Posted on 12/17/2019 8:49:26 PM PST by dayglored
'I'm not dead!' insists doomed OS. It will be soon
Microsoft unloaded some festive cheer on the last remaining Windows Phone user by apparently extending the life of the doomed platform for another few weeks.
Twitter user Longhorn gave a hat-tip to @wenti_man for spotting that the release notes for the very last patch issued to the moribund operating system now show the death rattles extending to 14 January 2020. The support lifecycle pages, however, insist that 10 December remains the end of the road.
El Reg, like many others, said our goodbyes to the dusty drawer dwellers last week.
The Windows Phone 8.1 Store was also shut down yesterday, although it's unlikely many noticed.
The new date appears to dovetail nicely with the end of support for Windows 7 and seems to imply that should any security nasties pop up over the Christmas period, then a further patch or two might be incoming.
Don't hold your breath though. The Register has contacted Microsoft to check which date is correct or if someone had just leaned on the wrong key after a tad too much festive excess in Redmond.
Naturally, we have spent perhaps a little too long trying to fit Microsoft's largesse to a Christmas song or two. We got as far as "12 apps-a-crashing" in the "12 Days of Microsoft" before we remembered that the "12 Days of Christmas" actually ends on 5 January.
Or a bit longer after that. It depends on your belief of choice, if that's your thing (and if it is your thing, then at least one of you is wrong and likely to spend eternity trying to get WhatsApp working on a Lumia as punishment.)
For our purposes it's before 14 January, thus saving us having to torture the poor mobile platform any further by trying to make its name scan with the seasonal sing-song.
Even with a possible few more weeks to say a final farewell to an old friend, before the poor old thing goes off for meeting with the Microsoft axe-person, the advice remains the same. It really is time to move on. ®
"No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment."
I preferred my Windows phone to the IPhone and android. I had android, then an Iphone, then a WinPhone.
I switched back to android only because I had to, or I would be that last WinPhone user. I found IPhone overrated and overpriced for my purposes.
“I feel happy! I feel happy....”
WHOAMMPP!
God, I miss my 950. I refuse to give in to Gurgle so I went with iPhone, and what a horrid OS.
One day we’ll have full telephony/mobile on Win scaled to cell phone on ARM.
“I’ll be back.”
I had a Windows Mobile phone in 2003 and I loved it. The iPhone didn’t come out for another 4 years. Microsoft should have had a lock on the market.
Sorry about your WinPhone!!!
My dad looked and me, stunned, and said, "That's grotesque!"
https://www.wpxbox.com/this-tool-promises-to-unlock-windows-10-phone-and-lumias/
I loved windows phone. May it Rest In Peace.
I like Android but hate google and it is just too much work to root and install aftermarket roms. I have an iPhone but don’t really like it
The PinePhone will be out in March. A full Linux Phone That has no ties to Apple or google. I already have the pinebook pro arm based Linux computer and love it. I have a beta preorder for the phone on the way now and can’t wait.
Sounds like these guys (maybe without the extreme security /privacy focus). I’ll check them out, thanks!
www.purism.com
An entire generation has grown up with either an Android or iOS device on their hip from they time they get out of bed in the morning until they go to bed at night.
Android outsells ALL Micro$oft OSes by more than 5-to-1. And M$ can't learn the trick of getting it's users acclimated to using their app store, which is something Android and Apple both have had sussed for a decade.
So if 'Vegas were giving odds on this, I'd bet "Not."
Purism is a great Linux build that they maintain. Their phone that they are working on is going to choose around $700, while the pine phone is going for $149. The pine phone will likely be out and working sooner some the intervals are based on their single board Linux computer the pine 64. All the dev work already exists for that.
Thank you for making me aware of them. I like the idea of having alternative resources for that kind of stuff.
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