8 ms·
Correction: They're going to keep doing exactly what they were doing before except instead of saying "Windows Phone" they're going to just say "Windows" and the
by DanielStraight 12y ago
Correction: They're going to keep doing exactly what they were doing before except instead of saying "Windows Phone" they're going to just say "Windows" and they aren't going to say "Nokia" anymore.
Not news.
- brazzy 12y agoYeah, you'd have to pretty damn high on marketing kool-aid to think that dropping the "Phone" from the brand name is somehow a Big Thing.
- WorldWideWayne 12y agoI think the Big Thing is not the naming itself, but what is being signaled by it. If Microsoft can actually pull it off, I think a single OS that works well enough on all form factors could be awesome. I imagine writing native apps that are responsive like the web apps we have today. (I'll never use or endorse it if I can't side-load apps though! There's no way I'm moving into any kind of walled-garden.)
- worklogin 12y agoTIL what sideloading means. "Installation from arbitrary locations, like we've done for most of computing history".
- marssaxman 12y agoI was similarly confused when people started talking about "AOT compilation". Turns out that just means "compiling things from source code, like we've done for most of computing history", as opposed to shipping bytecode and compiling it when you're ready to run it.
- Touche 12y agoCalling 2 different things the same thing does not change that they are different things.
- at-fates-hands 12y agoUnless you're not referring to the things at all - but a convergent platform. Huge difference. The only issue is getting consumers to buy in on the idea.
- Touche 12y ago"convergent platform" is just buzz-speak. What I said before is still true.
- thinkling 12y agoWhere previously the Windows CE-derived OS shared little more than APIs with desktop Windows, since Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, there's actual sharing of core components. See e.g., http://j4ni.com/blog/?p=107 http://j4ni.com/blog/?p=107
- keypusher 12y agoThis is what they attempted to do with Windows 7, unify the interface with the tiled approach, and people hated it. In fact they hated it so much MS had to revert the changes. Still, if you look at the most recent versions of Visual Studio (ie. "Visual Studio Express for Windows" is separate from "Visual Studio Express for Windows Desktop") and the .net framework, they are clearly aiming to get to a place with a single dev kit for both platforms. edit: Windows 8, not 7
- waps 12y agoIt is a big thing for the decision makers inside Microsoft. Windows phone had it's own executive, who are now no longer a threat to the remaining executives. What I've noticed about commercials is that when it comes to non-founder companies (companies no longer controlled by their founders), is that the target of the commercials is not really customers. It's the management, and sometimes, their "bosses", investors. An example is the countless "we're no 1" commercials. Nobody goes and touts their products or services actual advantages, or even goes so far as simply saying they're the "best". Best would matter to customers. No 1 tells you something about sales figure (and is easy to fake), and why would customers care about sales figures (except in extreme cases) ? The message here is simply that there's a management change, and this is big news and to be celebrated, political foes have been slain, new victors have been chosen and crowned, this is a victory to be shouted off of roofs everywhere, because that's what people who decided to push this message feel.
- IanDrake 12y ago> and why would customers care about sales figures (except in extreme cases) ? Because most people go with the crowd. Conformity isn't as popular in the tech crowd as it is in the main stream.
- fsloth 12y agoYep. This is a studied psychological phenomenon. People tend to prefer options they believe other people are choosing. A.k.a social proof. (ref. Goldstein et. all: Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive)
- seanflyon 12y agoAlso people want to go where the developers are and developers want to be where the most people are.
- brazzy 12y agoI think you're spot on: be it marketing- or management-driven, this announcement was made for the sake of the announcers, not the readers.
- robert_tweed 12y agoI misread your comment, but do think "Bing Thing" would make an interesting brand.
- digikata 12y agoIt reminds me a little of the time Microsoft marketing went crazy and stamped the ".Net" brand moniker on just about any product they could.
- jeffbarr 12y agoAnd a while before that, everything was "Active"...
- epochwolf 12y agoAs a counter point, Apple has a habit of labeling products with i- and labeling software libraries with -Kit.
- flyinghamster 12y agoIndeed, when I first heard of "Healthkit" I misread it as "Heathkit" even though Apple is pretty much the antithesis of Heathkit.
- UVB-76 12y agoApple have been fairly consistent; the 'i' prefix has been synonymous with Apple since the iPod in 2001. Microsoft chop and change brands all the time, often in ways that are confusing to the consumer and damaging to the business.
- zeckalpha 12y agoiMac, 1998.
- UVB-76 12y agoNoted, but the iPod (and iTunes, also 2001) is what made Apple (and the 'i' prefix) a household name, and paved the way for everything that followed.
- theoutlander 12y ago