Develop Bugs

Microsoft: Bring on the Windows Phone 7 developers, developers developers

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft...phone-7-developers-developers-developers/6867

Windcape said:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft...phone-7-developers-developers-developers/6867
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the quoted materia:
ZDNet said:
Microsoft: Bring on the Windows Phone 7 developers, developers developers
On July 19, Microsoft began shipping out thousands of Windows Phone 7 (WP7) test units from LG and Samsung — running a near-final Technical Preview build of its new mobile operating system — to developers all over the world.
It’s crunch time for the Softies. They have developed a new phone platform from scratch that looks and feels different from what’s available from Apple, Android backers and RIM. They’ve built it, but will developers come? Microsoft is counting on its developer tools, its developer outreach programs and developer guarantees (in the form of payments if WP7 apps don’t sell as well as expected) to generate quantity and quality WP7 apps.
It’s no coincidence, as Engadget notes, that the packaging for the WP7 test units says “developers, developers, developers” on the box. (Sorry, there’s no Monkey Boy toy inside.) WP7 phone hardware and data plans are going to be key to determining how well WP7 will do versus its competition when those phones begin shipping in October in Europe and November in the U.S. But the number and kinds of apps that developers build are going to be make-or-break, as well.
There’s an evangelism team that’s been working for months to get developers on board with WP7. I’ve been talking to a number of them for the past few weeks so as to understand their big-picture goals and plans to try to win developers hearts and minds in a world where Windows Mobile is falling out of favor and iOS and Android are grabbing the attention and share.
Charlie Kindel, a 20-year Microsoft veteran who runs the Windows Phone Developer Experience, is one of the main forces behind Microsoft’s mobile developer outreach. After hearing about Microsoft’s renewed focus on mobile (and some of the big names named to run the development side of the project), Kindel joined the team in February 2009.
“Windows Phone is not an end game. It’s more of a means,” said Kindel. “Devs don’t think about apps being just client code any more. Over the past ten years, it has become the case that the core resides in the cloud, and rich clients ‘light it up’ for the user. That means it’s not so much about porting the same apps to different screens, it’s more about creating application components that cross all three screens. As your experience changes, what should an app look like and how do you eanble that? I want to make WP7 one of the screens that is supported.”
(The “cloud,” in this case, can mean Microsoft cloud services like Azure; cloud services someone else has built like Twitter; or services intrinsic to WP7, like notification, location, Xbox Live, etc., Kindel explained.)
I asked Kindel what has surprised him — and what he thinks might surprise others — about WP7. He talked about speaking to 7,000 mobile developers during a recent European tour. Relatively few had ever used Microsoft developer tools. (In one meeting, only about 10 percent had used Microsoft tools of any kind, he said.) When Microsoft showed them Visual Studio and Windows Phone development tools, “the reaction was one of disbelief,” he said, because “our tools were so much better.”
“Developers want to use the tools they already know, but at the same time, they want to know someone has thought holistically about the end-to-end process,” Kindel said. “Even though we are investing in all of these (development) areas, you don’t have to use all of our stuff.”
Microsoft’s message to developers considering WP7 is to use Silverlight or the XNA Framework to write applications and games for the forthcoming phones. And company officials are touting the transparency of the app approval process, as well as the fact that only Microsoft-certified applications will be available via the Windows Phone Marketplace as positives for developers and users.
No matter how good Microsoft’s developer story sounds, Kindel knows that it’s going to be tough to convince some developers there’s enough financial opportunity to make the development of a WP7 app worthwhile.
“The installed market is not very big, so we have to show them how much we’re investing to create a phenomenal user experience. We have to show marketing and engineering seriousness,” he said.
Microsoft hasn’t made any promises as to how many WP7 phone apps there will be out of the gate, or provided many names of developers already committed to the platform. Kindel said to expect a mix of big-name apps and brand-new ones.
“There are a type of apps users just want to exist — things like a service-enabled world clock or a level, for example,” he said. “Then there are apps no one has really thought about yet, with unique capabilities. We want there to be fantastic and beautiful examples of each.”
Who else is on Microsoft’s WP7 developer outreach team? It’s not just members of Microsoft’s Communications Business. I’ve got a “who’s who” post coming up, which includes WP7 developer team members from Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, Windows Live and the Developer Division.
In the meantime, any developers (or potential customers) have developer-focused questions for the WP7 team?
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SkyFire Gone For Good Here What they Had To Say

Skyfire 2.0 is the world’s first hybrid browser, using the best of the device’s native browser, and adding a cloud “booster engine” for extra features like video and social networking. It is our flagship go-forward product, as we’ve reported publicly for months, since our Android launch.
With that in mind, we are announcing that we will complete the phase out of our legacy v1.0 product on Windows Mobile and Symbian on December 31st, 2010 for remaining countries. This two-year old product used a “proxy browser” approach which is no longer our vision. It was a revolutionary product when introduced and offered for free, but the fast-moving mobile market has changed significantly since 2007, and as a small tech start-up, we need to keep innovating forward.
Our new 2.0 product is built for the next generation of smartphones and tablets with full support for html5, offline browsing, javascript, WebKit, and full-screen video. The 2.0 architecture is exponentially more data efficient as well, and better fits the technology roadmaps of our B2B customers (wireless carriers and handset makers).
This was a very difficult decision for us. We put our hearts and souls into the 1.0 product and greatly value the many Skyfire fans who used the product and provided us with invaluable feedback during this intensive research & development phase of our company. We experimented with ways to charge for the product (in certain international test markets) so that existing Windows Mobile and Symbian users could continue to use the service, but the payment mechanisms were very cumbersome and the piracy rates were so high on those OS platforms that we could not make it work. More importantly, we faced a decision point: If we were to begin charging money for a product, we had to commit to multiple years of support and enhancement of the product. It would not be the ethical thing to do to start down that path, given that we would not expect enough revenue to make that sustainable on the legacy 1.0 product, and we can no longer subsidize it. The right thing we decided was to focus on 2.0 and beyond.
We do expect to bring Skyfire 2.0 to additional platforms, and have begun discussions with some carriers and OEMs to decide which will be our next OS. Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 and Nokia’s MeeGo platform are both shaping up as platforms with a lot of potential and the recent launch of the new Blackberry OS 6 with a WebKit browser core makes for interesting potential for a future release of Skyfire 2.0. We value feedback from our users, so please let us know what platform you would like to see Skyfire on next and just as importantly let your wireless carrier know that you want Skyfire!
Thanks to all of our fans, new and old, for their support. We’re a small 35-person development shop, so all the enthusiasm for Skyfire has been gratifying for all of the engineers here in Mountain View.
Jeff Glueck, CEO

[EDIT]
I was entering rant mode but it's just not worth it... Still what was the point of creating yet another topic on this subject (and again in Soft Dev...)?

Yes I know but I didnt see that other thread that the other person had made. So I made this one instead.

Well, it was crap in the end anyway.
Nothing of value was lost.

How To Port iPhone Apps To Windows Mobile? Microsoft Will Show You How

Microsoft has decided to reach out a helping hand and publish a case study that details how to port an iPhone app to its Windows Mobile platform. Now Windows Mobile users may finally have access to the countless fart apps we so thoroughly enjoy.
The post on Microsoft’s Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) site is a case study that documents the experience of one iPhone app developer in porting the app Amplitutude to a device running Windows Mobile 6.5. The report itself was actually created by a third-party consulting group.
Amplitude is an iPhone app that is able to detect and amplify basically any sound directly around a user. The app was chosen for the porting project because it is difficult to port, so it should provide a good learning experience for Windows Mobile developers.
“It combines a rich user interface with features such as alpha blending and transparency with specific audio and sound requirements, which makes it challenging to port the app but, at the same time, provides a number of helpful learning experiences,” he wrote.
Microsoft intends to launch their Windows Marketplace sometime during the fall. As an incentive, they will be offering prizes for the most popular apps.
This is a logical move by Microsoft. What better way is there to lure developers over to your side than by simply having them port their already made apps with an step-by-step walkthrough? The incentives for the most popular apps obviously won’t hurt either.
Are any of you fed up iPhone developers intrigued by the idea of moving your apps over to Windows Mobile?​

In all actuality, this probably won't happen..
As a person who makes software, I wouldn't want anyone to reverse engineer my work.
I am sure that is the same for bigger corporations and little guys like me who make these apps.

I wouldn't mind if a person ported a game I made as long as the following are included in the port:
1) The port is of the completed game as specified by me
2) The project is finished to an acceptable state where no expected upgrades will be made
3) The game gives credit to the original source
A game being released by another person with different upgrades from the original and the port-dev isn't sharing knowledge of the upgrades before release, that's shameful on the port developer. Way to kick the original to the curb.
In the Amplitude port to WM, it includes where it's from, so I see it as acceptable. M$ taking the site off their servers in favor of more WP7 stuff, NOT ACCEPTABLE!

it is posibble? i need some of the iphone games..such as angry bird..help

esad (SE Xperia X2) said:
it is posibble? i need some of the iphone games..such as angry bird..help
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Lol if this isn't a joke I suggest a iPhone is more suited for you.
Sent from my Xperia X10 using XDA App

Tasteslikeawesome said:
Lol if this isn't a joke I suggest a iPhone is more suited for you.
Sent from my Xperia X10 using XDA App
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And than he will have a very expensive brick with antena issues to play fun games.

By the way, Microsoft no longer has the site on how to port the iphone games to the WM platform. It's sad to say, but I'm losing faith in M$ knowing what to do in the smart phone department.

id love to read THAT contract !

source : http://www.dailytech.com/Report+Mic...D+to+Stay+Away+from+Android+/article21069.htm
"I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse."
Nokia ruffled more than a few feathers when it announced that it would be shacking up with Microsoft when it comes to smartphone operating systems. Feeling the heat from smartphone operating systems like Apple's iOS and Google's Android, Nokia is winding down its efforts with MeeGo and Symbian in order to embrace the nascent Windows Phone 7 (WP7) operating system.
Now, a new report from BusinessWeek suggests that Nokia was offered a sweet deal to go with Microsoft’s WP7 operating system over the rival Android OS. BusinessWeek says that Nokia will receive roughly $1B as a part of a 5-year deal with Microsoft.
Microsoft, of course, will also profit handsomely from its $1B investment if Nokia's WP7 offerings take off in the marketplace. Unlike with Google's freely available Android OS, Nokia will pay Microsoft a royalty fee for each WP7 handset that it sells.
“This gives Microsoft scale and allows Nokia to rip out costs,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners in New York, who recommends buying Microsoft shares. “Microsoft is getting the platform boost.”
Although $1B USD is a nice motivator to adopt WP7, Nokia's Stephen Elop claims that Nokia would have gotten lost in vast sea of me-too Android devices, and that the Microsoft partnership gives it a chance to shine. “A decision to go with Windows Phone creates a very different dynamic. Windows Phone is a challenger. It becomes a three-horse race,” said Elop according to Mobile Beat.
Nokia’s Symbian operating system has been under a constant assault from Android. Android overtook Symbian as the world’s best-selling smartphone operating system in Q4 2010 (33.3 million units versus 31 million units).

The thing they forget to mention is that the $1b payment also gets Microsoft access to Nokia's immense patent library.
Which in itself would be worth the $1b payment.

dgaust said:
The thing they forget to mention is that the $1b payment also gets Microsoft access to Nokia's immense patent library.
Which in itself would be worth the $1b payment.
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do you know where a pdf can be found ? at this point its all speculation... but man it would be in.teresting !

I love when the fact that the people who operate these tech blogs are android fanboys shines through. It had nothing to do with them buying them away from android. 1 billion dollars is fair towards R&D from the company that they partnered with. They stayed away from android because as it says, if they embraced the lag that is android then they would be just another OEM in the sea of android OEMs, nothing special about them. This way they're not caught in a hardware battle since that's the only thing that sales android phones anymore.

ohgood said:
do you know where a pdf can be found ? at this point its all speculation... but man it would be in.teresting !
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You're right, it is all speculation (based on two people leaking) but the same sources that state the $1b also say the patent portfolio is included.
Both companies have mentioned that things like OVI maps will be integrated into Bing services, so it's not far fetched to believe that assertation.

z33dev33l said:
I love when the fact that the people who operate these tech blogs are android fanboys shines through. It had nothing to do with them buying them away from android. 1 billion dollars is fair towards R&D from the company that they partnered with. They stayed away from android because as it says, if they embraced the lag that is android then they would be just another OEM in the sea of android OEMs, nothing special about them. This way they're not caught in a hardware battle since that's the only thing that sales android phones anymore.
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And what the hell is the WP7 ecosystem if not a hardware battle? If anything Nokia could have applied their own customizations to Android alà SE Xperia - but if done properly they could have had a killer hardware software combo. If anything the MS deal is like an easy way out. A huge cash influx and a guiding hand from MS. We'll see how much value add they bring to WP7, but for now the deal just looks like a giant marketing move for a fledgling platform.
Sent from my GT-I9000

radeon_x said:
And what the hell is the WP7 ecosystem if not a hardware battle? If anything Nokia could have applied their own customizations to Android alà SE Xperia - but if done properly they could have had a killer hardware software combo. If anything the MS deal is like an easy way out. A huge cash influx and a guiding hand from MS. We'll see how much value add they bring to WP7, but for now the deal just looks like a giant marketing move for a fledgling platform.
Sent from my GT-I9000
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Rather than hardware and apps selling an OS it's an OS selling an OS. Tel me, how well has Xperia done with their custom OS. Is it half as big as Samsung's unbelievably laggy touchwiz UI? Regardless of customization the Os is never it's own. Every intelligent person downloads a new launcher, even my mom figured that out and it took her 2 days to learn how the market worked. Two companies that were steadily falling downhill revamped themselves and joined forces, not to own the market but to get their piece of the pie.

oh please
z33dev33l said:
I love when the fact that the people who operate these tech blogs are android fanboys shines through. It had nothing to do with them buying them away from android. 1 billion dollars is fair towards R&D from the company that they partnered with. They stayed away from android because as it says, if they embraced the lag that is android then they would be just another OEM in the sea of android OEMs, nothing special about them. This way they're not caught in a hardware battle since that's the only thing that sales android phones anymore.
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let's try and keep it two notches above petty this not an android, wp7 or ios bashing thread.
id really like to see more leaks (if this one is true/real) and more detaols. a billion dollars and patent right to either companies portfolio is incredible.
on the vone hand, symbian is declared vdead... but good lord look at the patents... there has to be amazing tech ms and nokia could employ. wowzers !

ohgood said:
let's try and keep it two notches above petty this not an android, wp7 or ios bashing thread.
id really like to see more leaks (if this one is true/real) and more detaols. a billion dollars and patent right to either companies portfolio is incredible.
on the vone hand, symbian is declared vdead... but good lord look at the patents... there has to be amazing tech ms and nokia could employ. wowzers !
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Oh yeah, I have no doubt that both companies are going to come out hard. It's going to be amazing. I do apologize for my previous comment but that is the case with most tech blogs. Nokia had denied android long before Microsoft ever put themselves on the chopping block. I can't wait to see what comes of this partnership. I see a bright future for this infant OS.

When Elop stated the reasons why Nokia choosing Windows Phone it did seem like he was contradicting himself. But here is why it makes sense:
HTC is the king of Android, with Motorola coming in 2nd. I would argue HTC does seem to have an unfair advantage because of the close working relationship they have with Google since they developed quite a few Google branded and marketed phones, including the very first one - Google G1. I think because of this that is why they have the largest percentage of handsets on the latest firmware. If Nokia entered the Android space where would they be in the heirarchy?
Windows Phone is pretty wide open right now. They are trying to jump on the wagon before it leaves them at the station. The nay-sayers will say that is a dead wagon, but with Microsoft's money, Nokia's marketshare, and Windows Phone's potential it may very well work.

this has more to do with the allowed patents (assuming that part is real) than a phone. the patents could deal with windows8 (desktop) or current versions. keep in mind, companies don't normally toss a billion with a b around unless they are serious.
symbian does some pretty incredible stuff, and if ms were to absorb (we all are familiar with this) symbians stuffs, wow.
if anyone finds more relevant information, please do post it. remember, this is not a bash, nor a hardware thread. this is about the contract !

Yes, it doesn't have to be in the form of cash. At a previous company I worked at, MSFT invested $30 mil in the form of software and services. So some of that $1 bil/year could simply be software and services licenses to Nokia.
As for why Nokia chose WP7 -- IMO, Android is reaching a maturity level where Nokia will not be able to compete w/ other OEMs. Since WP7 is still very young, Nokia has a chance to still get in early and reap the potential for great reward. The market is saturated with Android phones, even if Nokia adds their customizations to differentiate themselves, there's still alot of competition in that space.
Michael.

^ how is that any different than the WP7 competition?
Nokia is just another OEM isn't?

vetvito said:
Nokia is just another OEM isn't?
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Not according to Nokia, part of the deal was that they could make changes to every part of the OS.
These changes would need to be rolled into the trunk, and made available back to MS (and the other OEMs), but they are allowed to do that.
The said they wouldn't initially as this would delay updates coming from MS. But I can see them working collaboratively with MS to make WP7 better. It doesn't make sense with other OEMs but leveraging Nokia's experience will be off benefit to MS in the long term.

vetvito said:
^ how is that any different than the WP7 competition?
Nokia is just another OEM isn't?
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How is that different? Well, AT&T has 7 Android phones and 3 WP7 phones. Verizon has 10 Android phones and no WP7 phones. Sprint has at least 8 Android phones and no WP7 phones. T-Mobile has at least 10 Android phones and 2 WP7 phone.
So which marketspace will offer a greater potential, one that is saturated with Android phones or one where there's only 5 WP7 offerings for the entire U.S.
Michael.

Microsoft Sponsored WP7 App Development Contest

Hey all, In addition to the XDA WP7 dev contest currently running, Microsoft is sponsoring an additional competition that closes on June 6th called the WP7 app challenge.
10 finalist will be chosen and given two free passes to Microsoft's Partner Conference in Los Angeles in July (it normally cost ~2k each to attend) where they will compete on stage in front of a live audience for the title.
My microsoft sources are telling me that they will also get a sitdown at the show with the WP7 dev team and VP + that each entry will get a free set of cool WP7 dev tools from one of their vendors.
http://wp7challenge.com