Posted on 07/11/2017 5:21:30 PM PDT by dayglored
Microsoft is killing off Windows Phone 8.1 support today, more than three years after the company first introduced the update. The end of support marks an end to the Windows Phone era, and the millions of devices still running the operating system. While most have accepted that the death of Windows Phone occurred more than a year ago, AdDuplex estimates that nearly 80 percent of all Windows-powered phones are still running Windows Phone 7, Windows Phone 8, or Windows Phone 8.1. All of these handsets are now officially unsupported, and only 20 percent of all Windows phones are running the latest Windows 10 Mobile OS.
Windows Phone 8.1 was a big update to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 operating system, and included the company’s Cortana digital assistant. A new notification center, UI changes, and updates to the core mobile OS. It marked one of Microsoft’s biggest efforts with its Windows Phone work, but it wasn't successful at competing with Android and iOS. 99.6 percent of all new smartphones now run Android or iOS, and Microsoft has given up producing its own Lumia-branded hardware as a result.
Windows 10 Mobile still exists, but with not much support
While Microsoft still supports Windows 10 Mobile, it’s not clear what that support will include in the future. Microsoft pushed updates to Windows Phone 8 devices, but the software giant barely included any feature updates in the recent Windows 10 Mobile Creators Update. Microsoft is adding a number of features to the upcoming Windows 10 Fall Creators Update for PCs, but the company has not extended these to the mobile version in testing. Some rumors suggest that Microsoft has forked its Windows Mobile development into a “feature2” branch that will simply maintain the operating system until support ends in 2018.
Microsoft has shied away from officially killing off its phone OS efforts, but it’s been evident over the past year that the company is no longer focusing its efforts on Windows for phones. Microsoft gutted its phone business last year, resulting in thousands of job cuts. During Microsoft’s recent Build and Inspire conferences, CEO Satya Nadella dropped the company’s mantra of “mobile-first, cloud-first” in favor of a focus on what he describes as the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge. This new area of focus means Microsoft is now working on multi-device scenarios and cloud-powered technologies that don’t always involve Windows. Microsoft’s new mobile strategy now appears to involve making iOS and Android devices better.
Nonetheless, as the subtitle says, it's "The End of An Era".
damn, i love my windows fone....itz been reliable and easy as hell to use...works great, the only lick of trouble it may have had was due to me monkeying around with it....
I wish there were a conservative computer company. Bill Gates and the Apple management are all a bunch of libs.
The Zune was getting lonely.
I have 2 Windows phones but am not able to upgrade them. They still work fine for email, maps, taking photos, Facebook, and even phone calls.
Nokia/Microsoft fired several thousands of people after Microsoft bought Nokia. One of the managers at Nokia use to work for Microsoft before the purchase. Kinda a trojan horse.
Stephen Elop, former Microsoft exec who left to become CEO of Nokia
http://fortune.com/2015/07/08/was-microsoft-nokia-deal-a-disaster/
I loved mine too. And I got in on the WP10 upgrade while it was available for it.
Problem is, the browser stability just went to hell. It became virtually unusable for even basic browsing.
So, I was finally forced to switch to an Android phone. Google wins. Which I hate. A lot. But the new Android based phone works extremely well.
MS had a great thing going with the Windows phones. The interface and functions were clean and fast. The tiles, unlike on a desktop, worked perfectly on a small screen phone. The integration with the desktop was fabulous.
They gave up. Walked away. And that’s hard to take. One more big revision and they would have had a real competitor.
There was talk for quite a while about MS allowing Android apps to run on the Windows platform. Had they done that I think the windows phone would have survived. It was always a hopeless venture to try to bring up a new app store as a distant 3rd to Apple and Google. They could have allowed the Android apps to run, and still had their own native Windows apps which would have been better for the business crowd and those who want to keep the ecosystem local anyway. Choice. It would have been amazing.
Now, it’s over. So sad.
win phone 6 can usually be upped to 7. 7 can be upped to 7.8ish but not 8. Its a hack but adds nice features. wphone 8 can be upped to 10. If you need help contact me.
did you put in a sdmicro memory card in your win phone? sounds like a memory issue.
Hey Guns, how are you? I sure miss you guys...
And you are right about them libs. Damnit.
Can the Nokia icon be upgraded to Windows 10? It’s no longer attached to Verizon, so whatever I did it have to be through the Wi-Fi.
My phone is now a Nokia Windows 10 and I’m perfectly happy with it.
Still got mine, 640 XL, going strong. I really love the UI. I know its the last of a dying breed, but I have no problem with that. Cortana is already available on Android, I suspect the UI will also be ported over as an official home screen replacement.
This entire article is a misunderstanding of whats happening with the windows platform. Wphone 8 merged the phone and tablet os. thus surface and phone were running the same os. surface pro was always full windows. wphone 10 merged the kernels of w10 and the wphablet os. What is about to happen is the merging of the total phablet/windows desktop os, allowing full blown applications to run on the phablet as well as the desktop. Windows 10s is a locked down somewhat stripped os for mobile and imbedded devices, disallowing non MS store apps. One convergence has been released your computer will no longer be a separate device. your phone will have a google glass like vid/audio interface with a wireless interface so that when you want a standard keyboard, monitor set up all you need to do is walk to you office.
Lastly w10 is being ported to ARM based systems, like iPhone and android so any modern handset 2016+ could be a personal mobile computer. Since the inherent insecurity of linix based systems this could cause a rapid change to windows which has the benefit of being attacked so much that they learned how to lock it down better then other modern os’s
Seems wrong to just leave them hanging like that.
As a once certified MS tech I figured I’d try a Windows Phone a year or two ago thinking it would be intuitive but after a few days I sent it back. It wasn’t intuitive at all to me but then I never upgrade to win10 either.
After hearing this I’m glad I didn’t hang on to it.
Likely but you would have to muck with the os and the danger isn’t worth it. I’ll look around but honestly there is no icon at all on my phone. Likely the creator update will wipe it anyway. You could try being an insider and getting the os 6 month earlier. If your talking about apps that’s different. you’ll need to go to the store and search for replacements.
Likely but you would have to muck with the os and the danger isn’t worth it. I’ll look around but honestly there is no icon at all on my phone. Likely the creator update will wipe it anyway. You could try being an insider and getting the os 6 month earlier. If your talking about apps that’s different. you’ll need to go to the store and search for replacements.
Excellent assessment.
If you didn’t understand waynesa98’s post the first time read it again.
That's an interesting perspective. Die-hard Windows fan, I take it. :-)
I agree that Windows has suffered more than its share of attacks over the years (90% of the market share, but >99.9% of the attacks), giving more than ample opportunity to improve. Windows is (at last) getting about as secure as the other major consumer OSes. Still has a way to go to get to where the BSD Unixes are, but they're not consumer OSes.
So granted all OSes have their pros and cons. But "inherent insecurity" is not something normally associated with Linux. What's your source for that curious assessment?
I have Nokia Icon running Windows 10. It runs great. My upgrade was pushed from Verizon. I bought as Win 8. They upgraded it to 8.1 then to 10. I just got my Tuesday update tonight. Unfortunately no new Verizon Windows Phones on the horizon.
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