Finally, Windows Phone 8 is perhaps a good thing

Friday, I was at the Windows 8 dev camp in Microsoft's French office.
I went because I was looking for an answer to this question : why does Microsoft made something like Windows 8 ?

I think I came back with an answer : they're trying to mix PC, tablet and mobile.
When I say to mix I mean to keep the same UX on both.

I like this idea.

I also like the fact they're working with manufacturers so they move this idea to hardware : you can now buy TRUE tablets, not only gadget like the ipad.

So what ? Tablet PC isn't a new thing.
Yes, of course. But this time, it's tablet with the power of a pc, not a pc with a touch screen, a device with OS made for touch screen (and keyboard/mouse) not touch adapted to OS.

We talk here of what could be called Global User eXperience.

Apple made a (really good) work to give user a great experience on macbook, they also made the same kind of great work on ux with iThing but they didn't think global : MacOSX is not iOS and iOS isn't MacOSX.

For Google, they missed to make GoogleOS another global success. It's a shame because they won't be able to fight with the same weapons.

So I think Microsoft have now the capabilities to fight hard with Android.
Apple will soon fall because hype won't be enought on the coming years.

Don't take it wrong, I'm not saying Microsoft will be the next winner.
I said that, at this point, we have 2 competitors.
The winner isn't known yet and challengers could (re)appear to trouble the game.

Google fights with an messy OS available on a lot of devices including tablet, phone, notebook and TV but not PC in work office.
Microsoft fights with a OS for dummy, hiding a true OS you can switch to when needed, available on tablet, phone, notebook and PC but not TV.
So who is the leader ?
Google could clean their os to be as simple as iOS while Microsoft could move to TV (with the help of the next xbox ? Xbox and TV on a same device ?).

I see here a war between home (android) and office (windows).
It's a challenge because "basic" home consumers changed the world some times ago buying a mass of iOS devices, and killing RIM and Symbian.

I can't wait to see who will move first !
A very interesting year is coming and, yes, you have to count now with Windows Phone 8.

Who try to clone who ?

This week-end I made something interesting : i activated my iPhone and updated my nexus to ics at the same time.
While discovering the new ics, i also discovered how they cloned iOs.
Every change made from 2.2 to 4.0 are only from iOs. It was a very bad discovery....

Finally, it's my turn to follow Apple law...

After many years trying to avoid Apple and every iThings, I finally had to move on the Apple train.
I'm very late but, after some interviews, I finally realized it costs me a lot to blacklist Apple.

I so followed last week a 5 days training on iOS development.
It was great because I met some great people but the iOS ecosystem is still, for me, anti-freedom.

Of course, I realized what people may like on iOS, how easy it is to navigate, to swipe, to tap, to scroll...
Of course, I confirmed an iPhone is easier to use than an Android phone.
But seriously, anything you want to do, even as a developper, has to be validated by Apple.
For exemple, even to distribute an app for review to your client, the guy who pay this app, you need to register your client's device to Apple.
And I won't talk about guidelines which change each version.
And how you can't develop for older versions (yeah sorry, 3GS users, your 400$ phone is now good for trash because noone could develop for it anymore)

He Apple, do you remember I PAID for an iThing, a MacBook, an entreprise license ... ?
so please, let me do what I want !

I also learnt how fast you could create a first version of your app using XCode and Interface Builder :
it's just 3 times faster than for Android.
It's more difficult to be professonial (no doc generation, fake MVC, just awfuly difficult to reuse custom UI components...) but you could create a prototype in few hours

Anyway, I already reached my first goal : I'm now able to write ANE for any platform which is a good thing !
I can't wait for the last part of the training, in 2 weeks (about iCloud, private appStore, core data, ...), to reach my second goal : be able to answer any iQuestion of my clients about iThings or, at least, to know where to ask or find the answers