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Someone elsewhere described this as the Osborne effect.

All Windows Phone 7 phones just became completely unsellable by current retailers. Microsoft just killed the WP7 market, which was already on life support and barely registered just above brain death a 2% of the total phone market anyway.

Anyone who already owns a WP7 phone knows now that it will eventually be a brick that Microsoft is going to give any software upgrades. Nice move Redmond (NOT!).

opiniator, on 20 June 2012 - 12:40 PM, said:

Why would anyone think that Microsoft cares about it's past partners or customers?

Most people with a Windows 7.5 device won't even care. The only one who cares is the tech nuts who watch blogs all dauy.

There atre millions of people who have phone that qualify for updates who NEVER update them.

lso other platforms have these same issues. Many devices over 1 year old usually dont qualiofy for the next upgarde or 2. Even tho the iPhone 3GS did get the 5.x update, the vast majority of the features are not avail. So what is thw point of having the updated OS in name only if you cant have all the fatures associated with it?

There are phone under Android that have hardware that likely could run Android 4.0 Amny are only 1 year old, but they wont be receiving this update. Why? Bec the hardware can't support every feature and it is pointless to try to make it work.

What people need to understand is this simple rule that comes to any device that ahs an operating system. And this goes for ALL platforms, not just Windows.

You computer or phones comes with a certain version of the OS. The only updates you shoudl receive is any update that si within the same family or OE versions. In other words, if your device came with Android 2.x, you shoudl receive any update with that OS version. So your device would not qualify for 3.x or 4.x.

Apple support for there device is easier bec they are basically all the same. Hwoever, you still dont get all the updates in each release. Any iPhone that came with 3.x, even tho you can run 4.x, you dont get to use all the featyures avail bec your hardware doesn;t support it.

Windows Phone7 and 7.5 and 7.8 are all ion the same family. Any one who expected ti get a free update to 8.0 was dumb to think they woudl get it.

This is no diffeent that your PC. if you are runnihn Windows 5.x or 6.x, any update with that same family you should get. MS however did a fast one by taking Vista @ 6.0 and making Windows 7 that uses 6.1. Technically they are the same and in the same family by version umber. But MS has done this with AlL Windows 4.x and 5.x versions, so it is expected. Apple does it as Well with OS X.

Allof those new features require a lot of power, after watching video I figured the 7.5 devices wont run it. I am so happy I waited because I surely was eyeing the Lumia 900. I decide to get the GSIII instead and I am happy with it.

The move is needed for MS to catch up...they cant always make a backward compatible device. Why expect them too? They usually don't. If your PC came with Windows XP, there si no law that says it should get a free upgarde to Windows Vista or 7.

On the desktop, Microsoft typically has a 3 year gap as Windows takes longer to develop. But on the phone, new OS releases come once per year for major version changes.. This happens on ALL platforms. Why is everyone acting so suprised.

Even tho any one with an iPhone 4 or 4S will be alble to run iOS6, you still won't get most of those 200 changes that comes with it unless you buy the new device.

The iPhoen 5 will sure have features based on its new size and power avail. Those application will not be avail for the 4 or 4S yet they will run the same OS. being the same in number and not in feature is just a waste of time.

Windows Phone 7 was released in Oct 2010. Thsi fall will be Oct 2012. You really expect that a 2 year old operating system will be support more than 18 months? I mean Really? Even ig you just bought a new phoen with 7.5. It was a major update, to the same OS. This is no different that a person who bought an Android phoen running 2.1 and they didn't get the 2.3 update. They are 2 years apart, you weren't suppost to get it.

Each dev uses a different number schemem for their software. 2.1 and 2.2 are 1 year apart based on Googles numbering system. 2.3 is 2 years later. If your device came with 2.1, there is no law that says you should get 2.3. 2.2...maybe.

As a HTC Titan user with WP 7.5 Mango , I feel completely the opposite to what would be expected, and here's why. When I purchased my Titan, I knew WP7 would eventually upgrade to WP8. Can anyone please call the name of any commercially available OS which when a full upgrade is done, doesn't also require new hardware ? Oh come on, i believe the belly aching is uncalled for. Yes, less than two years is indeed a pretty short time (in human years) to upgrade/cut support for "older" products. MSFT has to make WP platform competitive, and hence needs to upgrade.

Before you shoot off and call me a fanboy, I'm no way near a fanboy. A realistic approach is needed in regards to how companies upgrades are viewed. Anyone who can prove to me that iOS 5.1 or soon iOS6.0 can fully function and be as smooth as the iPhone 4S on the first gen iPhone ?

What I believe Redmond has done , is the raise the platform to the level to support all the features currently enjoyed by android and iOS devices. Nothing wrong with that. For me, my titan works, it does what i wish, and there's no major reason for me to go buy the latest.

Back to iOS for me, then. I don't tolerate [censored] like that.

Here the less sensational but more accurate thrth - If you're a WP7.5 user now, you'll get WP7.8 before WP8 ships nad when Nokia has a Lumia 920 that suports all WP8 functions you can upgrade to it for an upgrade fee. What a bunch of complainers and whiners.

John at Nokia here. I'd like to pass along some key info. The Lumia 900, Lumia 800, Lumia 710 and Lumia 610 will receive an update with new Windows Phone 8 features, including the new start screen. They will also receive a pattern of updates from Nokia that will deliver new features like wifi tethering, flip-to-silence and media content streaming. Nokia is also introducing new applications like Camera Extras exclusively for our Lumia range, games coming from Zynga, the makers of Farmville, as well as updates to Drive and other signature experiences.

Some of the new innovations on Windows Phone 8 are hardware dependent like NFC and multi-core processors and so cannot be made available on existing hardware. That said, the existing Lumia line can and will serve people quite well for some time to come.

Apps support for WP 7.x phones will decline soon what will make using WP 7 not longer fun. The 2% WP 7.x phone users in the market are a real minority and the "consolation price" won't be a sufficient move to show the early adopters enough respect. But Microsoft fanboys will never learn. They are happy to get milked again when they are buying a WP 8 phone.

QUADICON, on 20 June 2012 - 02:31 PM, said:

WP 7.x users will care when the Apps support will decline - and that will happen soon. No updates, no new stuff. WP 7 is dead!

mike6875, on 20 June 2012 - 12:53 PM, said:

They do, but only so long they keep buying new Microsoft products...
All WP 7.x users are very welcome to buy a WP 8 phone and throw the old phones away.

MichaelMullins, on 20 June 2012 - 05:08 PM, said:

You mean like enjoying Siri on a 3gs. Oh wait a sec, you CAN'T!

harryE2v7u, on 20 June 2012 - 11:56 PM, said:

What utter guff.

MattClarke, on 21 June 2012 - 02:14 AM, said:

Siri != OS.

iPhone 3GS released June 2009, Siri launched October 2011. Samsung Focus 2, released May 2012, Windows 8 expected Fall 2012.

Yeah, that's just the same.

The fact is that the 3GS lacks hardware that was introduced in the A5 chip to allow Siri - an OS feature - to function reliably. Microsoft is saying the same here, but why wait until so late? Did they not anticipate how Windows 8 would interface with phone hardware? Could they and their partners not have ensured that WP7 phones released in the second quarter of 2012 already had the required hardware to receive Windows 8 a quarter or two later?

I'm not one for bashing Microsoft without reason, but I think people who have recently bought new WP7 phone models do have some cause for grievance.

Oh, and if the editors are reading, s/consistantly/consistently/.

This post has been edited by crosswordbob: 21 June 2012 - 03:42 AM

crosswordbob, on 21 June 2012 - 02:56 AM, said:

Not quite true. Siri doesn't use much in terms of hardware - its processing is done on (Apple?) backend servers - which is why you can't use it without an internet connection. There isn't anything special in the A5 chip to allow/disallow this. Besides - it doesn't work on the iPhone 4 by default either. Windows Phone 8 uses a revised kernel architecture - something that's far, far larger than the jump between iOS 4 and 5. And the answer to your second question is: Probably not, especially if the difference does, in fact, have hardware origins (if, say, WP8 devices are required to have dual-core processors). That being said, this is also only the official line. We may end up seeing something more like the transition between WM 5 and WM 6 (or the HD2 between WM 6.5 and WP7), where quite a few phones didn't officially have updates, but updates were brewed by the community as the OS had drivers compatible with older hardware.

spacespeed, on 21 June 2012 - 06:39 AM, said:

Not true, I'm afraid. The A5 chip introduced Audience second-generation noise reduction technology directly into the chip. The second generation is specifically to address "far-field" noise, which is the main problem with voice-recognition at arms-length. That's almost certainly why only the 4S and (soon) the new iPad (with the A5X chip) are expected to get Siri. The iPhone 4 has the A4 chip with first-generation Audience off-chip.

http://www.appleinsi...h_for_siri.html

This post has been edited by crosswordbob: 21 June 2012 - 06:54 AM

crosswordbob, on 21 June 2012 - 02:56 AM, said:

It's a non-issue for me. I got a Lumia 900 for free (AT&T rebate) that is beautifully constructed, works flawlessly on the minimalist hardware, and has more apps than I can use (and the ones I do use, like Nokia Drive, are terrific). They haven't cited all the new features of the 7.8 upgrade yet but I can't say I'm all that excited about more tiles on the home screen --- I might stick with 7.5, time will tell.

compnovo, on 21 June 2012 - 07:22 AM, said:

Oh, of course, far be it for me to tell you to be aggrieved! If it works for you, that's cool. I was just hypothesising that if anyone was bothered by it, I could understand that.

crosswordbob, on 21 June 2012 - 07:28 AM, said:

If you cruise over to wpcentral you'll find LOTS of aggrieved Lumia owners, so you make a good point. I was just trying to give another point of view.

MS' optics on this are beyond horrifying -- they could honestly have put Nokia in serious jeopardy as a going concern by doing this. MS has literally turned the 900 into today's HD2. Who would bother buying one? They will have to give them away. I truly cannot believe the marketing people at MS are this stupid. After the Windows Mobile 6.X debacle, changing to 7 with mandated hardware changes (i.e. abandoning then current users), and now going from 7 to 8 and again abandoning existing users, mandating hardware changes to go to 8.... How does MS expect any consumer to trust that MS will support them for more than a brief moment? Apple, and to a much lesser extent, Google, at least keeps faith with legacy users over the years. WP7 was supposed to offer the same, Apple-like model where MS would upgrade the OS and allow legacy devices to upgrade as well. As a WP 6.5 user, I remember the lies being spun by MS when WP7 was announced. Oh don't fret, you all will be "Windows Phone Classic" users and we'll still love and support you in parallel to WP7 and even update you to 6.5.3 that give finger friendly touch response (no stylus). Well BULLSH-TTTTT! After 7 came out, 6.X users were left to rot. NO further 6.X OS updates/fixes ever materialized. And then 6.X users had their "My Phone' contacts backup cloud service cut off. And then MS ended new apps in the 6.0 app Marketplace and then killed the 6.0 Marketplace altogether. I guarantee MS will do the same thing now, with 7 users. One minor update to "7.8" (not much room left, numerically, after that....) and then NOTHING ELSE, ever. OS Bugs? Eh too bad. No more updates. I truly cannot believe MS, which is in such a desperately poor position on mobile phone sales, would jeopardize things by angering and alienating ANOTHER batch of mobile users! And only two years since the 6.0 debacle! Terrible, terrible decision. Even if they just called 7.8, (with reduced features for single core chips), 8.1 or something, and called 8 (with full features for multicore handsets), 8.2 or the like, it would be far better marketing than what MS has, AGAIN, chosen to take. For shame.