It could have been the very poor download numbers I’m getting for my three apps on the Windows Mobile Marketplace. It could have been the total confusion I’m seeing within Microsoft about overlapping projects (FolderShare vs SkyDrive vs Live Mesh vs My Phone, Azure vs Live Framework, Win32 vs WinForms vs WPF vs Silverlight, WebForms vs MVC, etc). It could have been the disgust I have for Mr. Balmer, though I’m sure he works hard.
No. The hit came from behind. It came from a source I did not expect. I can still hear her sentence, thrown like a banality, just like when she talks to me about gossips.
“Why don’t you make your little applications for the iPhone? You’d have more success.”
Bam. I was stunt. My wife, that wonderfully non-technically versed, non-gadget prone person I share my life with was just stabbing me in the back… And I couldn’t answer. To keep the face and the technical superiority I’m suppose to have over her, I tried to made a “honey, what do you know about all this?” kind-of-face, and said without thinking “it would cost me a lot of money to jump in that boat, and I would have to relearn everything. I’m not ready for this.”.
Translation: I could not justify the purchase of a Tablet PC and a new Windows Mobile phone in the past months, and I’m too damn lazy to learn something new.
And I kept thinking about this the whole weekend. I felt stupid. I felt ashamed. I felt exposed and vulnerable. The reasons for me to keep developing for the Windows and Windows Mobile platforms were just a “façade” in front of my laziness and comfort. Am I doing the wrong thing by staying in that comfort zone?
I dug deeper and deeper, trying to convince myself I could not be THAT lazy, and finally pinpointed the true explanation for me to hold onto the Windows Mobile platform. Simple and sincere attachment to Microsoft, and a true desire to see them succeed. If I’m still developing for Windows Mobile, it’s not because I think they will succeed, it’s because I want them to succeed.
They spoiled me with the best development tools, an awesome managed framework, a huge developer community, tons of sample code and a new openness that makes you feel part of the gang.
In the meantime, they forgot about actual users and their own perception. While Balmer was busy shouting “developers, developers, developers” in one room, and talk to big corporations in another, the simple general public user was forgotten by Microsoft. Their new desktop OS, Vista, almost crumbled after MS decided it was more important to be secure than usable. And their mobile OS was forgotten in a closet, accumulating dust and a bad odour.
Today, Tuesday October the 20th, 2009, as a developer, I’m shouting from the deepest of my heart: Microsoft, stop thinking like developers, stop thinking like evangelists or regional directors. Put your “general user” shoes and hat, and act. Don’t talk. Act. Straighten up you act, I should say. Clean up the complete mess you are displaying with those overlapping product ideas that rarely come to completion. Simplify your offerings into simple and user-friendly products and terms. Force developers to use APIs that will make the user the most important target, not the developer’s comfort. Give us a unified and up to date API to address the users’ demands. Consolidate your Windows Mobile, Zune and Windows Phone offerings once and for all under one roof, with the best framework you can give developers so they can concentrate on users.
I will not wait until 2010 to make a final decision between Windows Mobile and the iPhone. Show me… no… prove me before the end of the year that you have a consolidated and ubiquitous vision of the Windows Phone, the Zune brand, their respective Marketplace and Silverlight development. I’m not ready to wait any longer. I’ve waited enough. It’s now or never.