Microsoft too slow.....

Just read this and I think its true....  I've had an iPhone and now I have Windows 7 Phone....

http://windowsphonesecrets.com/2011/01/18/software-updates-windows-phone-vs-iphone/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Well there are two ways to interpret that list:

1. Apple are agile and crank out updates at a fantastic rate keeping all their customers up to date.

2. Apple released too early and had to scramble to release updates that fixed all the bugs.

I will wait until the first WP7 update is released and compare it's release notes to Apple's first release notes to see which of the two options above looks most reasonable.

Herbie

To be fair, when the iPhone launched it was very anaemic (with less features than the current edition of WP7) and most of the updates in the first three months are for security and bugs. I haven't heard any horror stories about WP7 yet, so maybe that's not a priority for Microsoft. Maybe they actually are working on improving feature parity with other platforms?

Microsoft did announce the upcoming "Clipboard Update" at CES, so Paul could have counted that. It's a shame it won't be delivered for a while now.

Speaking from recent personal experience, I would rather have a slower release cycle that was less buggy than frequent headaches. It's almost like Firefox where you never actually realise what has changed.

5 minutes ago, vesuvius wrote

Speaking from recent personal experience, I would rather have a slower release cycle that was less buggy than frequent headaches. It's almost like Firefox where you never actually realise what has changed.

To be fair it's essential that a web-browser is patched often and regularly, and ideally (assuming all the changes are under the hood and security fixes) then it's a good thing you can't tell what's changed.

In other news, Firefox 4's out soon. Whilst it looks good on Aero Glass, I don't know if I can get behind the style for XP.

It would be nice to know MS is planning.  And shouldn't copy and paste been there from the start?   I see people say they don't use it, but I use it a lot.

I think small regular updates (and well tested) is the way forward as it will feel like progress.  MS feels like its too big to be agile to win the market.  Pre Christmas there were lots of ads on TV and they have no gone...

I like WP7  and I want it to win, but we see MS fail so much over the last 10+ years......  It would be a shame.

Speaking of updates, does anyone know if we also get new APIs with the upcoming update? New end user features are all nice and stuff, but one of the biggest complaints from developers are the large holes in the API as compared to the iPhone.

I don't know. Typical Windows users complains it updates ALLLLLL the time. Of course they sometimes got it confused with frequent Adobe updates, but, Windows updates basically weekly.

On the other hand, I do agree on it. IE release is too slow and not only that, the changes are marginal as well. But, I guess it has to do with coporation blahing (need multiple IE co-exists gosh). I used to want WLE update more frequently, but, for now, I am happy with it.

I really wish to try on WP7 copy&paste and provide feedbacks. I think the virtual keyboard is missing arrow keys, and probably best to include copy+paste key with a button like symbo swith keyboard. From what I have heard, I don't like how it works.

The big difference here is that it's a different market now. You can't justify WP7 missing features because the iPhone didn't have them or had even less when it first came out. When the iPhone came out the market was much less crowded. The bar has been raised several times since that day. When presented with current day phones consumers will pick the one that suites them best (or is most flashy ). No one is going to cut Microsoft a break here.

That said I agree with Paul's analysis and hope that Microsoft adopt a more agile approach to their updates. One big difference between the Windows updates and these updates is that they should come with new features and functionality so the use understands and accepts why there are so many.

@Larry Osterman:

That's how they feel . But, I do feel it updates more than once a month. I think it is more than Windows, because I have silverlight, WL, and Office.

Also the crappy HP Desktop my bf has failed to updates a lot (Office updates), so it keeps repeating. and I couldn't figure out why it fails. I had to disable Office updates in the end. Those pre-build PC really sucked.