Microsoft will push for better interoperability between the two OSes, however MS will notably utilize proprietary features (disk access protocols or some-such) and encourage handset manufacturers to utilize and rely on these proprietary interfaces.
What's the problem with this? More features are better, right?
Wrong. When it comes to Microsoft, they will happily and quickly change proprietary communications protocols and file formats so that competitors -- AHEM, partners -- cannot keep up with these changes. At some point in the future, MS will ignore requests for technical specifications on the changes made and the partner's features will languish into obsolescence.
Features built on top of this integration between the two OSes will be half-baked and second-rate compared to the native Windows Phone experience, and they will be frequently incomplete or unstable.
MS will be using this opportunity to influence the direction of Android (and its derivatives), and they will be pushing it directly into the ground. Integration between the two OSes will break and Android will be left out in the cold.
Microsoft can't stop the success of other platforms as we've seen repeatedly in the 8000 years since that catchphrase hit the intertube forum messages. Interoperability will happen eventually regardless of whether MS initiates it or the EU demands it, because one day someone's going to be pissed off they're expected to "re-buy" half their apps and forget everything else just because they bought a new phone.
Google Chrome vs. Microsoft's IE6, Android vs WinMo 6/6.5, Gmail vs. 2004-2009 Hotmail. I'd rather put up with Google's decent-but-free alternatives than Microsoft's we-are-the-leader-so-we-will-stagnate-until-the-EU-demands-it-which-could-be-6-years-maybe-more.
It isn't like Apple and Google are not also trying to lock you into their platforms.
I know "competition is good", but microsoft isn't very good at competition.
Google is a bit different, since they have a distributed platform that you can use on literally, any OS. They definitely want people on their platform, but so far they haven't taken any steps to 'lock' people in (I mean, they renewed their contract with Mozilla, they open-sourced Chromium/Chromium OS, Android, etc...).
I suspect most people are in Google's ecosystem simply because it's better. And until Google say, makes Chrome and Google services run only on Chromebooks and Motorola phones, I'd say they haven't behaved the same as Apple and Microsoft.
I've tried both Firefox os and Ubuntu touch on my galaxy nexus. I've also tried regular Ubuntu and Debian on my Asus transformer tablet.
That was much easier and cleaner and proper than it was getting my iPhone boot android, which relied exclusively on hacks, and eventually bricked it during a failed factory reset.
Microsoft Thinks DRM Can Solve the Privacy Problem:
> "Under the model imagined by Mundie (a senior advisor to the CEO at Microsoft), applications and services that wanted to make use of sensitive data, such as a person’s genome sequence or current location, would have to register with authorities."
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/520226/microsoft-thinks...
Microsoft still has a lot of this "let's be dicks to make more money" culture inside the company, and until that changes, I want nothing to do with them anymore, and the fact that there are starting to be some serious alternatives to Windows now that are becoming increasingly more mature, makes me happy. I'd like it to remain that way, instead of having Microsoft crawl back to its former power.
You may think "Google does some bad stuff, too", but so far I've seen absolutely no evidence that Microsoft is better in any way than Google, and it's usually worse. So if that's the "choice" that's being offered (ironically by forcing themselves into our phones), then I want none of it. It's like saying Romney was a "choice" to Obama. Sure it was - an even worse one.
What I'd like to see more of is more open source operating systems becoming successful in the mobile world, like Ubuntu Touch or Sailfish or even Firefox OS.
;-)
I had an HTC HD2 back in the day that could multi-boot between Android and WP7, and it was extremely fun to tool around multiple OSs.
Openness of operating systems is only half the story. We need good hardware that allows us choice as well. Nexus devices seem like the one to pick these days, if WP and Android live together on more phones, maybe we will get more? Maybe that's a naive conclusion to reach, though.
Hello,
I am very excited that you plan to offer more choice to me as a consumer, but ...
... why stop at two mobile OSes?
Why not also load WebOS, Blackberry OS, and every other failed, also-ran mobile OS that ever existed?
That way, if you ship smartphones with 256 GB of flash, when all is said and done, I will still be left with 3 KB to store a few contacts of mine.
Sincerely, Yours truly, Joe Average Consumer