4 ms·

I helped drive the Windows Phone 7 app platform engineering and evangelism efforts (I left MS in early Sept). I can't speak for the Azure folks, but I can tell

by cek 15y ago

I helped drive the Windows Phone 7 app platform engineering and evangelism efforts (I left MS in early Sept). I can't speak for the Azure folks, but I can tell you that as we built WP7 we recognized that one of our biggest challenges was reaching the hearts & minds of developers who had grown up outside the "MSDN tent". It was very clear (to me anyway) that we had to try extraordinary things to engage with those developers. I suspect the Azure team is thinking the same way. It's pretty clear that being insular isn't going to work anymore.

politician 15y ago
I've done some WP7 work, and was quite impressed with the platform; I loved seeing the influence of capabilities-based security in the APIs. But, WP7 demands an SL/XNA and .NET background. It seems like reaching non-Microsoft developers was/is a tall order whereas iOS can tolerate C,C++ or PhoneGap solutions. Do you feel that Microsoft had some success in bringing people into the tent?
- cek 15y ago
  It's really hard to know for sure, but there are 40K apps and games in the WP7 marketplace. Just 13 months ago there were 0.
jackowayed 15y ago
Your email's not in your profile, so can you email me please (mine is in my profile)? I'm considering interning there this summer and would love to hear your opinion on it.
- cek 15y ago
  It's in my profile. Not sure why HN is not letting you see it. You can contact me at charlie (at) kindel (dot) com
antirez 15y ago
I suspect that at this point it will be very, very hard to get the hearts of developers that are not into Microsoft, but I think this is not an entirely different effort of also conquering the hearts of normal users... at the point Microsoft is in how is perceived outside I think they need a spectacular change (a new CEO, with a new message), to publish a new version of the operating system that is not a mess, and then yes, to be more open. I doubt that supporting Node on Azure is going to really help as a first move.
- sirclueless 15y ago
  I think people drastically overestimate the level of strategy employed by large companies like Microsoft and Google. There are so many divisions and projects within these companies, all with their own goals and personalities. Of course Microsoft does have some large strategic goals for its public conduct, but is it really such a stretch to allow that the Azure team wants to embrace developers outside of their traditional base? So long as it doesn't conflict severely with some other goal of the company, I don't find it difficult to believe that an enterprising manager on a mission could push through a project like this. Interoperating with a fledgling open source project for mutual benefit, even though it might not be a traditional tactic employed by Microsoft, is certainly not a particularly hard pitch to sell. Particularly if it's not a heavily politicized open source project. For example, let's not forget that both Microsoft and Google donate millions each year for academic research into computing -- stuff that is way far out, such as trying to find viable quantum computers. These companies have giant market caps, and even though Microsoft may have a corporate edict to stamp out Linux wherever possible, and Google's profits are directly affected by how much creepy info they can gather on you, these companies are made up of a bunch of humans, and you have to expect that at least a few of them can scrape together altruistic and benevolent projects.

by cek 15y ago

politician 15y ago

I've done some WP7 work, and was quite impressed with the platform; I loved seeing the influence of capabilities-based security in the APIs. But, WP7 demands an SL/XNA and .NET background. It seems like reaching non-Microsoft developers was/is a tall order whereas iOS can tolerate C,C++ or PhoneGap solutions. Do you feel that Microsoft had some success in bringing people into the tent?

cek 15y ago
It's really hard to know for sure, but there are 40K apps and games in the WP7 marketplace. Just 13 months ago there were 0.

jackowayed 15y ago

Your email's not in your profile, so can you email me please (mine is in my profile)? I'm considering interning there this summer and would love to hear your opinion on it.

cek 15y ago
It's in my profile. Not sure why HN is not letting you see it. You can contact me at charlie (at) kindel (dot) com

antirez 15y ago

I suspect that at this point it will be very, very hard to get the hearts of developers that are not into Microsoft, but I think this is not an entirely different effort of also conquering the hearts of normal users... at the point Microsoft is in how is perceived outside I think they need a spectacular change (a new CEO, with a new message), to publish a new version of the operating system that is not a mess, and then yes, to be more open. I doubt that supporting Node on Azure is going to really help as a first move.

sirclueless 15y ago
I think people drastically overestimate the level of strategy employed by large companies like Microsoft and Google. There are so many divisions and projects within these companies, all with their own goals and personalities. Of course Microsoft does have some large strategic goals for its public conduct, but is it really such a stretch to allow that the Azure team wants to embrace developers outside of their traditional base? So long as it doesn't conflict severely with some other goal of the company, I don't find it difficult to believe that an enterprising manager on a mission could push through a project like this. Interoperating with a fledgling open source project for mutual benefit, even though it might not be a traditional tactic employed by Microsoft, is certainly not a particularly hard pitch to sell. Particularly if it's not a heavily politicized open source project. For example, let's not forget that both Microsoft and Google donate millions each year for academic research into computing -- stuff that is way far out, such as trying to find viable quantum computers. These companies have giant market caps, and even though Microsoft may have a corporate edict to stamp out Linux wherever possible, and Google's profits are directly affected by how much creepy info they can gather on you, these companies are made up of a bunch of humans, and you have to expect that at least a few of them can scrape together altruistic and benevolent projects.