I remember Samsung trying to run a WWDC-like conference in San Francisco many years ago. They were offering free Tizen watches as enticement for developers to show up (AppleWatch devs had to buy their own). None of the professional mobile devs I knew back then said they would go.
As Microsoft found out with WindowsPhone, it’s really hard to get traction if you’re third.
They also didn’t treat devs very well. A lot of folks pulled their apps or let them die on the vine instead of having to majorly replatform to support the latest versions of their mobile OS.
This made their App Store go from mediocre to downright anemic.
IMHO, he wasn’t great, but I feel like the their software has really gone downhill since he left.
All they do is shuffle chairs, reorg - not ship.
That said, Ballmer didn’t do a great job with the early days of digital music and mobile. He mocked a lot of that stuff, then was forced to get into those games way too late.
I remember Samsung trying to run a WWDC-like conference in San Francisco many years ago. They were offering free Tizen watches as enticement for developers to show up (AppleWatch devs had to buy their own). None of the professional mobile devs I knew back then said they would go.
As Microsoft found out with WindowsPhone, it’s really hard to get traction if you’re third.
Tbf that’s because Microsoft got in bed with Nokia and gave the finger to everyone else
Nokia era Lumias were amazing phones, and I loved the OS, but a lack of apps kept it from ever being a contender. Still miss my live tiles though.
What the commenter above was referring to is special API access for Nokia and a few key third-parties that regular devs were not allowed to use.
It was a strange time for Windows phone. Agreed, such a shame, it was an interesting UX-first design for its time.
They also didn’t treat devs very well. A lot of folks pulled their apps or let them die on the vine instead of having to majorly replatform to support the latest versions of their mobile OS.
This made their App Store go from mediocre to downright anemic.
MS died after Steve Ballmer era CMV
IMHO, he wasn’t great, but I feel like the their software has really gone downhill since he left. All they do is shuffle chairs, reorg - not ship.
That said, Ballmer didn’t do a great job with the early days of digital music and mobile. He mocked a lot of that stuff, then was forced to get into those games way too late.
He didn’t seem to get that the PC had been replaced as the major consumer form factor by Apple and Google with their mobile devices.
I assume he didn’t understand how those devices were different from like Palm, Blackberry and stuff like Tablet PC.