++ the future of Microsoft Lumia mobile phones ++

Unfortunately, this reminds me too much of the story of the IBM PC.

IBM was an established vendor of big-iron systems when a small internal group somehow got into the position of getting a small system onto the market which was known as the IBM-PC. The tension between the big-iron guys and the small system group remained even as it became apparent that the PC wasn't a passing fad, but the core issue was that the big-iron guys didn't really like dealing with the public and the messiness of that marketplace. Eventually the big-iron guys won the internal political struggle and IBM shut down its PC business by selling the assets to China; et voila!! "Lenovo"!! Arguably, it was not the best decision by IBM, but it is a lesson in corporate politics.

MS really solidified its early position by writing PC-DOS for IBM, but the genius of Gates was negotiating with IBM to allow MS to write MS-DOS for everyone else which meant that MS got a small piece of every PC-compatible system sold. In addition, Gates could foresee the development of programs that were eventually to become platform-independent where that independence became a major selling point. What we have today as Office 365 has roots directly back to that foresight.

The operating systems from MS over the years have varied in quality leading to WINDOWS 10 with its associated update problems - problems which we with WIN10 cell phones are well aware of. In addition, cell phones are physical devices with all of the separate production and development issues that come with that territory and this is even more pronounced with "smartphones". By the time MS took this on, Apple and various other manufacturers running Android were well into both the game and market share. The app issues we complain about are often directly related to the slow release of SDK packages in the early days and the headaches that "death by update" have meant for developers.

When a CRM developer I know, who works for an MS partner company, attended an MS presentation a few years ago, he noticed that MS presenters weren't using WIN10 phones to show off the cloud integration; most were using iPhones and a few had Android devices. You shouldn't find it hard to guess what his next cell phone was.

MS has made it plain that they see a more clear and profitable path into the future with Azure and cloud-based operations where they are writing interfaces for systems with a minimum of the messiness of dealing with public and the marketplace.

• I am also disappointed like many Windows fans & users (on Windows Central there are many user views praising the OS) ++ what to do : Join the resistance, because for me it is important to have Windows with me, so waiting for better times is an option (still more Xbox games are available on Windows Mobile than on the rival platforms) ++ I am not an app developer (I would learn the basics on Microsoft Virtual Academy, if there was a supported future), but yes the developers, developers, developers have done a great job with many great apps & games ++ still what the platform offers is more than what it lacks ++ I would consider Windows Mobile as a reinforcer for UWP & let it develop freely ++ of course it is a futuristic hope that one day the upgrade advisor tells me to upgrade to Windows Core OS

Most of the mainstream support ended, so you can say “Windows 10 Mobile OS” development is dead in the water. But still, anyone can write there own app on UWP even with Visual Studio 2017 and deploy on Windows 10 Mobile device or submit to Microsoft Store. You only have to care to select the minimum target to build 15063. Still plenty device out there. Those devices are unique, rarity.

The mobile application development on UWP is still one of the easiest you can have! I hope one day UWP or WPF backs even Android and Linux.  The source of WinUI and WPF is already out there on GitHub and we may see an extended UWP (WinUI) and/or WPF over dotnet core soon. Before someone would tell otherwise:  we can uses WinUI on mobile devices Link (see the minimum target).  

Products Released: Windows 10 Mobile, released in April 2017

Mainstream Support End Date: 6/11/2019

Link

IMO: Windows 10 Mobiles are still almost the easiest to use devices. If there were new devices and stable support behind, I would still recommend it to anyone who can appreciate simplicity. With the fact of missing support I still recommend it to anyone who appreciate rarities 😊

Happy New Year Szilard

First - Happy New Year back to you and yours!!

Next - As an American, telling me that Windows is in the White House is hardly an endorsement and I'll bet real money that the Donald isn't on a Lumia (or about anything else requiring certain cognitive capabilities).

WileyFox Pro looks interesting in some ways, but is essentially an also-ran in the hardware department and even the latest version of WIN10 mobile is rapidly running out of a place in the support cycle without any future in sight. Oh, and the signature on your email has NOTHING to do with device connectivity.

I agree, live tiles are cool and I will miss them when they're gone.

MS stock prices are one thing, but the actual analyst reviews of current and projected income streams show a bright light around Azure and related infrastructure in the cloud; WIN10 mobile isn't even a thought in this. The "multilateralism" you describe is related more to the development of interfaces to tie disparate devices with disparate OS's to a common virtual thread.

Finally - and here we go again with another recurring theme - is the app issue. Over the last year or so, I've had 2 banks, a brokerage, and countless businesses either drop their WIN10 mobile apps or had them broken by "updates". I'm tired of trying to get things done on EDGE on my Lumia when I'm too often dealing with sites that themselves have "tired" of trying to keep up with MS's twists and turns on Windows mobile native browser.

I do wish you and the community the very best, but I don't see a mobile future in an MS mobile device and I am therefore planning otherwise.