And Microsoft was pushing updates and security patches to all those XP machines. Still are, over 10 years after initial release.
Whereas Android users are lucky if they're still getting updates and security patches after 10 months.
Whereas Android users are lucky if they're still getting updates and security patches after 10 months.
For the same reason, Android fragmentation is a non-issue.
No, this did not made the Window ecosystem "fragmented" in the sense that Android is. Windows always had excellent backwards and forward compatibility, which meant you could develop for XP and still run on Vista and vice versa. You just couldn't take advantage of the latest and greatest APIs, but most apps used the classic APIs anyway --you still had access to the whole of the OS and hardware across all Windows versions, even with a custom built C API or MFC.
On Android devices you are cutoff from using tons of features if you can't deploy to the latest versions. And you have to walk a very fine line to make it compatible with all versions/form factors, and mostly cut corners.
For the same reason, Android fragmentation is a non-issue.
A, the classic "lalalala, fingers in the ears" argument.
which meant you could develop for XP and still
run on Vista and vice versa
You should really go and read The Old New Thing, as it's really enlightening: http://amzn.to/wW0Okn
As to backward compatibility, just like on Windows, it is the developers' responsibility to ensure he refrains from using APIs that are too recent. For example, if you write a Windows Direct3D 10 game, it won't run on XP because this API is only available on Vista and up. Same thing for Android: select the right API level when developing your app! http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/api-levels.html How is Windows better/different than Android in this respect?
I speak from experience. I have developed on both Windows and Android, contrary to most people in this thread.
You distinguish between security updates and OS updates. I'm not aware of any difference, an update is an update. I've never seen an OTA update that wasn't a point release. How are these deployed differently?