Is Windows Phone still a good option?

There is considerable uncertainty around Windows phone. I would like to talk through some of that. And I would like to evaluate if Windows phone is still a good choice for me. Not you, me. I am thinking out loud here, hoping my thought process will help you as you contemplate switching to or from Windows phone.

An Introduction to Building Windows Apps for Windows 10 Devices

Holy Moses, I’ve been published in MSDN Magazine!

You have lived to see it: a single Windows OS that can run across every type of Windows device. It has a single device platform to enable true universal hardware drivers and a single application platform to enable true universal Windows apps. Years in the making, this is a significant engineering accomplishment.

At the OS level, this means a single, maintainable and agile code base. For developers, it provides a unified, reliable API surface across every Windows device, from Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as Raspberry Pi to phone, Xbox, tablet, Surface Hub, laptop, PC and more (like Microsoft HoloLens). As shown in Figure 1, it’s a write-once-run-everywhere promise delivered in Windows 10 with the universal application platform (UAP).

Read the whole article here.

Why you must build a HoloLens app

These are becoming the golden years. Microsoft has accomplished several amazing things at one time. First, Windows Core allows a driver tested against x86, x64, and ARM to run on every possible Windows device. Then there is UAP, the Universal App Platform, a contractual subset of Windows APIs enabling Windows Apps and a universal experience across every possible device.

Windows Core is Windows 10 is Windows Core is Windows 10

If you want to understand Windows 10, you need to understand some of the underpinnings that make it possible. It’s more than the next version of Windows. There are engineering accomplishments that have been underway for years; they culminate in a new kind of Windows and a significantly advanced approach to enabling apps across devices.

Resources for making apps accessible

Articles

Accessibility Resources for Developers (Portal with many links)
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/28725.accessibility-resources-for-developers.aspx

Accessibility for Windows Runtime apps using C#/VB/C++ and XAML
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh452680.aspx

Accessibility for Windows Runtime apps using JavaScript and HTML
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh452681.aspx

Make your Windows 8.1 app accessible. Reach more customers!
http://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2013/10/22/make-your-windows-8-1-app-accessible-reach-more-customers/

Testing for accessibility in Windows Store apps
http://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2014/03/25/testing-for-accessibility-in-windows-store-apps/

Using Narrator on the Desktop
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hear-text-read-aloud-narrator#1TC=windows-8

Using Narrator on the Phone
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/how-to/wp8/settings-and-personalization/use-narrator-on-my-phone

Microsoft Accessibility Standard (MAS)
http://enable/RelatedResources/MAS%20v2/MAS%20v2%20Final.docx

Channel 9 Videos

Introduction to Accessibility
http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Introducing-Windows-8/Introduction-to-Accessibility

Designing with Narrator in mind
http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Introducing-Windows-8/Narrator

How to Build an Accessible Windows 8.1 App
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2013/2-001

Lessons Learned from Building Alarms and Calculator for Windows 8.1
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2013/2-060

Tips and Tricks for Designing a Great Accessibility Experience for Your App
http://channel9.msdn.com/events/Build/2014/2-539

DevRadio: Application Insights

How do your users actually use your application or website? Jerry Nixon welcomes Rahul Bagaria to the show as they help answer that question by introducing us to Application Insights, a new service offered in Microsoft Azure with ties to Visual Studio 2013 and Visual Studio Online.

Did you know you can use Visual Studio to write an Android app?

You might think you need x-code to write an iOS app. You might think you need eclipse to write an Andriod app. Visual Studio, is it just for Windows?

The answer is a solid “No”. Since the recent update of Visual Studio 2013 Update 3, developers have comprehensive tooling to support Apache Cordova.

Let’s Code! Strongly-typed Experiences in Prism MVVM for Windows Store

Microsoft Patterns and Practices has created Prism MVVM for Windows Store Apps. This lightweight framework/toolkit gives you what you would get with MVVM Light but with some helper classes specific to Windows Store Apps – like app lifecycle management, extended splash screen, and orientation detection. 

Navigation Service

One key to Prism and every MVVM framework is the Navigation Service. Prism’s Navigation Service has a Navigate(string, object) method into which you do not pass the page type, no. You pass the Experience.

More Free Training: Developing Windows Store 8.1 Apps using XAML

Daren May and I are back to walk through the core C# and XAML concepts of Windows Store development, in our Microsoft Virtual Academy courses on the subject, refreshed from Windows 8.0 to Windows 8.1. Sit back and relax for nearly 16 hours of free developer training. 

The most Comprehensive Blend for Visual Studio training you will ever receive – for Free; you’re welcome!

November 2013, immediately after the release of Visual Studio 2013, I sat down for an all-day session with Unni Ravindranathan, the Senior Program Manager for Blend. Who better to walk through, not the new features of Blend, but all the core features of Blend – and the new features, too. In some cases, Blend for Visual Studio 2013 returned some of the features removed in Blend for Visual Studio 2012. But in many cases, it’s just candy tooling for the XAML developer.

Is this for you?

Do you want to see Blend in action and learn how to incorporate its bountiful power easily into your current projects? Windows 8 projects, you bet! Silverlight projects, you bet! Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) projects, too? You bet! Blend is a tool for XAML developers, not just Windows 8 developers. In fact, in some cases, Blend does more for the Silverlight and WPF developer. So, enjoy.

Over $100 million available to purchase Windows apps this holiday

Like most retailers, the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store see a spike in shopping activity around the holidays. Last year holiday sales of paid apps grew 40% over baseline, and we expect an even more robust Holiday 2013 due to an even larger base of Windows and Windows Phone users with more ways to pay for apps.

This holiday season we’re launching Windows Store gift cards, making it easy for consumers to purchase apps from the Windows Store or Windows Phone Store.

Windows 8.1 design principles hand developers back their sanity

When the computer mouse was new, it was simple to use but unfamiliar to users. As a result, user manuals could not say “click the red X”. Instead, they had to say, “move the mouse on your desk to control the pointer on your screen”. The idea of the mouse was new – the conversation had to start several steps back. After the mouse was successfully socialized and established as an input modality, user manuals could confidently say “click the red X”.

How Apple’s new IPhone 5S bald-faced copied Microsoft Windows Phone

There is no shame in copying excellence. In fact, I would say that a core tenet of excellence is its ability to inspire excellence in others. Microsoft had the first smartphone, that doesn’t diminish Apple. Microsoft had the first smart watch, that doesn’t diminish Google. Microsoft had the first DVR, that doesn’t diminish Tivo. You see, standing on other’s shoulders (not their necks) is a harmonious succession of advancements and innovations in the marketplace. Long live compound innovations.

Am I the only one thinking it? If Microsoft was the first, why does everyone else get credit? The reason is clear and irrefutable. History rewards the successful. Creators may innovate an idea (say, a GUI and a mouse) but whoever brings it to market successfully receives that historical reward. Of course, nobody would believe Microsoft invented the smartphone; like, nobody would believe Microsoft didn’t invent Windows – clear and irrefutable. Sort of.

Let’s start this out on the right foot. Is “bald-faced” a loaded word? I think what I meant was “seemingly”. :)

There is an abundance of excellence in the Apple, Android, and Windows Phone products. Excellence in engineering comes from people, and each of them employs people. Excellence in design comes from people, and each of them employs people. No single person “owns” innovation. Concurrently, no single company does either.

I believe when companies fight to be the most innovative, consumers win.  

Having said that, today was the reveal of Apple’s IPhone 5S. A truly beautiful offering. Not one that I plan to invest in, but one I can appreciate. As I admired it, I suddenly realized why I liked it. Imitation is the best form of flattery. And, the new IPhone 5S (and IOS7) has some particularly flattering features – especially when you consider them next to a Microsoft Windows Phone.

Windows 8.1 says, “Forget all that Design Stuff from Windows 8.0”

WHAT DESIGNERS HAD BETTER KNOW ABOUT WINDOWS 8.1

Let’s be perfectly clear, the Windows Design Guidelines in Windows 8.1 are, at a high-level, identical to those in Windows 8.0. However, in their practical and tactical guidance they are so different, that idyllic Windows 8.1 apps would potentially fail Windows 8.0 Store Certification. These guidelines, now hardwired into Microsoft developers and designers, remain consistent and contrarian to the Windows 8.0 guidance.

Microsoft Design Principles

The 5 core principles of the Windows Style, or the Microsoft Design Principles are unchanged. They are: 1) Pride in Craftsmanship, 2) Fast and Fluid, 3) Authentically Digital, 4) Do more with Less, and 5) Win as one. They have not changed in practice or in theory.

This is the most important control you may ever use

There are two version of PianoTime for Windows 8 – a successful title from a Colorado publisher. The free version sponsored by ads, and the $3.48 ad free version. Do people purchase their way out of ads? Yes, they do. Do most people. No, they don’t. So, is it worth it?

Freemium

Freemium is a booming business model for apps. Because of digital production, product copies can be given away. They are done so without an expectation that all or most users will buy. Instead, a single-digit percentage will purchase. But, the wealth of free functionality drives market penetration. As a result, that small percentage surpasses traditional pay-for-what-you-get purchase.

For example, a durable consumer purchase is the ad-free version. Similarly, an in-app purchase hiding ads is the same. Both provide users the full fidelity of an app. They can use it. They can love it. They can rely on it. All for free. Market penetration grows. Respect for the app and annoyance around ads are the purchase motivators. The percentage is small, but the number is large.

5 things you must do BEFORE you publish your app.

You have your idea. You are developing your app. It’s coming along great. You can see the finish line. But do you need to do more than just develop your app? Here are 10 things you should do before you publish.

When Windows 8 copies Windows Phone, we are all winners

Windows 8 is the reimagining of Windows. Sure. But, let’s not forget, Windows 8 didn’t invent the new design language, Windows Phone did. To be fair Windows Media Center introduced the first low-chrome Microsoft UI for the 10 foot experience. Zune, then, adopted that clean approach and adjusted it for a small touch screen.

But, it was Windows Phone that took what we used to call the Metro style to the limit. That team created a crisp and clean design language that was magically pervasive and universally appreciated. Windows 8.0 adopted it, Windows 8.1 gets even more like Phone.

Here are some of the new things in Windows 8.1

Windows 8.1 is imminent. What’s the word on the consumer features new to the update? Here’s the top of the list.

Search

Get results form your PC (like files, songs, and settings) and from the web with Bing. For some searches, you can tap or click right from the results to open maps, play songs, or call a business.

What is a Microsoft account?

Store: A Microsoft account is the combination of an email address and a password that you use to sign in to services like Hotmail, Messenger, SkyDrive, Xbox LIVE, or Outlook.com as well as products including Windows 8 PCs, Windows Phone and Xbox. If you have made a purchase from Microsoft online, you may already have a Microsoft account.

Live: Your profile contains personal and work info that you'd like to share with your friends. For example, you can share contact info, including email addresses, phone numbers, and street addresses for your home and work. You can also connect services like Facebook, LinkedIn, flickr, and Twitter to your profile

There is absolutely *no* reason you aren’t using Visual Studio ULTIMATE!

Often when I talk to developers the examples I provide them or the walkthroughs I give them don’t match their version of Visual Studio. And why? Because they are using Express. Expression is the free version of Visual Studio and for what it is, it’s awesome. But VS Ultimate is the freakin’ bomb!

Here the deal: if you are a developer there is absolutely no reason reason you aren’t using Visual Studio Ultimate to build your Windows 8 app!