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I can’t imagine that Google was willing to play ball on this. Google has aggressively leveraged their control of their properties to block Microsoft in the past

by dpark 5y ago

I can’t imagine that Google was willing to play ball on this. Google has aggressively leveraged their control of their properties to block Microsoft in the past (e.g. YouTube on Windows Phone). I expect that Microsoft reached out to Google about Android support on Windows and Google promptly said that they aren’t going to give up a Chrome OS advantage. Disclosure: I work at Microsoft. But I have no insider information on this.

DoctorOW 5y ago
To clarify, I'm not surprised Google Play didn't work out. I'm surprised they picked Amazon specifically.
- chipsa 5y ago
  I mean, if it's not Google, what's the alternative?
- selectodude 5y ago
  Amazon seems to be the store of choice for "non-sanctioned" Android things. It was the official store for Blackberry when they put their Android emulator on their phones too.
Isthatablackgsd 5y ago
From what I remember, Google have specific conditions when it come to YouTube which ads is one of those conditions. I recalled Microsoft have a YouTube app didn't shows the ads which violated their term of services. Amazon did similar and that lead to corporate war against Google since Google put their foot down.
- dpark 5y ago
  Microsoft rebuilt the YouTube app following Google’s own guidelines and it was still blocked. At least that’s my recollection.
  - Isthatablackgsd 5y ago
    I managed to find the article that discussed about this second rejection [0]. And Microsoft response to the second rejection [1], I have to use Wayback since MS returning 404 for their blog. [0] https://www.engadget.com/2013-08-15-google-blocks-windows-phone-youtube-app-again.html https://www.engadget.com/2013-08-15-google-blocks-windows-ph... [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20130816024629/http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2013/08/15/the-limits-of-google-s-openness.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20130816024629/http://blogs.tech...
madrasi2022 5y ago
Very disappointed that Microsoft recently killed all support for office android apps on Chromebooks asking users to use the web version instead (which has all sorts of limitations even considering the android apps having limited functionality in the first place but atleast allowed offline access and some quick non-web features) So now we get Microsoft trying to get android apps into their own devices instead. I would say Google should insist that support for office apps come back into chromebooks if they want any sort of support but no they wont as they are saying "we are happy chromeos is a great option for office (web)apps" The windows "cloudbooks" were never worth a look - I guess this is how large companies behave. (I have no hatred towards any tech / company - use android / linux / chromebooks / windows all the time - just bizzare that well functioning android apps are now being taken out of chromebooks) references : https://www.aboutchromebooks.com/news/microsoft-ending-chromebook-support-for-office-android-apps-in-september/ https://www.aboutchromebooks.com/news/microsoft-ending-chrom...
- dpark 5y ago
  > I would say Google should insist that support for office apps come back into chromebooks if they want any sort of support… Given that Microsoft is using the Amazon App Store, it’s a safe bet that Google is not providing any sort of support. If Microsoft could use Google Play Services, I imagine they would.
- kingcharles 5y ago
  That's frustrating considering what a fuss they made when they launched those apps.

by dpark 5y ago

DoctorOW 5y ago

To clarify, I'm not surprised Google Play didn't work out. I'm surprised they picked Amazon specifically.

chipsa 5y ago
I mean, if it's not Google, what's the alternative?
selectodude 5y ago
Amazon seems to be the store of choice for "non-sanctioned" Android things. It was the official store for Blackberry when they put their Android emulator on their phones too.

Isthatablackgsd 5y ago

From what I remember, Google have specific conditions when it come to YouTube which ads is one of those conditions. I recalled Microsoft have a YouTube app didn't shows the ads which violated their term of services. Amazon did similar and that lead to corporate war against Google since Google put their foot down.

dpark 5y ago
Microsoft rebuilt the YouTube app following Google’s own guidelines and it was still blocked. At least that’s my recollection.
- Isthatablackgsd 5y ago
  I managed to find the article that discussed about this second rejection [0]. And Microsoft response to the second rejection [1], I have to use Wayback since MS returning 404 for their blog. [0] https://www.engadget.com/2013-08-15-google-blocks-windows-phone-youtube-app-again.html https://www.engadget.com/2013-08-15-google-blocks-windows-ph... [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20130816024629/http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_on_the_issues/archive/2013/08/15/the-limits-of-google-s-openness.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20130816024629/http://blogs.tech...

madrasi2022 5y ago

Very disappointed that Microsoft recently killed all support for office android apps on Chromebooks asking users to use the web version instead (which has all sorts of limitations even considering the android apps having limited functionality in the first place but atleast allowed offline access and some quick non-web features) So now we get Microsoft trying to get android apps into their own devices instead. I would say Google should insist that support for office apps come back into chromebooks if they want any sort of support but no they wont as they are saying "we are happy chromeos is a great option for office (web)apps" The windows "cloudbooks" were never worth a look - I guess this is how large companies behave. (I have no hatred towards any tech / company - use android / linux / chromebooks / windows all the time - just bizzare that well functioning android apps are now being taken out of chromebooks) references : https://www.aboutchromebooks.com/news/microsoft-ending-chromebook-support-for-office-android-apps-in-september/ https://www.aboutchromebooks.com/news/microsoft-ending-chrom...

dpark 5y ago
> I would say Google should insist that support for office apps come back into chromebooks if they want any sort of support… Given that Microsoft is using the Amazon App Store, it’s a safe bet that Google is not providing any sort of support. If Microsoft could use Google Play Services, I imagine they would.
kingcharles 5y ago
That's frustrating considering what a fuss they made when they launched those apps.