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The truth of the matter is that if you bought a phone two years ago, it's hardware is out of date and incapable of 'being the same as a new phone', accept that fact because it isn't going to change any time soon.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