Brand new OS, brand new hardware, what could possibly go wrong? Last time they did this (Playbook - new hardware, new OS) it was a gigantic hit, right?
Hey, you remember the Apple Lisa?
In my experience WP has been well integrated and there's not really any need to tinker with anything (which I suppose some don't like, but for me I just want my phone to work).
The problem is in getting people to give it a fair go. I hear a lot of iOS and Android complaints that don't exist on WP, and when I bring it up people just laugh.
But I laugh at Windows Phone 8 because of Windows Phone 7. I simply do not trust Microsoft to not abandon its users again (and as a former XNA user, I distrust them there too).
Even still, it's not like Windows Phone 7 users are just up and fucked, they're still receiving updates (like WP7.8). That's good for people who bought into the platform less than two years before WP8 came out; they're not left in the cold. Their apps still work, they can still install many of the new apps coming out, and when they do upgrade (almost all of) their already-purchased apps still work. It's not that Microsoft made a hard cut off and left WP7 users for dead, they're just not providing an OS upgrade from WP7 to WP8. Everything else still works like an incremental upgrade.
Windows Phone 7 still works, it's still being updated, and there are still just as many apps being released. And when you get a new phone with WP8, it will work just like WP7 did, and your apps carry over. There's no need to throw a tantrum; no one has been abandoned.
This is exactly what I'm talking about: people laugh at the platform with uneducated opinions they tout as fact and spread their "facts" to other people. It ends up being a game of telephone/Chinese whispers where the truth gets more distorted the more its repeated. If you'd really like to like Windows Phone as you say, as a developer or as a user, you might want to think about what you're saying about it first. That app you wrote in 2010 still runs on WP8, and the app you wrote in 2013 works just fine on a WP7 launch device.
I have no assurances, none whatsoever, that WP9 won't leave me with an un-upgradeable doorstop even if there isn't a kernel transition. They've showed that they'll be assholes even to their early adopters, so why wouldn't they be an asshole to me? And Microsoft's word is dirt to me, so I don't even believe them if they say it's the case. If they release WP9 and WP10 without fucking over their customers, I will consider them no longer radioactive. Until then, I refuse to be make P.T. Barnum more correct.
(Microsoft's penchant for abandoning technology is also why I won't write code for Microsoft platforms anymore except for ports of my C++ games because that's still where a worthwhile percentage of the market is and I can't not target it. Which sucks, because I really like C#, but they made that bed, not me.)
Again I'm going to repeat: Software from WP7 works on WP8. A majority of software from WP8 will work on WP7. What are you missing out on by not getting WP8? A couple features only made possible by the new hardware released with WP8. Let's go with your Apple example: if you bought an iPhone 4 right before the release of the iPhone 4S, yeah, you "got" the update to the latest software version, for certain definitions of "got". What didn't you get? The biggest part of the update, basically the whole reason for the new phone: Siri. Without Siri, you've got a minor software update to last generation's phone.
So Microsoft is calling a spade a spade, where Apple is hiding behind a bigger version number. Apple leaves out big features from their software upgrades for users on last year's phone, but it's okay because the version number is one higher? That's not leaving their users out in the cold? You don't feel burned for not getting Siri on your iPhone 4? Because on both iOS and Windows Phone, you're getting updates for an old phone, and on both iOS and Windows Phone you're only getting the parts of the update your phone will support. Whether you buy that the phone support is the issue or not, that's how it goes. The only difference is the major version number, and if they're lying to you about it or not.
I guess I don't understand how it's acceptable for Apple to fuck you over and lie to you about it, but not for Microsoft to just release an update for an old phone.
Apple restricts some features from OS updates in ways I do not appreciate, sure. And it was a factor in me going to Google's Nexus device line. But it was a small factor because, in practice, Apple doing so was not a significant issue--I didn't care about Siri and Apple's messaging toward third-party development meant that I still got third-party applications that interested me that could run on my iPhone 4. Microsoft is not encouraging people to develop for WP7. It is a second-class citizen at best because WP8 is out, it is the new hotness, and no, WP7 loyalists, you can't have it. And there is nothing to indicate that they won't do the same for WP9. Or WP10. So when they get a couple of iterations under their belts where they have treated the customer in a way I am willing to pay money for, I will consider them.
Of course, they'll in all likelihood be pretty much dead in the water by then and it'll all be moot.
What you want is for Microsoft to lie to you just like Apple does. And until they do, you won't consider them credible.
Again, what I'm reading from your posts is that you want WP7.8 to be called WP8. And until Microsoft starts to lie to you, you won't trust them. You've proven my point quite well, people will find the tiniest little things to bitch about when it comes to Microsoft. If you don't want to buy into the phone then don't, but stop telling your "truths" to other people who might. Please try to understand how ridiculous you're being.
I want my phone to have the literal newest-and-best for at least two years and I don't want the platform setting a direction in which I am not explicitly included as a first-class citizen. Which Microsoft isn't doing. And, sure, you're right that Apple doesn't do that either! Great! I use my Android phones as daily drivers and the Nexus devices do exactly that. Why should anyone do differently?
I also believe that the PlayBook is an extremely under-valued product. I, and quite a few people I know, use it all the time. For the price point it is a great device.
When it launched it was what, twice that? Also came missing basic features. That's what lead to the failure. I got mine as a gift, it's a nice device. Main complaint is no suffort from bigger third party companies (i.e. netflix, skype).
Five months later, RIM slashed the prices of the PlayBook. The 16GB model was sold for $199, $6 below the Bill of Materials costs.
RIM sold 700,000 PlayBooks before they lowered the prices, and even when they were selling them at a loss, they only managed to sell 1 million more.
Aside from its price point, it's not hard to see why the PlayBook flopped. When it launched, there were hardly any third party apps for PlayBook, the OS lacked autocorrection, the onscreen keyboard was barely usable, there was no integration with cloud storage, the default search engine was Bing, it had no store for media content, and of course: it had no standalone e-mail and calendar software.
The AppWorld isn't the barren wasteland of shoddy apps it once was either. I think they're slowly starting to attract decent developers.