Pooter

Exactly. It should be easier AND cheaper to roll out the better wireless where there are more, wealthier people and where there is greater density.

The fact that wireless sucks in the big cities of the US is indicative of crappy service, not technical challenges.

That's a bullshit excuse.

I live in one of the largest cities in the USA. AT&T's 3G sucks here. If I go 15 miles west of here, it's suddenly way faster. This is entirely because AT&T doesn't invest in backhaul infrastructue. It's got nothing to do with the density the country, and everything to do with the lousy infrastructure investments of the wireless carriers.

Wireless in this country sucks cause we don't demand better. If it's socialist to want my government to go after these bloodsucking bastards and make them provide better service for the exorbitant fees they charge, I'm content to wear the red armband everywhere.

Doing stupid things is a basic part of the human condition. You may do more of them if you're stupid, but you still do plenty of them when you're smart, too.

Im fine with the dumb phone OSes they've produced - they're actually nice to use and probably the best of such systems that I've used.

My experiences with their symbian devices, though (all s60, devices) was terrible. Crashy, with ugly and poorly implemented features, and a ui experience well behind other devices. To be honest, I haven't tried the ^3 series, but the reviews I've read don't indicate to me that they've addressed the problems.

Maemo, I've played with a bit, and it seems fine, but not great and not compelling over iOS or Android. And ive only seen it on one of their tablets.

Maybe its personal preference, dunno.

I don't think the comparison between 1997 Apple and 2011 Nokia is particularly close, or instructive for understanding the deal.

But I do agree that this probably is a good deal Nokia; and for Microsoft. Nokia was never all tha great with software, and is generally a hardware engineering focused company. Basically, they're outsourcing all the software dev work to Microsoft. And, apparently, getting paid (possibly very well) to do so.

Microsoft, on the other hand, buys themselves exclusivity with a major hardware manufacturer. Instead of getting secondary consideration after Android from the likes of motorola or HTC, they get the whole smartphone focus from a company with a reputation for producing reliable and high quality hardware.

Honestly, and all jokes about two dinosaurs getting together to avoid extinction aside, this is probably the best move for both companies, if they're going to stand an chance of being able to compete in the upcoming smartphone market.

Doesn't really help dispel the notion that Perl is a dead language, does it?

It's worth pointing out that the default word order of English is SVO, and not VOS/VSO like the "word" order of LISP. Perhaps, John McCarthy is a native speaker of Malagasy?

Meh.

I saw speculation about Nokia switching to WP7 about as soon as Elop went to Nokia. It's hardly a surprise that they've been working on this stuff for a while.

Or it's some Photoshop renders. Either way.

Given that this is a press release from MPEG-LA hosted on its own website stating that MPEG-LA is asking for information about possible WebM infringements, I assume it's being driven by MPEG-LA.

Just because you want WebM to not infringe and to succeed, that doesn't make any possible facts or remarks that potentially conflict with that wish FUD.

> I know, "apple doesn't license their OS dummy!". But think about this:

> 1. Android is selling more phones right now.

> 2. Apple is unable to manufacture enough phones, and has admitted in conference calls that they have lost sales for this reason.

On the other hand, Apple made 51% of all profits in mobile devices last quarter. With 4% marketshare. They've got tons of cash on-hand. If they want to start making a play for cheaper devices or somehow throw money at increasing production volume, they can do that rather than become a software OEM.

The reason Apple can a high quality integrated experience is cause they control the whole thing. If they license to Nokia, then they don't control the whole thing - there's another, fairly powerful party there who will throw whatever weight they have around to get things that favor them.

You also entirely ignore the problems. It's harder to develop for multiple hardware configurations. Apple and it's 3rd party developers have 2-3 iPhones that they develop for at one time (plus a few iTouches and the iPad). Limited hardware sets, fairly similar capabilities. That's a good thing for producing consistent, high quality user experiences and keeping support costs in-line.

Maybe it would've been great for Nokia to license iOS, but there's nothing in it for Apple, whatever you say, and a bunch of unacceptable downsides.