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Comment by Mahn | Hacker News Reader

That's a shame. I mean, I get the concern, but full Android compatibility would have done wonders to adoption, which is what their phone platform desperately needs. They could have always lured developers later with a substantially better UWP on top of it.

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I don't believe it would drive adoption at all. Microsoft know Windows Phone today is dead. However they still have the desktop and with UWP they hope to bridge the development gap between mobile/tablet/desktop/laptop.

Had they shipped Astoria in Windows 10 to allow Android apps to "just work" it would have destroyed their UWP strategy.

So they might get a few more Windows Phone users but they would have lost control of the new development platform and given it to Google on a silver platter. And they would never have got anywhere near the numbers Android is at.

I would be shocked if Microsoft don't bring UWP to macOS, Linux and Android (I don't see how they can with iOS) in the not-too-distant-future.

> Had they shipped Astoria in Windows 10 to allow Android apps to "just work" it would have destroyed their UWP strategy.

Kind of like how OS/2 support of Windows applications helped destroy it?

The OS/2 2.0 fiasco is a lot more complex than this.

Yes, but being able to run Windows 3.1 apps on it, with Windows 3.1 look and feel, at a higher price than OS/2 (or Windows) alone sure didn't help it.

You know that MS did the old OS/2 2.0 SDK betas from 1990, right?

as far as i remember: the PC of the day was just too slow for OS/2 warp, and it didn't support the varied hardware of the day; am i wrong?

Yes, there is much more history to this fiasco than just this.

Regarding iOS, the purchase of Xamarin and the direction of their tooling could be made to bridge that gap as well... Not that it will, but very well could.

Would be nice to see Apps from VS running in Linux and macOS. There's been some effort that one assumes supports this direction... Also, all things to make Azure nicer to use and better as a target are in their long term interest.

Exactly, that is why they bought xamarin in first place. Xamarin was key product. They will push Xamarin as hard as they can in all platforms simultaneously and since they are biggest software company in planet, I see a bright future for Xamarin.

I agree, Xamarin is what will bring UWP to all the major platforms.

My question mark over iOS is because of how strict Apple are with approved apps. Will Apple like Microsoft bringing "app parity" into the iOS eco-system and more importantly will they allow it?

Isn't WP already dead? I've never met a single person using one.

I've had 920, 930 and I'm now using a 950 as my main phone: The hardware is superb, and I really like the OS (running Insider Preview Slow Ring). There has been a steady stream of Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview updates throughout the last year, bringing both new features and stability. In user interaction and interface consistency it is now much closer to iOS (or what iOS tries to be) than Android is.

That being said, it is pretty obvious it is a minuscule platform; apps are often lagging behind their iOS/Android counterparts, and there are some obvious ones missing (like Snapchat and Pokemon Go).

It is kind of sad really; I think it would be healthy with more than two major players, and Windows 10 users will probably feel quite at home in Windows 10 Mobile.

I tried using it for a year. Though the UI was polished, lack of apps was a big problem. For example, What's App Chrome WebApp support wasn't released for WP when the feature was launched. Even Audible and Kindle apps (considering these are from a major company like Amazon) on WP felt inferior to their Android counterparts. So just ended up buying an Android device around a year ago.

That's the saddest thing with my Palm Pre. It's a very refined UX without any current app support.

I have a Lumina 950 as a “second phone” for use with a local SIM when I travel, and honestly I love it.

I use it. I would rate it equally as high as the iPhone minus all the apps and apple craziness. And much better than android which I don't care for. I plan on getting the flagship 950xl Lumia when this 930 im on now breaks, if it ever does.

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