First Phone Out of Microsoft-Nokia -- and It's an Android 193
An anonymous reader writes BBC reports that the first phone resulting from the Microsoft-Nokia merger has been announced: the Nokia X2. And foiling everybody's ability to guess what OS it would run on, the answer is Android. But this being Microsoft, do expect some embrace-and-extend — the user interface is similar to the Windows phone. And it is being offered as a way to hook users into its cloud-based services, several of which come pre-installed as apps. Is this the first Linux product being offered by Microsoft? Can we upgrade Microsoft's social rating from CCC to CCC+?
Seems like a 180 from their previous views (Score:5, Interesting)
I can remember just a couple of months ago, when Microsoft hosted a tournament for Killer Instinct on the Xbox One. There was a bit of an uproar from the competitors and from the various streaming websites covering the event because Microsoft banned non-Windows phones at the competition venue (and, of course, gave out Windows phones to all of the competitors so they could have product placement on the streaming sites). As far as I know, that ban was never lifted and the tournament went on that way.
The idea that MS would then turn around and release an Android phone after pushing their Windows phones that hard seems like a complete turnaround.
Not Linux, XENIX !!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
This phone isn't running true Android, it's a port of Android, but using Xenix as the base OS.
For those of you on Slashdot who are not old farts like myself, google "Xenix" to find out what it is. It's part of Microsoft's "Embrace and Extend" policy to use something they own to create a whole new version of an existing popular phone/tablet OS....
And if anyone believe what I'm saying, even for a second, you need to find a BBS for the less naive....
Re:Seems like a 180 from their previous views (Score:4, Interesting)
How bad their embedded OS is? When was the last time you used a windows phone, back in the Windows Mobile 2003 days? Windows phone is actually a very nice OS. The only real problem with it is traction, or lack thereof. If it actually had enough market penetration to attract developers to make the kind of apps to build marketshare (yeah, vicious circle) then it would be a great phone OS. I've used all 3 major mobile platforms. If I could have the kind of apps I wanted in the MS app store, I'd be on windows phone right now,
There may be some truth to that. I carried a Windows Mobile 6 device for awhile (company issued phone) and the experience was so bad (the phone won't ring because the audio device "has encountered an error and will now close"? Really??) that I vowed never to touch another Microsoft-embedded device if I could possible avoid it.
So even in the (unlikely, sorry) event that Windows Phone 8 is super fantabulous, I just couldn't make myself take a chance on it. Fool me once etc etc.
(Speaking as a very happy Windows 7 user on the desktop. Best product Microsoft ever made, in my opinion.)
Re:So what? (Score:5, Interesting)
Due to a fundamentally much better design architecture, Linux and to some degree Android either don't or can't suffer with many of the problems Windows has in the first place. Those that do happen also get fixed much quicker due to a much more active developer base.
You know back in the day this was sort of true. Throw up a server on Linux and it just worked, do the same on Windows and it worked for a little while until it didn't. It was not that code quality or general architecture was drastically different it was simply unix fork()s worker processes in separate memory spaces which disappear when finished... On the flipside windows lacking fork() and associated culture relied heavily on thread pools and or async hence effects of same programming flaws tended to accumulate to global effect vs being cleared automatically upon forked process exit...but enough of the past.
Today windows phone architecturally is quite good with security advantages over Android in form of choosers to facilitate access to global data and resources.
More specifically I can't consider Android secure when apps are readily available to root your phone and crack boot loaders by exploiting vulnerabilities that persist for years. Even if patches exist upstream vendors are too lazy, clueless or otherwise wanting of device replacement revenue to push them out to their customers.
Meanwhile frustratingly no root exploits are publically known to exist for WP8 nokia.
Microsoft has made plenty of stupid decisions yet they are hardly alone.. if you ask me all the major smartphone OS vendors are wholly unworthy of any praise. They all universally and intentionally place users under unnecessary risk for benefit of themselves, app vendors and carriers.
I would most likely own a Microsoft phone today if the platform was more like normal windows (pre 8), windows mobile or unfucked android where users actually have control over their devices and software environment which were not constantly engaged in copying everything to vendor servers... for the love of everything holy it is not even possible to maintain a local contact database in WP8.
As it is now I refuse to support morally bankrupt visions of computing where privacy is continuously frivolously violated and all execution centrally curated. WP and iPhone both operate under walled gardens. Android is at least for the most part open source where the many people who give a shit are able to work to provide viable solutions to counter crap from Google (Of Ap Ops was a mistake fame) and app vendors.