Opinion – The love-hate relationship with Microsoft with Android a new direction now, Microsoft has added a subsystem of Windows 10 for Android apps (but also iOS apps) to run. Is this a visionary strategy, or simply the only option for Microsoft?
The new strategy does not mean that everything is now peace and harmony between Microsoft in Google. As emphasized Microsoft CEO Terry Myerson this week that the company ensures that devices updated with the latest updates for businesses and sneers in a blog post that Google “refuse to take responsibility for updating devices.
The least bad option
The strategy to embrace Android is therefore anything but charity or respect for the competing mobile platform. Microsoft has on the cell surface basically two options to advance with a mobile operating system, and they are both unattractive. The current strategy could well be simply the least bad option may be.
The disturbing of this approach to port apps to its own platform is that it is embraced by complete newcomers (Sailfish, Tizen) or even dying operating systems (Symbian, BlackBerry). Windows Phone is not exactly a newcomer and the strategy also reminds the desperation moves that Nokia made in 2010 to revitalize the faltering Symbian new life.
Symbian failed with cross-platform
Years ago pursed Nokia praise the development platform Qt as the salvation of mobile development. With the philosophy write once, compile everywhere , developers would no longer have to pre-record write in Java or Objective C and one mobile platform.
Symbian was a lax Nokia’s response to new mobile operating systems far behind and developers did it in 2010 and beyond especially iOS and Android. Nokia also got this through and dumped Symbian to make a deal with Microsoft to use Phone 7 (now Windows Phone). Qt was made a year later by hand. Cross-platform development certainly has its supporters, but many developers prefer to remain in the language or toolkit that he or she is accustomed to.
Apps convert rather than build
Microsoft has Nokia’s struggles learned and do it slightly different by not sit down at the beginning of the development process. The reality is, of course, that many developers have long been focused on specific tooling and a single platform. It is for them much more attractive to port apps to another platform, then make them from scratch to build a cross-platform tool, such as Nokia still intended with Qt.
One of the criticisms we have of a number of developers at Microsoft Build conference heard on the new cross-platform strategy is that Windows actually makes it even less attractive to developers. Why would you indeed go build something for Windows 10 if you as well can write a native Android app to port then coming to Windows via the so simple conversion tool?
Push to irrelevance
But the alternative is that Microsoft continues to stiff the mobile strategy that Steve Ballmer inzette of ‘Windows first’. The company has tried in the last decade and it has Windows Mobile area almost pushed into irrelevance. On the other hand, embracing all platforms is not without risk:
Developers can the platform completely ignored and then forcing Microsoft to stabbing energy in so far as getting developers to do anything to go porting. Moreover, it should continue to play together with Google and Apple, to prevent those stabbing a stick for porting apps.
‘Windows first’ vs. ‘Mobile First’
This means that Microsoft is suddenly dependent on the whims of its mobile rivals. So when it comes to the choice between adhering to ‘Windows first’ or packed to go for ‘mobile first’, it is clear that both strategies are not ideal. The approach of Microsoft’s Nadella to Android and iOS apps embrace incidentally fits perfectly in the first mobile, cloud-first mantra of CEO and it is perhaps the only course open to challenge for the company.
No comments:
Post a Comment