.x run just fine on the WP8 handsets I've tested on.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Given

          Its an unfair comparison because you don't know what you are talking about.

          WP8 fully runs WP7 code so aside some minor bugs all WP7 apps run on WP8 whereas my wife has a Samsung Galaxy Y bought 13 months ago and is constantly being brickwalled by apps not running on her phones version of Android.

          1. Richard Plinston

            Re: Given

            > WP8 fully runs WP7 code so aside some minor bugs all WP7 apps run on WP8 whereas my wife has a Samsung Galaxy Y bought 13 months ago and is constantly being brickwalled by apps not running on her phones version of Android.

            Your comparison seems to be inverted. If you had bought a WP phone 13 months ago it would have been WP7 and _NO_ WP8 apps would run on it, and it would never get WP8.

            It seems that your wife's Android probably runs 2.3.x but is upgradable, this from several months ago:

            http://androidhardwares.com/root-your-android/upgrade-samsung-galaxy-y-to-ics-android-4-0-3/

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Given

            "my wife has a Samsung Galaxy Y bought 13 months ago and is constantly being brickwalled by apps not running on her phones version of Android."

            It has nothing to do with the version of Android and everything to do with the device's screen size/DPI.

            The Galaxy Y, like the Wildfire is a "low DPI" "small screen" device and unfortunately there are not a massive amount of these devices; those that do exist are usually lacking hardware OpenGL support and they are usually under-powered. This rules out a lot of games and unless developers specifically say "I support this screen size" those applications will be filtered by the store and will not be displayed.

      6. 20legend
        Happy

        Re: Given

        At least on Android there is no shortage of custom ROMS to keep your handset pretty much up to date once the manufacturer stops offering updates.

        Sammy turned their back on my Galaxy W almost immediately - however, thanks to Arco68 and the Cyanogenmod team my handset has already had ICS and is now running JB with full-on Project Butter smoothness.

        Can you achieve the same on a WP powered device?

        1. Danny 14
          Go

          Re: Given

          DOSbox works quite well on my windows 7 x64 machine. I have played a few old dos games in recent times. Even old windows games work in w7x64 with a few tweaks. You also have XP mode (poor mans XP VM) for stubborn hardware if you so require (I played with it briefly just to see if an old scanner would work, and it did).

          cant see the same for WP8 though. Funny that WM6 support only ended this year though (With mobile 5.0 extended to 2015!)

    2. keep-it-calm
      Pint

      Re: Backwards Compatibility

      Ah, stop the nonsense panic, they'll just push you to WP9.

      Here, have a beer icon.

    3. tabinnorway
      FAIL

      Re: Backwards Compatibility

      They have also stated that the current phones are going to be upgradable to the next major version of Windows. So there is no issue.

      Companies dealing seriously with the Enterprise will always announce when specific versions of their software reaches End of Support, End of Life etc. This is just Microsoft communicating with the enterprise, and a bunch of journalists who are just a tad more clueless than journalists in general - who'd think it was possible to get even more clueless than journalists - posting sensational idiocy for the click rate. Sad really,

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Backwards Compatibility

        >Maybe they will take a page out of the Android book in that if you want to upgrade you have to buy new.

        That was more the case when Android hardware was advancing more each year, as was Android itself. Currently released hardware, even at the mid-range, is capable enough to hold its own for a few versions... and most manufacturers are getting better at releasing Android updates- perhaps because of the negative reaction they have received in the past for 'abandoning' models.

        Similarly, MS might have noticed the negative reaction that they received for not making Win 8 Phone work on WinPho 7 handsets and may avoid making the same mistake. Also, Win 8 hardware can probably handle whatever 'Win Pho 9' might demand of it, at least for core functions.

      2. Roo
        Devil

        Re: Backwards Compatibility

        "They have also stated that the current phones are going to be upgradable to the next major version of Windows. So there is no issue."

        I very much doubt that promise is in the EULA...

        I hate to be the one to break this to you, but companies frequently promise stuff and don't deliver it (and that has been exactly how MS has operated since day one in the mobile sector). There is even a very old buzzword for it : "Vapourware".

        ... and how are all those WinPhone users out there are going to ensure they are held to that promise ? Complain in the strongest possible terms ?

        Stop buying WinPhones ?

        Spam message boards with complaints about MS's shoddy support and broken promises ?

        None of the above seems to have worked out for the WinPhone7 crowd. I hope the WinPhone8 crowd has better luck.

    4. Jeff Green

      Re: Backwards Compatibility

      Exactly, they consistently provide no backwards compatibility at all.

    5. kb
      Thumb Up

      You are correct

      Not once but twice, first with WinCE for WinPhone 7 (which while partially based on WinCE many WinCE apps wouldn't run) and now with WinPhone 7 for WinPhone 8.

      Frankly they have done so in the desktop as well and while I supported the changes when it came to Vista as lets be honest, both the driver model and the "always run as admin" design of WinXP just wasn't the right path the amount of breakage when it comes to win 8 is just unreal. I have had several customers that (against my advice) bought Win 8 systems only to find so much of their software was broken that it was cheaper to buy copies of Win 7 Pro and have me install them than it was to replace the broken software, just crazy how much Win 8 broke.

      Rarely do I agree with Forbes but they are right in naming Steve Ballmer worst CEO, the guy is a trainwreck and is burning their bridges and losing share in what was a practical monopoly on X86 to try to grab share in a space that its obvious they aren't wanted. The SMART move would have been to truly copy Apple (instead of the "cargo cult" way they are doing so now) and kept Metro for tablets/phones like iOS is to OSX and then focused on a "its GOT to work!" mantra when it came to ease of connectivity.

      Let Metro sink or swim on its own without the Windows name and legacy, focus on having the ability to connect everything as simple as it can possibly be, and they'd have a shot at mobile. The way they are going now? Its gonna make MS Bob look like a runaway smash hit.

    6. N13L5
      FAIL

      Re: Backwards Compatibility

      "Those who enjoy death riding Microsoft's mobile efforts." That was funny...

      And any upgrades won't exactly help you, if your phone by reason of some odd, heretofore overlooked lacking hardware feature can't be upgraded, like every single WindPhone7, for example.

      Buying anything and counting on upgradeability is like playing russian roulette.

      I'm sure WindPhone8 OEM's really don't appreciate this news echoing through the media, cause it massively raises their chance of sitting on a lot of inventory people won't buy.

      Finally, I now believe that Elop was recruited by the NWO people to ruin Nokia via WindPhone OS, to punish Finland for refusing to join the new, totalitarian EU dictatorship being built as we speak.

  2. jake Silver badge

    So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

    ... support for the OS would be gone before my two year contract expired?

    Lovely way to win friends & influence people, Redmond!

    [1] That was October 29, 2012, for those not in the know ... and no, I didn't. I'm not daft.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Meh

      Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

      "... support for the OS would be gone before my two year contract expired?"

      Dude...you're just digging now. Do you honestly think that the development of a OS should revolve around your contract with XYZ telecoms? You don't even have to own a smartphone to know this is ridiculous. I'm not trying to be an ass, but you may want to rethink your thought.

      1. jake Silver badge

        @MyBackDoor (was: Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...)

        "Do you honestly think that the development of a OS should revolve around your contract with XYZ telecoms?"

        No. I think that the entire feaping creaturism of planned obsolescence in the modern connectivity world totally disgusts me. As does the "invented by marketards, not engineers" popular money-wasting culture of "must have the latest & greatest hardware, even if I won't use it past the capability I had five (ten? 15?) years ago".

        By way of reference, my early 1950s Model 500 Western Electric rotary dial telephone still works just fine (yes, my local telco still supports pulse dialing :-). Where will all the money you have spent on telephones be in 60+ years? Down the toilet, that's where. Think about it.

        1. plrndl

          Re: @MyBackDoor (was: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...)

          And my abacus works good as new.

          1. jake Silver badge

            @plrndl (was: Re: @MyBackDoor (was: So if I had bought a Win::snippage::))

            Isn't that supposed to be prndl? But I digress ...

            I still use an abacus and slide rules on a daily basis :-)

            The abacus in the feed barn is used to calculate nutritional requirements for the various critters (more modern calculators don't last more than a couple weeks in that environment). And I use my[1] old Sun[2] Engineering slide rule for back-of-the envelope calculations (decking needs, fencing, roofing, DG, roadbase, beam loads, and the like), and I have a circular slide rule in each of the aircraft.

            [1]My Dad's, actually, it got him his Electrical Engineering Masters at Berkeley in the '50s. Helped me with mine a couple decades later.

            [2] No, not that Sun! This Sun: http://sliderulemuseum.com/Hemmi/S071_Hemmi_255.jpg

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: @plrndl (was: @MyBackDoor (was: So if I had bought a Win::snippage::))

              I found my circular slide rule recently. I cannot remember how it works :(

              I have an abacus on my desk which amuses the children in the office.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Thumb Up

          Re: @MyBackDoor (was: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...)

          "No. I think that the entire feaping creaturism of planned obsolescence in the modern connectivity world totally disgusts me."

          Ah, OK, now I understand. To me it read as if you thought somehow contracts with teleco's should dictate the development of an OS, which would lead to teleco's forcing new phones on everyone 6 months to keep contracts renewing and selling more hardware. Remember, cash comes first!

          Sadly your argument can be extended well beyond computing...cars, furniture, houses, light bulbs...basically anything engineered for the consumer. It's a very disposable world today, even with something like FaceB0rk*, so called "Friendships" are now disposable.

          * I saw someone refer to it as "FaceB0rk" on here the other day, I like it, so I'm keeping it too :-)

          1. jake Silver badge

            Re: @MyBackDoor (was: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...)

            "basically anything engineered for the consumer."

            For small values of "engineering" and large values of "marketing" ... Unfortunately for the marketards, I only purchase durable goods. Thus the VAX running TOPS-20 downstairs, and the Nokia 5185 in my shirt pocket.

            I grow my own tomatoes, too ... for much the same reason ;-)

            faceb0rk. I like that. Might borrow it.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: @MyBackDoor (was: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...)

              I would expect your VAX to be running one of OpenVMS, Ultrix or perhaps BSD.

              Now, if you have a DECSystem in you basement heating your home, then TOPS-20 might be the weapon of choice.

              I prefer faceb0rk rather than farcebook as well. I think I will use it too.

              Dweeb

              1. jake Silver badge

                Re: @MyBackDoor (was: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...)

                My small cluster of vaxen runs BSD. The VAX 11/780 runs TOPS-20 (so does my PDP-10) ... She was a toy I built between Foonly & SAIL, along the line of WAITS (see: Compuserve). Hell, *somebody* had to do it ... was an interesting time in computing :-)

                My HVAC is GSHP based ... it's the only way that makes sense.

        3. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. h3

      Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

      No remember it resets at each point release.

      You will probably get all the point releases upto 8.5.x or 8.7 or whatever.

      Same way XP SP3 is still supported but the RTM Windows 7 is not (Or is shortly coming to EOL).

      Cannot believe that this story has been posted anywhere. (Slashdot first then here).

      They are better than Google in that they actually fix bugs whenever they find them not randomly.

      1. Richard Plinston

        Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

        > They are better than Google in that they actually fix bugs whenever they find them not randomly.

        Actually they only tell you about bugs immediately before, or as, they send out the fixes so that it _appears_ that way. You have no idea about the bugs that exist that they haven't told you about.

    3. keith.nicholas
      FAIL

      Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

      actually, it looks more like a typo to me, if you go to the page referenced

      http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?sort=PN&alpha=windows+phone&Filter=FilterNO

      it actually ends before the 7.8 support ends.

      1. Rukario
        Mushroom

        Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

        @keith.nicholas

        Occam's Razor... simplest explanation is that it's a typo.

        If not, then we get our wish and Windows Phone 8 self-destructs...

        1. dogged
          Facepalm

          Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

          we get our wish and Windows Phone 8 self-destructs

          Because less choice is FREAKIN AWESOME right?

          1. GregC
            Facepalm

            Re: Because less choice is FREAKIN AWESOME right?

            You know what? When that choice is another OS that's locked down tight as a drum, where the user can only install software that's approved by the software-provider-who-must-be-obeyed - yeah, my giveatoss-ometer fails to get above zero.

      2. plrndl

        Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

        7.8 was released after 8.0, hence the later expiry date.

    4. Andrew_b65

      Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

      Skimming through the version history for iOS, it would appear that the support/update cycle for any giver version, i.e. ios3, ios4, ios5, etc. is a little over one year with Apple too. If you bought an iPhone 4 on day of issue, Apple expected you to upgrade the OS to the next version as it was released and didn't continue to support the originally installed version beyond 13 months if you didn't bother to upgrade to iOS 5.

      iOS 4, released 21/06/2010, end-of-lifed as iOS 4.3.5 25/07/2011

      iOS 5, released 12/10/2011, end-of-lifed as iOS 5.1.1 25/05/2012

      iOS 6, released 19/09/2012, probably not long to go now before final update released either

      If iPhone users are getting on okay with 'roughly' annual major version upgrades, why is it not going to be okay for WP users? I think this WP update cycle story has spread around the 'net without due consideration and I expect to be reading an official statement from MS on this in the next few days.

      If MS don't clear this mess up with a statement, they're idiots and deserve to have consumers thinking that their partners are selling phones with an unsupported, obsolete OS, like the stories try to implicate.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

        Because Google have a great track record of ensuring apps work on older OS versions. Apple only have a handful of devices to support, and regularly end of life older kit.

        Microsoft cut everyone off each time, no backwards compatibility for apps.

      2. Danny 14

        Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

        not necessarily a typo.

        "Microsoft will make updates available for the Operating System on your phone, including security updates, for a period of 18 months after the lifecycle start date."

        7.8 start date was later than 8.0 therefore 7.8 will have a longer life. It doesnt mean 8.0 wont be given an extended support date though. I'd be surprised if it doesnt.

        WM6 support ended this year but mobile 5.0 has extended support through to 2015 (I suspect due to many epos integrated solutions)

      3. asdf

        Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

        >Skimming through the version history for iOS, it would appear that the support/update cycle for any giver version, i.e. ios3, ios4, ios5, etc. is a little over one year with Apple too

        Yes and its obvious to any non Apple fanboi that Apple goes out of its way to force obsolescence. Its their business model as they are a hardware company that does software only to sell hardware (how sad is it that not only Linux but even Microsoft Windows 8 works on the Mac Pro 1,1 but the latest Mac OS X doesn't without hacks). They have gotten even worse about it lately under this new asshat CEO and with consumers catching on its also part of the reason why their best days are probably behind them. Still the only way this business model works at all is if there is significant demand for the hardware. Consumer demand and Microsoft are rarely used in the same sentence these days.

        1. asdf

          Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

          >If iPhone users are getting on okay with 'roughly' annual major version upgrades, why is it not going to be okay for WP users?

          Um because Apple has plenty of iSheep that will buy whatever it puts out every year. Microsoft has no such brand loyalty so trying to blindly follow Apple is why yet another of their products will fail. Blindly following the leader (yes Apple is not the leader number wise but profit wise I think they still are) is why Microsoft's market cap is still lower today than it was the day Ballmer took over over a decade ago.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

      "... support for the OS would be gone before my two year contract expired?"

      No you would have received over the air updates taking you to the current supported version. We already know that Windows Phone 9 ("Blue") at least is backwardly compatible.

      It is of course possible that Microsoft might make a change to make v10+ incompatible with previous versions, but seeing as they now have a unified kernel model across all their desktop, server and phone OSs, this seems highly unlikely.

    6. tabinnorway
      FAIL

      Re: So if I had bought a Windows Phone 8 on day of issue [1] ...

      I'd recommend you sue your old school since they apparently didn't manage to supply you with basic reading skills. Yes, Windows 8 is going out of support in 2014, but Windows 8.5 (being released this summer) is not. If you upgrade to Windows 8.5 (or whatever version number they are going to assign it then) you have full support.

      Some time next year there will be Windows Phone 9, which you should also upgrade to. Then your OS support is extended even further.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So if I had bought a @tabinnorway

        "If you upgrade to Windows 8.5 (or whatever version number they are going to assign it then) you have full support."

        You should sue your old school for failing to develop your critical thinking faculties.

        If you can upgrade your phone that's fine. But that assumes that your hardware is compatible. That the manufacturer can be bothered to release the upgrade. That the mobile companies can be bothered to test their bloatware and release the modified system (already modded by the handset makers). That the end users knows there's an upgrade, is willing to have all their personalisation and specifics wiped (probably), and even knows how, or cares to upgrade.

        Apple have it easy. They aren't supporting many handset variations and they have far more control. But the future of WP will likely be the same as Android - huge fragmentation, cause by the fact that you start "losing handsets" at each step of the assumptions in the paragraph above. For the top line handsets things usually work OK in terms of availability, but once you get to the mid range and cheapies the support effort falls off a cliff when production ends.

        So this really does look like a poorly judged move by MS, given their track record and poor take up of WP. It implies they don't care about the owners of handsets they've previously orphaned, and it suggests they haven't learned from Android experience. How much would it have cost them to have declared support available for another few years? The cost of continued bug and security fixes on something that's been released and supported a couple of years would be negligible. Obviously there's a concern that makers and networks might not want to do the same, but MS need to twist these people's arms, and they need to make upgrades far more automatic as well.

  3. Michael Habel
    Linux

    Knowing their history of Pocket PC Phones (i.e. running Windows CE)

    When an update came out it usually kept older users off-line due to the amount of memory the Device had, as opposed to what it needed to run the Update. Microsoft wouldn't do that to their users again?! Surly...

    As if I needed yet another reason NOT to buy a WinPhone.

    Apple love 'em or hate 'em, do bother to support their older Hardware to-date

    Android being open as it is, has Community Support

    Microsoft.... Go buy anther Phone ya cheapskate!

    I personally detest Apple and Microsoft can go take a hike for all I care. Android may or may not be all that its cracked up to be. Time will tell when Samsung release their Tizen Phone latter this Summer. Which like Android... Should be open sourced and running under Linux!

    So that's, that sorted then...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      "Should be open sourced and running under Linux!"

      Do I hear you, I really do, but am I the only elephant in the room thinking none of these phones are really open source or running Linux? Ok, you can prove it technically, but if you have 3 major competitors running Linux and supposed OSS, and all 3 have their own app stores...WTF gives? If love can be given to computing, then I love Linux and OSS, but I don't feel these companies share the same type of love.

      1. Michael Habel

        Could it be that I was unclear?

        How you could otherwise imply that Microsoft are Open Source, I know not. I highly doubt that iOS is also Open.

        The "Should be open sourced and running under Linux!" jab was meant **ONLY** for Android, and Samsungs' soon to be released Tizen OS. but, other then that yes I think most People would agree that although is the most open of all (At the moment given that Tizen does NOT exist!); We all know that its not a fully disclosed OS. Beit in the case of the OEMs individual "Tweeks" or the Binary Drivers of some Radio Chip inside the Phone itself. Its still considerd to be more or less Open Sourced.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Android being open as it is, has Community Support" - Microsoft have provided more updates covering more devices than Android manufacturers have. Many old Android handsets are stuck on old OS versions even though they could run a newer version. That hasn't happened anywhere near as much with windows Phone.

      Tizen? so more Linux fragmentation then....

      1. Michael Habel

        Really 'cause Microsoft just pulled their Finger out of the Arse One day and decided that 7 was the new 1.

        NEWS FLASH Microsoft have been in Mobile since DAY ONE! Way before Sony Erickson, and before the Jesus Phone was even a twinkle in St. Jobs Eye. Support bahhhahahahahah likely story pal. yea might want to read a few wiki sites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mobile.

        At least as an Android user I have an opportunity to use an updated (and, likely badly broken) OS update. No thanks to the "Community", what are you gonna do when Microsoft decide that its time to rake ya for a new Phone again?

        As for Tizen this isn't Linux on the Desktop (e.g. apt vs. yum / .deb vs. .rpm etc... etc... I agree though if those wrinkles could get ironed out it would likely make mass adoption of Linux possible). this is about Linux on the Phone where 99.9999% of the Public couldn't give a flying feather about the OS its running, but rather how compatible Samsung can make it with say the Android Market, or if they can prove more successful then say Microsoft at building their own App Store. In any case this boils down to One thing and, that's competition and THAT'S A GOOD THING!

  4. cyberdemon Silver badge
    WTF?

    Great move Elop

    So the question returns - did Microsoft deliberately scuttle Nokia?

    Even if Elop didn't know at the time that this was on the cards, what an utter catastrophe this must be for Nokia.

    It turns out that they jumped from two perfectly sound platforms, onto the burning one.

    As I have said before on here, Maemo could have been a showstopper if Elop hadn't killed it off (at the likely behest of his friends at Redmond)

    N900 still going strong, despite being dumped some years ago. Packages are still being maintained, although I must admit updates are few and far between these days..

    I don't know of any other phone that functions as a full remote SSH terminal complete with authentication agent forwarding, port forwarding, X11 forwarding if I so wish and of course a hardware keyboard. I can even run Matlab remotely, complete with figures.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Great move Elop

      I said at the time that the primary motivation for Microsoft's bot Elop was to kill the possibility of a truly open source phone phone platform (sadly that desire was shared by most of the industry), not to make Nokia or even Windows Phone successful. They want us hooked to their clouds. Naturally we are always dismissed as the tinfoil-hat brigade etc.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Great move Elop

      Erm - but Nokia are back making a profit - largely thanks to Microsoft.

      1. Silverburn
        Windows

        Re: Great move Elop

        Erm - but Nokia are back making a profit - largely thanks to Microsoft.

        Methinks the 920 etc would probably still have "sold well" *cough* if it had shipped with Jelly bean etc.

        The OS != the phone.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Great move Elop

          "Methinks the 920 etc would probably still have "sold well" *cough* if it had shipped with Jelly bean etc."

          Mmm, then I would have considered one, certainly. When my old device got too tired and emotional, I just picked up an S3 instead (not a bad option either).

      2. fishman

        Re: Great move Elop

        <<<Erm - but Nokia are back making a profit - largely thanks to Microsoft.>>>

        Yeah, without those big payments ($1B) from Microsoft Nokia wouldn't have posted a few million in profits.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Great move Elop

        @AC 18th 08:30

        Learn to read a balance sheet

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Great move Elop

          "Learn to read a balance sheet" - learn to read company results:

          Nokia’s Q4 2012: $584 million operating profit, $10.7 billion in net sales, 4.4 million Lumia phones sold

          The company ended Q4 with gross cash of 9.9 billion euros ($13.2 billion) and net cash of 4.4 billion euros ($5.86 billion), which is up from of 8.8 billion euros ($11.7 billion) and net cash of 3.4 billion euros ($4.53 billion) in the third quarter respectively.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Great move Elop

            As long as they can sell assets and book them as income they will be fine.

            As long as MS feeds them a billion often enough they will be ok.

            As long as they can keep firing people they will be OK

            Eventually there will nothing left

      4. Levente Szileszky
        Stop

        Re: Great move Elop

        "Erm - but Nokia are back making a profit - largely thanks to Microsoft."

        No, they are NOT, they are QUICKLY LOSING MARKET SHARE, and their most important segment, SMARTPHONE SALES ARE FALLING OFF A CLIFF.

        Elop is a clueless corporate/MS shitkicker, nothing less, nothing more - cutting back on poeple, research and taking huge payoffs from MS will might turn the bottom line to black but it's KILLING OFF NOKIA, DELIBERATELY.

        Lot of us suspected from the beginning: it's a win-win for MS, they give a chance to someone to try with WP but if didn't work (as expected) they will be able to pick up Nokia's excellent HW/design division and distrib channels for peanuts... great work, Elop, you clown.

    3. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Great move Elop

      MS's track record on mobile compatibility is less than stellar. All it takes is a little sentence tacked at the end of this announcement to address customers' and manufacturers' concerns.

      The fact that they haven't done that shows that MS are still deaf to people's concerns, it's another dead-end version, or they don't even know yet (entirely possible if they're going to sort out XAML compatibility between the three platforms once and for all).

    4. mmeier

      Re: Great move Elop

      The Maemo/Meego phones and mini-tablets (N770 was a tablet only IIRC) where nice hardware and a software that had some features Android is lacking (like an X-Server). Would be nice if Nokia could bring out an upgraded (induktiv-capacitvie dual mode instead of resistive digitizer) version of the hardware no matter what OS. Basically sturdy lil beasts (Actually a bit larger than a Note 2 IIRC)

      The rest of the system was so-so and Nokia never delivered a tool chain that was as easy to use as the one for Android or Windows Phone (And the last two or so years of Windows Mobile). That and their lack / unwillingness to licence/enable some features (like the CPUs JAVA support) of the hardware (even pre-Elop) killed at least parts of the software market. Sadly so since the lil beast could have run the same JAVA software as a desktop.

      Lack of advertisement and the units not/rarely showing up in the big outlet chains made them an even less known product. Again this started with the N770 unit well before Elop. Than a few hardware problems (WSOD anyone) and unlucky upgrade policy for the OS and the unit was dead even before the N900 came out.

      1. Richard Plinston

        Re: Great move Elop

        > Nokia never delivered a tool chain that was as easy to use as ..

        They didn't need to, the N770/N8x0 were Linux + GTK (subset). I used Python and Glade to develop stuff that ran, unmodified, on N800, Linux and Windows. They would even run Gnumeric and Abiword.

        Later N900 and N9 were Qt based but just as easy to write portable apps.

        1. mmeier

          Re: Great move Elop

          And required a relatively complex setup to test them compared to Android or Windows Mobile/Windows Phone. Not to mention that Phython is not the most common of languages. Android is a Java Derivate and Windows Mobile used whatever .NET you liked in the last years (never did WP7/8 - no stylus no buy!)

    5. Vic

      Re: Great move Elop

      > I don't know of any other phone that functions as a full remote SSH terminal

      ConnectBot on Android does a good job of it.

      I haven't tried X forwarding with it :-) But port forwarding works brilliantly, and it's how I connect to my mail server - key-based authentication to get into the server, then port-forward the SMTP and IMAP ports.

      Vic.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All current handsets are supported and will be upgraded to WP9

    If you actually looked a bit further - and heck even the Slashdot story noted this bit - all current handsets will be upgraded *for free* to WP9 (as Microsoft, and not Android vendors) are the ones pushing out the updates.

    But don't let that get in the way of your BS

    1. cyberdemon Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: All current handsets are supported and will be upgraded to WP9

      Actually that's not true. Slashdot says nothing of WP9, and instead says this:

      http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/13/03/17/1914209/microsoft-to-abandon-windows-phone

      You're probably right, but we're all secretly hoping for the death of Windows Phone anyway.

      1. Quxy
        Pint

        I'm an OSS developer...

        ...but Microsoft's accelerated EOS strategy sounds more like a common-sense acknowledgement of the state of mobile OSes than anything else. I'm not interested in WP, but the planned obsolescence of previous versions seems sensible enough in a market dominated by IOS and Android. The RHEL 5 and Windows XP models of long-term support really have little validity in the land of smartphones with rapidly-evolving hardware and two-year contracts.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Thumb Up

          Re: I'm an OSS developer...

          "...have little validity in the land of smartphones with rapidly-evolving hardware and two-year contracts."

          This is true, from the point of view of OSS does it even matter? Not really, which is why we are OSS. However, developers could and will still scramble. I know you know this, but for the non-OSS world, there is licenses for devkits, closed APi's possibly with incomplete documentation, even more disclosure agreements...the whole process can be timely and costly for these type of transitions.

          I agree with you though, 100%...however I'm OSS too.

      2. Andrew_b65
        Stop

        Re: All current handsets are supported and will be upgraded to WP9

        Described by their own readers as 'bullshit FUD'. Go figure it out before you spread nonsense like this around the Reg.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: All current handsets are supported and will be upgraded to WP9

        "we're all secretly hoping for the death of Windows Phone anyway." - I guess you havn't used it then. WP is a lot better than any Android option.

      4. dogged
        Facepalm

        Re: All current handsets are supported and will be upgraded to WP9

        we're all secretly hoping for the death of Windows Phone anyway.

        Because less choice is SO FREAKIN AWESOME right?

    2. Charles Manning

      What does "works" mean anyway?

      More than likely it means W9 really needs a quad-core + GPU + 1G of RAM (or whatever huge amount of resources are available in next gen phones), but will limp along providing a limited and crappy experience on re-OSed W8 phones.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: What does "works" mean anyway?

        It runs fast on a dual core. So unless Microsoft planning on adding something really big and bloaty like an Android VM runtime, I can't see why it wouldn't run well on a existing phones.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: What does "works" mean anyway?

        "More than likely it means W9 really needs a quad-core + GPU + 1G of RAM"

        Seems unlikely - Windows Phone is a lot more efficient than Android, can run in less RAM and is faster to use even on a lower spec CPU.

    3. jake Silver badge

      @AC03:01 (Was: Re: All current handsets are supported and will be upgraded to WP9)

      The user known as `MyBackDoor`'s GreatAuntSallie bought a WP8 based on `MyBackDoor`'s opinion. Redmond forces a major .rev (supported by the telco, which doesn't want exploitable holes in handsets).

      `MyBackDoor` is now saddled with support calls from GreatAuntSallie, because "the perfect phone that my niece suggested to me, not 13 months ago, no longer looks/feels/works the same!".

      `MyBackDoor` suddenly feels a right ass.

      ::wanders away, mumbling "hey you kids, get off my lawn!"::

    4. fishman

      Re: All current handsets are supported and will be upgraded to WP9

      <<all current handsets will be upgraded *for free* to WP9>>

      No, they will be upgraded to the next major version of WP. That could mean WP8.1, or WP8.5, or whatever they may call the next major version.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Linux

    Pin the tail on the donkey.

    Microsoft has to keep moving in this market, they are in no position to idle. If Win8 doesn't work out, they throw another dart at the board and move to another strategy. It's rinse and repeat, but on a grander scale than just application design...OS design.

    I can see how this is good for development, and I can see how developers will worry left and right. But hey, if you want the programs you develop to be #1, you'll first need a #1 OS, and Microsoft wants to give that to them. I'm NOT defending MS, I'm a Debian fan, but for a company to know it needs improvement, this is logical step.

    However, ...and here it comes.... however, if everyone would just get on board with a Linux distro, seasoned developers would have a little less worrying over portability. If that happened who knows, maybe a day would come when you could run any app on any OS you wanted...sorry, that last line was just me thinking like a consumer, carry on with the normal corporate thinking.

  7. Quxy

    @Donkey

    Having talked to plenty of mobile developers, I suspect that you're right. Windows XP was arguably Microsoft's high-water mark in terms of desktop OS stability, long-term support, and market acceptance -- and developers joined in droves. But (despite CE and 6.5) Microsoft has become the new kid in smartphone OS, and the UNIX-based kernels used by everybody else really look like the safe bet. WPx just doesn't bring enough to the table to be worth learning a completely new model of apps development.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: @Donkey

      "Windows XP was arguably Microsoft's high-water mark in terms of desktop OS stability, long-term support, and market acceptance " - ermk - That's Windows 7 surely....

  8. Eddy Ito

    Is anyone but me a tad surprised that the support end date for WP 7.8 is a full two months after the end date for WP 8? It makes me think that there will be an 8.x update that will follow in the path of 7.8 and will expire about the same time as 9.0 or something. Whether there will be a 7.9 that will extend the life of older phones I wouldn't hazard a guess.

  9. HCV

    I've got this question in to Jessica Alba. I'll let you know as soon as she replies.

  10. Paul J Turner

    'death riding'?

    so you thought 'deriding' was a contraction?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 'death riding'?

      Just typical nonsensical drivel from "editor" Simon Sharwood...

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    This article seems a bit of a troll.

    The number of times I've asked what the support period is for the OS on a phone I've bought? Zero.

    The number of times I'll ask that question in the future? Zero.

    For all the reasons I'm not planning to buy a Win 8 phone, this is definitely not one of them.

    1. Chairo
      Windows

      Re: This article seems a bit of a troll.

      Obviously you didn't buy a iPhone 3G just before IOS4 was released, otherwise you definitely WOULD ask this question in the future.

      But yes, I agree, this article smells a bit like a troll. Anyway it's on El Reg, what do you expect?

      Homeless - he also likes to sleep under bridges.

    2. mathew42
      Linux

      Re: Nexus for upgradeability

      Interesting. I've brought a Nexus 7, recommended a Nexus 10 and almost brought a Nexus 4 (except it lacked 4G) because they all come with the promise from Google that the firmware will be upgraded. Several other people share this view.

      1. Z80
        Headmaster

        Re: Nexus for upgradeability

        "I've brought a Nexus 7"

        Where did you bring it?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          What do you expect?

          Here is the very anatomy of a typical brainless commentard:

          Spells own name wrong;

          Fails to use capitalisation;

          Doesn't understand the meaning of simple words.

          And yet, still believes that his opinion is of value and other people will want to hear it.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Nexus for upgradeability

        "they all come with the promise from Google that the firmware will be upgraded"

        I'm sorry but I've owned every Nexus device excluding the Galaxy Nexus and N10. Nowhere have I seen this promise. It is at best an expectation as Nexus devices are intended as the developer flagship device, but that is all. The Nexus S, which is perfectly capable of running 4.2.2 ended it's update cycle at 4.2.1.

  12. tempemeaty

    A series of short supports to an OS in the clouds

    Having read this and other articles on Microsoft's latest update plans, it leaves me thinking this is about Microsoft pushing for a new OS version every year now. It's about Microsoft using constant OS version changes to acclimate users to an acceptance(or acquiescence) of/to the outcome being a cloud based OS in the shortest possible time.

  13. Kanhef

    Another possibility

    is that they're killing Windows Phone entirely, replacing it with Windows RT/8/9/Blue. I seem to recall them saying a while back that they wanted a more unified interface across all versions of Windows.

    1. VaalDonkie

      Re: Another possibility

      The WP8 interface seems pretty "unified" to me. But I believe you are onto something.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    When Windows Phone 8 was announced Microsoft promised 18 months minimum of support. Given the first handsets shipped in October I would say that they have already exceeded the 18 months with this announcement.

    So what use is this story?

  15. Magnus_Pym

    Surely it would be better...

    ... to announce the new OS before announcing the death of the old one?

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Perhaps more importantly

    If your phone works and doesn't have any crippling bugs why on earth do you need 'support'?

    Personally I like to buy stuff that works out of the box and does what it says on the tin! Sure I expect a few flaws to be fixed ... but I also expect that such stuff should only take a couple years max to sort out.

    The truth of the matter is that if you bought a phone two years ago, it's hardware is out of date and incapable of 'being the same as a new phone', accept that fact because it isn't going to change any time soon.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Perhaps more importantly

      Really? You can't see how an internet connected device doesn't need to be updated/have security holes filled?

  17. RyokuMas
    FAIL

    Here we go again...

    Way to undermine your developers, Microsoft. Having spent months in uncertainty regarding the future of XNA and just about settled into Monogame (or other alternatives), we're now told that WP8 support will end in less than 18 months, with no word of what it's successor will be (if any), much less whether we will have to go through the same saga again of whether or not we will need to start over with our game code.

    I'm beginning to get the feeling that the last couple of months I spent working on Android to get used to Monogame (in advance of setting up for WP8) might be time well spent!

  18. Spoddyhalfwit

    I expect to get swathes of downvotes from the fanboys but here goes.

    The fact is that Windows Mobile was crap and bombed. But Windows Phone is actually rather good. Its innovative too, it hasn't just tried to provide a cheap Apple knock off.

    Note: I'm not saying Android or iPhone is rubbish, so don't start a tantrum.

    I've resisted having a smart phone for years (though had iPod Touch and iPad2), but liked the Lumia enough to take the plunge. I'm not disappointed with it. Few things they need to add, like VPN support in particular.

    Microsoft aren't going to bin it, certainly not yet. They might not be shifting as many as Apple or Android (and perhaps never will) but they are shifting way more than they did with their older phone software.

    As a developer I'd much rather them switch to a model of regular upgrades and cutting support for old versions than have the situation we do with XP where we're still having to ensure compatibility in our software for IE6&7. And despite the reg article, it looks pretty much like this is what is happening, with other sites already reporting on WP8.5 development.

    Why do people get so uptight about their favoured OS that they want others to be denied choice? I really don't get it, its all a bit primary school, which reminds me - down vote away.

    1. RyokuMas
      Coat

      I'm all for choice...

      But I'd rather not spend 6 months having to learn a new framework and rebuild my libraries to be able to develop on the new version, only to find that in another year or so, I've got to do it again because the version I've written on will no longer be supported.

    2. Michael Habel
      Stop

      This smells of massive Copy Pasta!

  19. Tom 35

    So what will happen to...

    The "your phone, tablet and computer all running the same UI".

    How long before they all drift apart?

  20. IGnatius T Foobar

    support costs

    It's pretty simple. Why should they spend all of that money keeping Windows Phone 8 supported and upgraded when it's cheaper to simply pay for phone upgrades to both of the people who bought a WP8 device?

  21. The_Regulator
    Mushroom

    MS Stated WP8 Handsets Upgradeable to WP9 (or whatever it is titled)

    Reg writers seem to be about as trustworthy as a middle eastern dictator on a bender.....just because WP8's lifecycle ends (as do all major phone os revisions) does not mean they just say screw you now your on your own.

    WP8 users will upgrade to the next revision and continue to receive support from there.

    The amount of drivvel and rhetoric coming from this site is incredible, who the hell pays your salaries, you should be fired for writing garbage like this.

    1. RyokuMas
      Stop

      Re: MS Stated WP8 Handsets Upgradeable to WP9 (or whatever it is titled)

      Link?

      Until I see an official statement from Microsoft saying "Yes, there will be a WinPhone 9 (or 8.n, or whatever they want to call it), yes, it will run on existing WP8 handsets and yes, all your current development tools will continue to work", I'm sticking to the cynical side of the fence.

      Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me, and all that...

  22. Levente Szileszky
    Go

    It is HILARIOUS...

    ...seriously, I have reached the point that I am having crazy fun every time when I read the next retarded, idiotic, counter-productive crap like this from the utterly broken, clueless Ballmerian megacorp. It is really the beginning of the end, unfolding live, in slo-mo... I BET they will screw up the next Xbox - anyone dare to counter my bet? =)

  23. dervheid
    Meh

    A turd

    is just a turd, regardless of what other name you give it.

  24. Ron Christian

    not just the OS, perhaps the apps as well

    As many have pointed out, Windows phone users have already been orphaned twice -- Mobile 6 -> Phone 7 -> Phone 8. Phone 9 (or whatever) will most likely need new hardware to run, but will they even retain the API and GUI from Phone 8, or will this be yet another complete departure? As I see it, MSFT is between rock and hard place. If they merely do an incremental upgrade on WP8, they risk furthering the mistake of going to it in the first place. But if they radically depart yet again, they risk losing whatever customer and developer base they still have.

    I'm basing this on absolutely nothing, but I envision MSFT engineers coming out with something extremely usable, which management will reject in favor of doubling down on some new funky interface for the sake of differentiation in the marketplace, requiring people to buy yet another device for the questionable experience. And few will.

  25. Someone Else Silver badge
    Coat

    Marketdroid drivel

    It's also notifying the world of its intentions with admirably ample amounts of time to prepare for the upgrade.

    ...whether you want to, or not.

    There fixed it for ya....

  26. mickey mouse the fith

    Chill out

    Even if your phone doesnt get an os upgrade, it will still work until a component fails, and im sure gsm/3g is going to be around for quite a while yet. Your handset isnt going to suddenly stop working just because its not being updated anymore.

  27. Stuart Castle Silver badge

    Backwards Compatibility..

    "Microsoft's history is one of remarkable consistency when it comes to backwards-compatibility. It's very hard to imagine it would step away from that policy on mobile phones"

    True up until Windows phone 7 and 8. 7 wasn't compatible with previous versions of Windows CE/Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 8 is not compatible with 7 either.

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