Windows Phone rage
The reaction to MS on the Windows 10 Preview for Phones continues to be not entirely reasonable. Here is one response to the recent news about upcoming support for new phones. It still calls the original list of supported phones inexplicable. Unless people out there are using a different language than I am, inexplicable means it can't be explained... and yet Microsoft DID explain it. Numerous times. Partition sizes were to blame and they were waiting on the "Partition Stitching" feature. You may not like the explanation and the explanation may not have been timely, but "inexplicable" is one thing that the situation is not.
Now, I'm not going to pretend that MS has been uber transparent in this whole process. Yes, they could have done a post like this most recent one outlining their own internal expectations and keeping people in the loop. But they had no obligation to do so, and it would have saved them exactly zero grief. Case in point; the Lumia 930 is missing from that list. People are reacting on Twitter like they are being personally targeted. Based on the size of the list it is VERY clear that no (Lumia) phones were simply skipped on purpose. If you read Gabe Aul's Twitter feed, you'll actually find that there is a bug specific to the 930 at the moment which they need to sort out. And with the size of the list there is absolutely no reason to doubt the explanation.
Sure, they could publicly state why the 930 isn't on the list. And this is a bit perplexing since it a notable omission at this point. But after explaining the partition stitching issue, many people called them liars, ignored the response or chose be upset regardless.
So why bother being more transparent? I'm starting to think people are trying to provoke them into reverting back to their older model of keeping their mouths shut and keeping everyone out of the loop until they are done or nearly done. People will still be upset, but more likely the number will be lower.
Also, let us not forget... this is totally unprecedented. NO (for profit) SOFTWARE COMPANY HAS EVER MADE AN OS SO WIDELY AVAILABLE SO EARLY IN DEVELOPMENT (as far as I'm aware). Period.
Apple only gives near final code to paying developers, and they only do it to encourage them to update their apps to leverage new features. They don't give public access, they don't solicit feedback and they certainly don't release this early. Even Android has nothing on this.
This is a solution that anyone can opt into for free AND do the process entirely on their phone AND get earlier access to an OS at what is effectively a pre-beta stage of development AND your feedback is actually being processed and has a chance of impacting the final process.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. It sucks when someone else gets something you want. Even I felt a little upset when my phone wasn't in the original supported group. But there are no grounds for public complaints. Once the OS is complete, if you're left behind (and it isn't your carriers fault) then you can be angry. You might even be right to be upset if your phone isn't supported by the time an SDK becomes available, at least then you could argue that (if you're a developer) you are disadvantaged as far as app testing is concerned over people with other phones.
Now, I'm not going to pretend that MS has been uber transparent in this whole process. Yes, they could have done a post like this most recent one outlining their own internal expectations and keeping people in the loop. But they had no obligation to do so, and it would have saved them exactly zero grief. Case in point; the Lumia 930 is missing from that list. People are reacting on Twitter like they are being personally targeted. Based on the size of the list it is VERY clear that no (Lumia) phones were simply skipped on purpose. If you read Gabe Aul's Twitter feed, you'll actually find that there is a bug specific to the 930 at the moment which they need to sort out. And with the size of the list there is absolutely no reason to doubt the explanation.
Sure, they could publicly state why the 930 isn't on the list. And this is a bit perplexing since it a notable omission at this point. But after explaining the partition stitching issue, many people called them liars, ignored the response or chose be upset regardless.
So why bother being more transparent? I'm starting to think people are trying to provoke them into reverting back to their older model of keeping their mouths shut and keeping everyone out of the loop until they are done or nearly done. People will still be upset, but more likely the number will be lower.
Also, let us not forget... this is totally unprecedented. NO (for profit) SOFTWARE COMPANY HAS EVER MADE AN OS SO WIDELY AVAILABLE SO EARLY IN DEVELOPMENT (as far as I'm aware). Period.
Apple only gives near final code to paying developers, and they only do it to encourage them to update their apps to leverage new features. They don't give public access, they don't solicit feedback and they certainly don't release this early. Even Android has nothing on this.
This is a solution that anyone can opt into for free AND do the process entirely on their phone AND get earlier access to an OS at what is effectively a pre-beta stage of development AND your feedback is actually being processed and has a chance of impacting the final process.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. It sucks when someone else gets something you want. Even I felt a little upset when my phone wasn't in the original supported group. But there are no grounds for public complaints. Once the OS is complete, if you're left behind (and it isn't your carriers fault) then you can be angry. You might even be right to be upset if your phone isn't supported by the time an SDK becomes available, at least then you could argue that (if you're a developer) you are disadvantaged as far as app testing is concerned over people with other phones.
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