++ the future of Microsoft Lumia mobile phones ++

++ after the acquisition of the short video app / social network failed, Microsoft boosts XBOX with an acquisition of a game developer : the deal is worth 7.5 Billion & it is another example that the resources were there to save Windows phone (just remember what happened to Mixer & to the huge investments there, e.g. Ninja) //

++ app store dominance is not a great thing for developers (this is why it was logical to fight for even a couple % Windows Mobile & do not keep your apps in one or few "baskets" ++ it is really high school economics, which was not understood by these executives) :

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/28/apple-suspends-fortnite-maker-epic-games-app-store-account.html

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/zuckerberg-apple-monopoly

++ thanks for the great IBM/ Lenovo comparison ++ & now prepare for over 20 billion $ spent on part of a social media app (best would have been to let the market free & solve the security concerns regarding the data & they just could have built an app from the base ++ but they are like Barcelona FC in the last seasons : the soccer team did not use its youth academy & instead they relied on costly transfers & the results were absent on the international stage) ++ as for the Microsoft Lumias running version 1709 : they are still great smartphones (especially those with 800+ Qualcomm processors) ++ the situation could be nice until January 2021, when the Office apps reach end of support + Power BI also receives support & the phones are a great gaming console, whether you prefer action, racing, logical, etc games ++ the phones still perform the great majority of their optimal workload (there are alternatives for many of the discontinued third party apps & this phone is a useful device, at least for media consumption or as a backup & a great piece of smartphone history ++ every CEO comes with his or her cultural background package & in the current Microsoft leadership term we have seen costly & discontinuous pragmatism & a phasing out process of the company heritage) //

An “amen” to all of that and not just with MS.

I was working w/ PC’s when IBM first released their PC and used their systems through the PS2 Mod50. I installed, used, and loved OS/2. I wasn’t the only one and IBM didn’t give a tinker’s damn.

Internal corporate politics killed the PC and it was sold and became Lenovo. OS/2 was alllowed to wither without support because IBM didn’t want a fight with MS over OS market share - and who was worried about a PC OS anyway when they were no longer in that market niche?

I, too, only use MS as necessary on my laptop and not at all on my phone as app after app fell off the system map and I switched to a Samsung running Android - I didn’t want to, but I literally couldn’t do the business I need to on my Lumia.

Unfortunately, as the saying goes, there’s only two kinds of people in the jungle when the elephants dance - the quick and the dead.

With the current incomprehensible (a weakest word that I could use) leadership policies of the company, I have little doubt that all what you have outlined will happen. It is not an economical, market-driven, or anything like that, decision. It is purely a political one and based on the personal preferences of a group of people that got into power. This did never end well in the history before, although big empires/corporations, of course, could still be around for quite some time as they have a lot of resources and 'psychohistoric' inertia - but we will see what happens.

Personally, after over 30 years of being a loyal Microsoft customer, I am mostly done with them, apart from emails, OneDrive and some other things that are difficult to change or frequently used by others - and not because I did not want to continue. Just was forced by all these decisions they keep making.

Examples when something good was ruined with little reason (and in IT, too) are not uncommon. Just think of what happened with Multics.