back to article Microsoft ends Mac users' Windows Phone 8 misery

Microsoft has updated its Mac OS X mobile software so that owners of new Windows Phone 8 handsets can synchronise music and photos with their Apple computers consistently. An update for the Windows Phone client for Macs appeared on the Apple App Store on 31 October, but while Windows Phone 7.5 devices continued to sync up just …

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  1. MJI Silver badge

    Surprising choice

    I would have assumed that any Mac owner would have wanted a phone by Apple

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Surprising choice

      I don't believe the majority of Mac owners are fanbois any more than Windows users are. Although it's fair to assume Mac owners are the demographic who favour iPhone the most.

      1. Stretch

        Re: Surprising choice

        "I don't believe the majority of Mac owners are fanbois any more than Windows users are."

        lol try meeting them

        1. A. H. O. Thabeth

          Re: Surprising choice

          I am writing this on a MacBook Pro; which is my main computer.

          I have a HP ML115 running FreeNas, another HP ML115 running Windows 7, and a Dell PowerEdge 2900 which I plan to set up as another FreeNas Server.

          A computer is a tool; and I try to use the "right" tool for the job.

          Does this make me a Mac owner who is not a fanboy?

          1. Lallabalalla
            Thumb Up

            Re: Surprising choice

            No - it makes you too difficult for the hard-of-thinking to classify, and thus, unrepresentative.

    2. Volker Hett

      Re: Surprising choice

      Whatever works, I had Sony Ericcsons which worked fine with OSX up until the M600i which didn't at all, then Palm Pre and HTC Desire.

    3. Lallabalalla
      Pint

      Re: Surprising choice

      Not really - I would actually consider a new windows phone because I quite like the look of the interface, and I don't have much use for apps over and above core functionality. But the overriding criteria is that I must be able to easily and quickly back it up, and sync it with the data I want. Naturally the iPhone is best for this. We all have them at home, because going all-Apple has cut my home IT support duties down from dozens if not hundreds of hours a year to a handful - especially when things go wrong and a file goes missing or a phone appears to lose something. The worst that seems to happen these days is iOS losing appointments out of the calendar. This is actually pretty serious, but it's the only negative that seems to be affecting us right now.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Surprising choice

      I like the Mac OS. When I got my Mac the Windows world was still on Vista. Windows 7 is good and I'd consider using it on a laptop. But with Windows 8 I'm firmly back on the OSX wagon for future purchases.

      As for the WP8 connector, it isn't Microsoft's fault when it comes to drag n drop or mounting of the phone. Apple doesn't support MTP which is a media device filesystem abstraction protocol to allow OSes to mount media players without needing to support the underlying filesystem.

      MTP is a USB standard, so why they don't support I don't know.

      Android uses it too.

    5. Bad Beaver
      WTF?

      Re: Surprising choice

      What a strange assumption. Phones cater to very individual needs. I for one have been using Macs since the late 90s, both privately and professionally, and have always been served well by Nokia, was disappointed by SonyEricsson and somewhat bewildered by Motorola. Up until now, Apple never managed to come out with a phone that was even remotely interesting to me.

  2. Rob K
    Thumb Up

    Finally!

    I'm sure both of the people affected by this problem will be relieved..

    1. dogged
      Meh

      Re: Finally!

      They're probably the same two people who run Safari on Windows.

      1. Philippe
        Happy

        Re: Finally!

        I can't believe there are that many people who run Safari on Windows.

    2. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Finally!

      More widely, it's irritating to have to use software on any host computer in order to talk to a device, at least for the basic 'storage' tasks. I've had to download some Sony software (though there's probably an alternative) to transfer files from my mate's Mac to my Android Xperia phone - which then works but slowly.

      One reason why I have never considered owning an iPod is because I like MSC.

      And now we have this SDXC cards with exFAT- camera likes it, newer Windows likes it, other systems needsome persuasion... some systems insist on 'safe removal', others get upset if the card ISN'T just yanked out and requiring a trip to device manager to uninstall then reinstall to get it working again... It's all doable, but not as smooth as it should be.

  3. Neil Dawson

    I wonder...

    ...how many people this would actually affect.... double figures maybe?

  4. Khaptain Silver badge

    Question

    It's actually quite difficult to imagine that anyone would own a Mac and a Windows Moble Phone...

    I don't own an iPhone so I can't answer the following question.

    Is there something that can be done on a WM8 or WM9 that can't be done on an iPhone ? I am thinking along the lines of MS Exchange/Outlook or MS Office ?

    [ It's a serious question ]

    1. S4qFBxkFFg

      Re: Question

      The obvious answer is people who got one from work, not that I've heard of any workplaces handing them out.

      (Nokia and MS would probably be in there though.)

    2. dogged
      Boffin

      Re: Question

      Is there something that can be done on a WM8 or WM9 that can't be done on an iPhone ? I am thinking along the lines of MS Exchange/Outlook or MS Office ?

      Office comes baked-in, except for (I believe) Access. But Access is foul anyway.

    3. dogged
      Meh

      Re: Question

      Can't edit post awaiting moderation, so apologies for double-posting.

      It just occurred to me that even though WP doesn't support Access, neither does does Office for Mac.

      So no real loss to Mac users there.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Question

      The question is not why a Mac user would want a windows phone, its why would anyone want a windows phone. As hinted at by S4qFBxkFFg, vast majority of users will have the devices inflicted upon them by work, although no company im aware of would touch it.

    5. Steve Todd

      Re: Question

      The iPhone mail app talks quite happily to Exchange, there are apps that view and edit Office documents so about the only thing missing is XBox Live gaming (which is similar to Apple's 'Game Center' in what it offers).

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Question

        >the only thing missing is XBox Live gaming

        I don't know what functionality that provides, but some XBOX functionality is already offered to Android and iOS devices through MS's 'XBOX SmartGlass' app.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      WM8 and WM9???

      "Is there something that can be done on a WM8 or WM9 that can't be done on an iPhone ?"

      I don't know what you mean with 'WM8' and 'WM9' (As you're probably not talking about Windows Media 8 and 9 formats I guess you mean 'Windows Mobile' but the last version of that one is 6.5). I assume you really meant to say 'Windows Phone' (which is what has replaced WM several years ago) but there is only WP 7 (which includes 7.5 and 7.8) and WP 8.

      As to your question: WP8 is supposed to have very good integration into corporate AD (Active Directory) infrastructures. This aside, they all come with Nokia Maps which is better than Google Maps and beats the crap out of Apple's mapping solution, and at least with Nokia you get better cameras.

    7. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Question

      >>It's actually quite difficult to imagine that anyone would own a Mac and a Windows Moble Phone...

      Not really, it's pretty easy to imagine. Hard to believe maybe is what you meant.

      Although I own a Mac and a Windows phone. And an iPad and a Windows desktop with Cygwin installed. And a Kindle.

      I hope that didn't stretch your imagination too far.

  5. wowfood
    Trollface

    Microsoft ends Mac users' Windows Phone 8 misery

    Scraps windows 8 phones offers an iphone or android replacement.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Microsoft ends Mac users' Windows Phone 8 misery

      Yes, because we all like duopoly don't we?

      Just like Republican and Democrat or Tories and Labour. What a great choice.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Microsoft ends Mac users' Windows Phone 8 misery

        "Yes, because we all like duopoly don't we?"

        Just like the desktop - oh wait

  6. P. Lee
    Terminator

    From the headline, did anyone else think...

    ...that MS just took them outside and shot them?

  7. Stretch

    microsoft need to learn to be more evil and format the mac when connected to it like any sensible device.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      The phone would need to know the admin password to do that. And even that did work, the user would just reinstall the latest TimeMachine image whilst making a cup of tea.

  8. DrXym

    And meanwhile

    I just plug my phone into any computer via USB and it just shows up as a drive. I can use sync software if I want of my choosing or I can just drag and drop stuff through the desktop.

    These monolithic lumps of bloatware that act as gatekeepers to a device really need to die.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: And meanwhile

      Yeah, you can do that with Windows Phone 8, the sync tool is just that, a tool to help you sync the phone.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: And meanwhile

        Alas, Android phones don't work as Mass Storage Class devices anymore.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: And meanwhile

          MTP has advantages. You can design an MP3 player that uses EXT3 for its filesystem but since it supports MTP it will mount on any OS that supports MTP. The OS wouldn't need to know anything about EXT3.

          Sadly, since OSX doesn't support it the usefulness is severely limited.

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol

          1. DrXym

            Re: And meanwhile

            I don't like MTP at all (stuff like copying multiple files at once is limited or absent), but I suspect it's used to abstract away the device's storage format from the view of it that you see in a computer. So the tablet may be formatted with ext4 yet it still works with Windows.

        2. Jordan Davenport

          Re: And meanwhile

          Alas, Android phones don't work as Mass Storage Class devices anymore.

          They do if you have root and make a quick change in a terminal emulator. Most people would prefer MTP instead though. I do think it should be an option that doesn't require root access, but that would probably confuse most people. Then again, they could always just throw that in an "Advanced" section.

  9. Sgt_Oddball

    To be fare

    I think it's just a case of tit-for-tat over iTunes on windows for it's first few (haha...) iterations.

  10. Lallabalalla
    Gimp

    Lockdown!

    It's pretty clear that the only people who really know anything about macs are those people who actually owned or owned one. Is this stating the obvious? Because an awful lot of people who have clearly never even considered buying one have some pretty weird ideas about what they can do and how they work. All I can say is - YOU WEREN'T THERE, MAN. You don't KNOW!

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    WOW

    that looks like the mother of all DOUCHE

  12. Anonymous Coward 15
    WTF?

    Mac users with Windows 8 phones?

    Wow, you mean, all 3 of them?

    1. MissingSecurity

      Re: Mac users with Windows 8 phones?

      I think they are referring to the the Windows QA testers.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    So does it violate standards?

    "On PCs, Microsoft's new phone OS shows up as a mounted device, allowing the user to manipulate files directly. But on Macs, no such file system support was provided.".

    With "PCs" I assume the author meant "PCs running Windows" ?

    I wonder if this is a fail on the part of Microsoft. If the phone supports the USB mass storage protocol then surely it would be possible for a Mac user to hook it up and gain access to it as well? Especially when you consider that this protocol is supported on all other major OS's ((Windows, Linux, BSD... ) so I think the fail is on Microsoft here.

    1. dogged
      Boffin

      Re: So does it violate standards?

      Short answer - "No, it doesn't."

      Long answer - It doesn't support USB mass storage. It supports MTP, Apple do NOT support MTP (although there are very effective linux implementations out there).

      But it doesn't violate any standards because it's not following the one you think it's following.

  14. Bad Beaver
    Thumb Up

    Good!

    It was about time.

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