“On a rainy day last week, the scene at Microsoft’s campus in Mountain View, California, looked rather incongruous: several dozen developers sat in an auditorium, many of them taking notes on Apple laptops, while another programmer, also using a Mac, stood behind a podium flanked with Microsoft’s blocky logo,” Rachel Metz reports for MOT Technology Review.
“This wasn’t a secret meeting of Microsoft rebels; it was Microsoft’s attempt to lure developers who have been building apps for Apple’s incredibly popular iOS platform, which runs on the iPad and iPhone, over to its Windows 8 and Windows Phone platforms,” Metz reports. “…With many developers building apps for Apple’s gadgets and smartphones and tablets running Android software, the Redmond, Washington-based software giant finds itself in the unfamiliar position of needing to get developers’ attention.”
Metz reports, “Microsoft’s Windows Phone Store has over 120,000 apps, and the company has said it expects to have 100,000-plus apps in the Windows Store by January. Apple’s App Store, by comparison, offers over 700,000 apps for the iPhone and iPad.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Pfft.
Related articles:
Fujitsu President: Weak demand for Microsoft’s Windows 8 killing PC Sales – December 28, 2012
Philip Greenspun: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is a Christmas gift for someone you hate – December 7, 2012
MKM Partners cuts Microsoft price target, estimates on lower than expected Surface, Windows 8 sales – December 5, 2012
Why Microsoft’s Surface tablet is doomed – December 5, 2012
App developers shun Microsoft’s Surface tablet – December 4, 2012
Microsoft Surface Pro to offer only half the battery life of Apple’s latest iPad with Retina display – November 30, 2012
Microsoft’s Surface Pro iPad killer to start at $899 – November 29, 2012
Microsoft’s Surface tablet flops, orders reportedly cut in half – November 29, 2012
TechCrunch’s Siegler reviews Microsoft Surface RT: ‘It’s time for a drop test – right into the garbage can’ – November 19, 2012
Slate reviews Microsoft’s Surface tablet: Too slow, mercilessly buggy; why is it so bad? – November 6, 2012
InfoWorld reviews Microsoft Surface RT: A disappointment; you’re better off with Apple’s iPad – October 31, 2012
Gizmodo reviews Microsoft Surface RT: Do not buy; inferior to Apple’s iPad; the worst of both worlds – October 25, 2012
The Verge reviews Microsoft Surface RT tablet: ‘The whole thing is honestly perplexing; who is this for?’ – October 24, 2012
ZDNet’s Kingsley-Hughes: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is an awful, horrible, painful design disaster – June 8, 2012
Analyst meets with big computer maker, finds ‘general lack of enthusiasm’ for Windows 8 – June 8, 2012
Dvorak: Windows 8 an unmitigated disaster; unusable and annoying; it makes your teeth itch – June 3, 2012
The Guardian: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is confusing as hell; an appalling user experience – March 5, 2012
More good news for Apple: Microsoft previews Windows 8 (with video) – June 1, 2011
“If you’re a professional dancer, would you want to dance on a stage with broken boards and holes on the floor?”
I would like to get paid, which means dancing where the people are, and in a theater that’s nice to look at. A Las Vegas hotel/casino is OK, but not a barn in Podunktown. Doesn’t matter how nice it’s painted or how many light bulbs you put on the outside, inside it’s still a barn with no audience.
I have heard (not verified personally) that Micro$oft’s developer tools for Windows Mobile are actually very nice. Android’s as we all know suck big donkey dicks.
I have no idea if what you said about Android is supposed to be unpleasant. Do you speak from experience? Maybe next post you could use more civilized language.
The way Cubert used that term is the verbatim original version from which came the verb now commonly used simply to say something “sucks.”
So I guess you are saying that the etymology of the word ‘suck’ is not related to a personal service between two people? Generally, that subject is not for polite company and maybe not suitable for this forum about Apple products and new.
And how old are you Beaver Cleaver?
Looks like we have a morality patrol of a single individual, now with all the other crap you spew around here do you honestly think anyone cares what you think.
Using this Troll mentality whenever something you don’t like is what?
Maybe playing the stupid role is your bit, it fails everywhere else.
If you don’t like the posting of someone else and it also offends you, Big Deal.
MDN will take care of a issue if they see a problem, but don’t push your moral acclamations on anyone else as not being appropriate from your moral standing, if this is very disconcerting for you just close your eyes and hum real loud, you might feel better 3l3c7ro.
Leave 313c7ro alone. He made me look up
etymology.
The issue of clear lucid language has little to do with morality. It has to do with making points about something you want to explore while being respectful to others. Of course you can argue that respect is a moral issue and the we should not show respect to ourselves or to one another on this site but we would have to disagree.
There is more to life that the focus on the baser things of life.
Terms or statements don’t become verbs. Analyze your own comments before analyzing others. Your comment holds no merit.
What’s wrong with his language? I feel as though it speaks volumes!
Perhaps to someone who is in that field it is meaningful.
Suck – as in the opposit of. Blow. A difference of pressure.
Just a thought. Lol
Do not attempt to flame “The Cubert” new guy. You might just invoke the rath of a tin of people.
I wasn’t aware that I was attempting to flame anyone. I like to read and discuss Apple news with intelligence and civility.
I can appreciate your desire to read and discuss Apple new with intelligence. I believe that are not succeeding very well. That’s just my opinion but I do believe there are some pertinent facts to support this:
1. You appear to be unaware that the term “donkey dick” is an acceptable civilized albeit possibly colloquial term (see http://www.urbandictionary.com for several other uses of donkey dick.
2. You seem unaware that a word such as “suck” can have more than one meaning depending on the context.
3. Your statement “Generally, that subject is not for polite company and maybe not suitable for this forum about Apple products and new.” is also indicative that you are not succeeding with intelligent discussion. You should be aware that this forum in an American forum about an American company and that entails that it is not for polite company. Furthermore if there is something that you find unsuitable at this forum you need to contact MDN directly.
If you are indeed trying to discuss Apple news with intelligence and civility I suggest you go to a non-American web site.
I hope this helps.
I can appreciate your desire to read and discuss Apple new with intelligence. I believe that are not succeeding very well. That’s just my opinion but I do believe there are some pertinent facts to support this:
1. You appear to be unaware that the term “donkey dick” is an acceptable civilized albeit possibly colloquial term (see http://www.urbandictionary.com for several other uses of donkey dick.
2. You seem unaware that a word such as “suck” can have more than one meaning depending on the context.
3. Your statement “Generally, that subject is not for polite company and maybe not suitable for this forum about Apple products and new.” is also indicative that you are not succeeding with intelligent discussion. You should be aware that this forum in an American forum about an American company and that entails that it is not for polite company. Furthermore if there is something that you find unsuitable at this forum you need to contact MDN directly.
If you are indeed trying to discuss Apple news with intelligence and civility I suggest you go to a non-American web site.
I hope this helps…
Do you think that could be anything other than “unpleasant”?
Again, I have no experience with it and would rather not think in those vulgar terms.
Usually it’s civil here, but once in awhile it heads off on a questionable tangents. Most forums do, so you just ride out the bumps. Unless a forum is heavily policed by the owners with paid moderators to be clean and kid friendly, you’ll always experience a bit of the “Wild West.” That’s life on the internet.
Maybe “kid friendly” isn’t quite the term, not implying you’re a kid. I guess you could use the terms “Politically Correct” or “Socially Acceptable in Polite Company” too.
We can alway try to keep our language polite and intellectual. We don’t need policing but perhaps a little extension of our vocabulary. Strong sentiments can be conveyed without gutter language.
However, you can not deny that when an invocation of strong feelings is the intention, strong words will do the trick better than anything. In fact, I believe you’ve proven the sentiment with your reaction.
If it is your objective to avoid such language, then perhaps you’d be better suited to lock yourself up in a room, with no other people, no internet, no TV, and nothing to read. Just a thought…
Thank god you’re here, Self-Appointed Language Police man! If you hadn’t shown up to snivel about people using terminology that upsets you, the discussion might have continued on the subject at hand, and that just can’t be tolerated, can it?
Get a life, douchenozzle.
“I have no idea if what you said about Android is supposed to be unpleasant. ”
Not even slightly clever. I know you fancy yourself the language police on MDN, but being direct would be much better than writing something so stupid.
Cubert is merely trying to say not only do Android developer tools suck but they suck in a very very large appendage like way.
“Pfft”
I wouldn’t ever underestimate any firm with MSFT’s resources. Their products are crap, always have been, but that didn’t stop them from becoming the world’s largest software firm.
MSFT’s success is largely one of luck. They were lucky that they were handed a quasi-monopoly for business OS way back when IBM decided to use MS-DOS. They recognized the opportunity and came up with their licensing scheme. Then they misused this OS quasi-monopoly to get quasi-monopolies for Office and business server software.
That’s about it. Without the lucky break with IBM, none of that would ever happened, given the lack of creativity with the people on top.
The issue of number of apps is an interesting one. We all know that you really only need a few hundred great apps to satisfy pretty much everyone, But the perception of more being better is what draws people.
Remember as Mac users that was one of the canards we would hear all the time. “Oh well, the PC has more programs.” It was BS then and it’s BS now.
Windows phone is interesting to look at but once you use it for a while you realize you are doing a hell of a lot of unnecessary swiping.
Mac users (myself included) have always argued that more is not better, but what more does bring to the table is greater diversity. The true test is how well apps can be matched with potential users. With 700,000+ apps in the iOS App Store, it’s not really that much fun trying to find one that works best. I’ve tested that by searching for a good alarm clock app, and I very quickly got overwhelmed.
9 out of every 10 windoze programs truly suck, if they work at all.
I disagree with the number of apps being BS. It wasn’t then or now.
I used Macs even during the dark days, but often had to also have a PC for apps that I needed.
It wasn’t that I needed more than tens of thousands of apps; it was that I needed a platform that was required by specific apps.
I remember during those dark days, saying that if OS X ever got above a certain percentage (roughly 10%), that we’d see a lot more development and growth for the platform.
I think that’s happened, and is further enhanced by iOS as more developers are familiar with the common tools (Xcode) and Objective-C.
So with phones and tablets today… there are a lot of apps and services which are only available on iOS, or on iOS first, and then Android. There’s a huge gap between iOS/Android available apps and apps for Windows, and another huge gap between Windows and Blackberry.
I could go through a whole long list of hardware that has iOS only apps (or iOS/Android). What good is a Nest, TiVo, Security system, Sonos, or any other device (or service), if those things aren’t one of the bazillions of apps available for the platform?
Also another factor is what’s driving the development of the apps:
Developers who are bribed make lousy apps regardless of platform. (They tend to do the bare minimum, and don’t upgrade their apps)
Developers faced with lousy development tools make lousy apps.
Developers who have difficulty monetizing their work make lousy apps.
Apple has developers covered in every way.
Didn’t Ballmer T once say something about developers?
Yea, and he said it really loud with lots of enthusiasm. It should have worked.
Too bad they ran the other direction thinking a madman was on the loose. (Well come to think of it they were right!)
These developers will still want to develop for iOS, even if they decide to developer for Windows 8. That means they will want to have a Mac, so they can do both. So Apple still wins!
nowadays if i need to do something and i go to the app store to find an app its really hard to figure out which one will actually do what i want and not lead me down some rosy path to a subscription service. less apps might be a blessing . that said but it would be a cold day in hell when i would go to a party. clear off the coffee table. open up my flip stand connect my keyboard and then wake up the babe i was trying to impress to play a game on my windows tablet.
the uncool force is strong in this object Luke (the desktop pad)
Some think WP8 will help sink Android.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1085831-android-is-dead-part-4-new-contender-windows-phone-8
Yeah, and “some” thought that the iPhone was going to be a colossal flop.
When I was a hostage to Windows-land, I used to own an HP phone/PDA that came with the infamous Microsoft Windows CE operating system. The reason why I bought it was I was suckered by the mobile phone salesman who said that (a) they were the most popular model and ran the best mobile OS and (b) it was compatible with Windows XP that I was running on my desktop and could therefore sync programs (apps) and services across seamlessly.
I fell for the sales patter hook, line and sinker. Unfortunately, when I brought it home to use it, it turned out to be a stinker from Minute 1. The OS tried to mimic the drop down menus of Windows XP which was MS’s idea of unifying the desktop and mobile UI. I see that they are still up to their old tricks again of trying to fuse a desktop and tablet UI together under the Metro Tiles interface in WP8.
What this bald tool, Ballmer, doesn’t realise is that using a touch enabled device like a tablet or smartphone requires a different UI metaphor than a desktop which uses a mouse or trackpad to interface with onscreen elements.
I don’t care how easy these fools at MS make the development tools. If the fundamental premise of a touch UI is flawed and is glommed together with a desktop UI, you’re only going to experience disappointment as a user over how hard it is to manipulate items onscreen.
And at the end of the day if the user is dissatisfied, he will seek alternatives which is where I fetched up with the iPhone 4. Using MS products can literally bring tears to your eyes.
What I find to be so pathetic about this is that Windows 8, Windows RT and the so-called Surface are utter sales failures. The comment above about dancing on a broken floor in Podunktown pretty much speaks volumes.
I was in a Best Buy store yesterday and saw a few people fooling around with the Surface. The sales guy I spoke with said they received inventory a couple of weeks ago, and since that time they have sold exactly 2 units. He said no one was even considering the thing. In fact, there weren’t a lot of people looking at PCs at all. By contrast, the Apple store-within-a-store was packed. People were craving the iPad mini, snapping up iPads, and buying Macs. For MS, it must be like something out of the Twilight Zone (or Zune, ha ha).
The Mac rep in the store told me to wait until after the end of the year when sales numbers come out, and watch not only a decline in PC sales, but almost no movement in Windows tablet sales. Like we didn’t know that already. But if Monkey Boy Ballmer really believes that he’s going to catch Apple by bringing on developers (if he could get any), he’s hallucinating. MS’s day in the sun is OVER.
A lot of sales are driven by perception. You want to invest your hard earned money in something that will be around for a while. True or not things like Blackberries, Windows 8 and eve Office now look like technological dead ends to many people.
I also think people only want just a few leaders in phones and tablets. After that its confusing and too much work sorting them all out. Apple and Android models can be already bewildering enough for some.
My opinion is that a crowded app store would make developers work harder to get their stuff noticed (providing better app quality for a vast majority of the store). In all honesty , it doesn’t take a week to find a good app if you use a combination of App Store ratings, google search, and YouTube vids…..not to mention podcasts and tech blogs. Many apps even provide trial/free partial featured apps for user testing.
The Internet (and web browsers) made apps (programs) less and less important on computers. As users did more and more using web-based “apps” (web sites), the pure number of platform-based apps mattered less and less. So, during the last decade, the dominance of Windows in the PC market was eroded, because no one cared anymore that the Windows platform had far more apps compared to the Mac platform. Most users were no longer “locked in” to Windows.
iOS has reversed this trend on mobile devices. On iPhone and iPad, apps matter once again. This is because iOS apps are usually custom-designed for a specific (or limited) purpose, not “generally” designed like a web browser. Therefore, a mobile device, with more limited screen size, processing power, and battery capacity, can operate more efficiently and provide a superior user experience.
And THIS TIME, Apple has the upper hand. Once a customer starts using an iOS device and builds a library of iOS apps, it will be VERY difficult to dislodge them, even if a superior platform miraculously appears. History repeats, with the roles reversed…
No one ever seems to point out that the version of Office that M$ preload onto the Surface is for Home & Student use, so all these Windows nerds that insist the Surface is for “real work” are actually breaking the EULA if they use any part of Office RT for anything other than a school report.
Also, have you seen the Storage specs page? Talk about confusing!!
http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-GB/storage
Yeah, develop apps for whom? All 200 folks who were silly enough to buy Surface?? Pffffttt
Looks like Microsloth is a drowning swimmer trying to hang onto the Lifeguards and drown them too.
I’d welcome a world where ‘suck donkey dicks’ was the most ‘vulgar’ saying that I was exposed to – reminds me of someone who watched a Denys Arcand film and took offense to the “f” word being used in the film… I’m surprised sometimes when people edit out things nowadays… Anyways – just my perspective anyways…
I’ve seen a lot worse posted on these MDN threads. And I have to admit I’ve been guilty of some of those postings. I’ve cut out the language because it adds nothing to the conversation. Period.
Bullshit!
There does seem to be some kind of civilizing influence percolating through this forum. MDN, and its loyal readers who care, contain the clamor.
Sometimes.
This is in glaring contrast to the gasp-inducing frenzy of certain other sites I’ve now abandoned (sorting through a rubbish pile of acidic comments looking for a morsel of tech insight just isn’t worth the effort).
Microsoft will have a hard job convincing iOS developers to flock to W8.
At the end of the day, developers will only develop for W8 if:
a) they can see a long future for the OS
b) the OS enables their dreams to become reality in a reliable and straightforward way
c) the OS makes their apps look good and function well
d) they can see themselves getting paid!
…all of which can be realised RIGHT NOW with iOS.
W8, with poor take-up by the masses, indifference from the Enterprise, severe criticism from the trade press, confusion for the user experience, has a hard battle on its hands where developers are concerned.
Happy new year Microsoft, may you spend 2013 discovering that a tablet is a different beastie to a desktop machine and different yet again to a smartphone. Square pegs never did fit into round holes – a 3 year old gets this, will you?
Reliable, look good, function well – those are the key phrases right there. Fact is that W8 will provide none of those things. Check out reviews where it has taken hours just to get updates installed to the OS. Or the poor (few) souls that bought a Surface only to spend forever getting the thing set up. It’s a joke.
And yet, MS will continue to succeed in the enterprise with their server-based operating systems, SQL Server and even Office. It’s sad because even those OSes/tools have become too tedious for enterprise IT departments to handle. As far as tablets are concerned, I see more iPads in the enterprise than any other tablet – perhaps that will convince the enterprise to start looking at other non-MS server-based solutions.
“Now, with many developers building apps for Apple’s gadgets…”
Attention Rachel Metz, and all other Microsoft apologists masquerading as Tech journalists:
Using the diminutive,
“Apple’s gadgets”,
immediately delegitimizes anything you write further.