Another "WTF, Microsoft?" move

Link

Awesome! Embrace the Android!

All silliness aside I'm glad to see Microsoft breaking into new territory outside of Windows. Maybe it won't be "he who has the best walled garden" wins but rather "he who has the best reach" (not to be confused with "most" reach). Sure they could extend themselves too far but UI for one would love to too Microsoft's eco system spread out across OS's

I think that this stage, Microsoft has more cross platform reach than other more "open" companies. They constantly release software for other platforms.

It's probably going to Android first because WP7 doesn't have the right API hooks (yet?). This is exactly something I've been wanting for a while. For example, I want my WiFi to generally be off except for when I'm within certain geo-fences that represent Wifi hotspots that I commonly use such as home and work.

Before this on{X} thing, it appeared that Microsoft was going all in on Azure, Xbox Live, and other online services like SkyDrive. They didn't seem to care what application platform you install on Azure or what kind of devices you used to connect with their services as long as you're using their service. This on{X} thing is different. It doesn't appear that the intent is to drive more users to their online services. They created an app to make using Android phones more useful.

uhh that's not a WTF, it's an OMGAwesome. Looking forward to seeing more from IPE in the future ...

@cbae: I bet they'll put hooks in for Microsoft eco system stuff eventually because otherwise you're right it doesn't make sense. Also there's already a very mature app by the name of Locale that does what on{X} does already so I got to believe they are doing more that putting out a simple direct competitor to that.

Why Android first?  Because Android has full multitasking, which this type of application requires.  WP7 only lets you use 'background agents' which can either run in the background for 10 minutes or can run briefly once every 30 minutes (not a configurable time-period). iPhone has similar limitations. This could not be written for WP7 without writing it as part of the OS, which would be too complicated for a research project. It wouldn't surprise me if this appeared in WP8.

I have several apps that I wanted to write for WP7, but this limitation prevents them being realised to their full potential, which is a shame.  I'm researching the best approach to writing Android apps for these ones.

Herbie

@Dr Herbie:

Yeah, that's what I thought. And that's why I like WP7 because I prefer "background agents" and scary true multi-tasking.

How does it compare with TouchDevelop for WP7, which I believe comes from MSFT Research? That was fun for a little bit, but I could never really find a genuine use for scripting on my phone.

@Dr Herbie: +1

True multitasking would be nice, but I appreciate how that could easily turn into a battery hog. I would settle for a global event system able to launch/resume some user-approved applications when a specific event occurs.

It's nice to see MS getting back to being a software company rather than a platform company. If you have a good idea, put it on every platform that you can.