I know he's trolling... but it's friday, and I'm bored... so...
"force either Samsung or Google (or both) to improve the rotten UX and performance with well-written native code, and better design."
Their "crap" UX has been winning awards.
http://www.androidcentral.com/ice-cream-sandwich-wins-gold-prize-best-platform-experience-parsons-2012-ux-awards
"Redmond would do well to leave the team alone, and simply do what it did with Xbox"
You mean nurture and grow a large fanbase with barely "good enough" hardware (I've had 4 360 via RMAs) & software (2 major UI redesigns), bought-in exclusives and half decent in-house content... then as they start making some actual profit, MS management get involved and in a single announcement alienate the fans by bending them over and attempting to take them for a ride with the next gen console? Maybe. :(
"Microsoft has made more money from Android than Google, but Google doesn’t really care."
They do care, if they didn't their business model would be going down the crapper and they'd be pulling the plug. Microsofts $10-13 scam they have going with HTC/Samsung/others seems substantial, but if Google weren't making money hand over fist by maintaining android they wouldn't be heavily subsidising the nexus range. Ignoring the cost manufacturers pay google for licensing the play services and be "Android trademark compatible" - google will make much more from app/content purchases, advertising, and the benefits of a google-centric android ecosystem that now holds nearly 80% of the smartphone market worldwide. Granted, Microsoft is doing next to nothing to get their cut (other than threatening to smash the kneecaps of anybody who dare use a FAT filesystem and make money).. but still.
"As a result the quality of Android is exactly what you’d expect from a Java OS rushed to market by a large advertising company."
A good portion of what makes up the OS is actually native... the java part is very optimised too. They also have what I'd consider a better multitasking/memory management model than iOS or win mob.
The sneer at Google for being a large advertising company like somehow that makes them a terrible software company is retarded - they are a company made up of very smart software/hardware people who love tinkering and inventing.
Microsoft also have smart people working for them - the difference is microsoft is run by marketing exec's who breed a culture that stifles good decision making. So I guess in that respect, providing they don't piss about with windows phone too much, you're right - leaving Nokia alone might just work - as they can keep experimenting and innovating with their phones, and have an acceptable consumer OS running on it... assuming Windows 8/8.1 for desktop doesn't give consumers a phobia of using the (not) metro ui.