3 ms·

An investigation that will lead nowhere seeing as there is no alternative. This is what happens when the tech press is cheered on for laughing off anyone that

by skc 4y ago

An investigation that will lead nowhere seeing as there is no alternative. This is what happens when the tech press is cheered on for laughing off anyone that dares to compete with iOS and Android. Yes, I'm still very bitter about the demise of WindowsPhone and PalmOS. Had they been championed a little more the mobile OS landscape would have been much more vibrant and exciting.

giantrobot 4y ago
You can't regulate capable competition into existence. PalmOS and Windows Phone/Mobile/10 both died because their parent companies screwed up. PalmOS was a painfully out of date design by the time it got stuck on phones. No amount of regulation was going to solve the clusterfuck of Palm and PalmSource. Nor was regulation going to make Cobalt actually ship and work as advertised. Regulation also wasn't going to stop Microsoft from screwing up Windows Mobile. After the iPhone's release the WinMo 6.x development was an obvious dead end for licensees. Android was just a better response to iOS than WinMo. Microsoft then knifed the platform moving to 7 giving licensees even less reason to use it. Regulation wasn't going to make companies license a dead end platform. An OS landscape isn't vibrant or exciting when established players just stop meaningful development or just have a shit vision. Apple showed the multitouch and a soft keyboard could be practical on a mobile device. Palm and Microsoft were stuck iterating a design from 1995. No regulation was going to fix their lack of imagination.
- skc 4y ago
  Nobody's talking about regulation. And I think you're confusing WindowsPhone for WindowsMobile by the way. My main issue was that these two OS's Palm and WP had a mountain to climb facing off against iOS and Android and it wasn't helped by the tech press poo-pooing their efforts at every turn, often gleefully so. I think it's a shame that we will never see a third player in this space.
  - giantrobot 4y ago
    > My main issue was that these two OS's Palm and WP had a mountain to climb facing off against iOS and Android and it wasn't helped by the tech press poo-pooing their efforts at every turn, often gleefully so. My point is these platforms were not able competition to even early iOS and Android. The tech press were excited about Android and iOS because they were good and showed how bad those previous systems were. The tech press was also excited that someone (Apple, later Google) actually made a smartphone for consumers. Consumers were stuck with feature phones with little to no Internet connectivity and smart phones were aimed primarily at business users. At the end of the day the tech press did not control PalmSource or Microsoft. It was up to those companies to make their platforms better and actually compete against iOS and Android. While both might have had the technical talent capable of doing so neither had the vision or leadership and so both failed. The mountain both platforms had to climb was built mostly through mismanagement and hubris. Don't be disappointed in the tech press or consumers wanting iPhones and Android phones. Be disappointed in Palm/PalmSource, Microsoft, and RIM for not having any vision and throwing away their lead in the space. They were all trying to make bigger and better Exchange clients when a vast majority of people wanted real web access and media functionality.

by skc 4y ago

giantrobot 4y ago

You can't regulate capable competition into existence. PalmOS and Windows Phone/Mobile/10 both died because their parent companies screwed up. PalmOS was a painfully out of date design by the time it got stuck on phones. No amount of regulation was going to solve the clusterfuck of Palm and PalmSource. Nor was regulation going to make Cobalt actually ship and work as advertised. Regulation also wasn't going to stop Microsoft from screwing up Windows Mobile. After the iPhone's release the WinMo 6.x development was an obvious dead end for licensees. Android was just a better response to iOS than WinMo. Microsoft then knifed the platform moving to 7 giving licensees even less reason to use it. Regulation wasn't going to make companies license a dead end platform. An OS landscape isn't vibrant or exciting when established players just stop meaningful development or just have a shit vision. Apple showed the multitouch and a soft keyboard could be practical on a mobile device. Palm and Microsoft were stuck iterating a design from 1995. No regulation was going to fix their lack of imagination.

skc 4y ago
Nobody's talking about regulation. And I think you're confusing WindowsPhone for WindowsMobile by the way. My main issue was that these two OS's Palm and WP had a mountain to climb facing off against iOS and Android and it wasn't helped by the tech press poo-pooing their efforts at every turn, often gleefully so. I think it's a shame that we will never see a third player in this space.
- giantrobot 4y ago
  > My main issue was that these two OS's Palm and WP had a mountain to climb facing off against iOS and Android and it wasn't helped by the tech press poo-pooing their efforts at every turn, often gleefully so. My point is these platforms were not able competition to even early iOS and Android. The tech press were excited about Android and iOS because they were good and showed how bad those previous systems were. The tech press was also excited that someone (Apple, later Google) actually made a smartphone for consumers. Consumers were stuck with feature phones with little to no Internet connectivity and smart phones were aimed primarily at business users. At the end of the day the tech press did not control PalmSource or Microsoft. It was up to those companies to make their platforms better and actually compete against iOS and Android. While both might have had the technical talent capable of doing so neither had the vision or leadership and so both failed. The mountain both platforms had to climb was built mostly through mismanagement and hubris. Don't be disappointed in the tech press or consumers wanting iPhones and Android phones. Be disappointed in Palm/PalmSource, Microsoft, and RIM for not having any vision and throwing away their lead in the space. They were all trying to make bigger and better Exchange clients when a vast majority of people wanted real web access and media functionality.