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0 pointsSomeone12347y ago0 comments

Google's monopolistic abuse is a very under-reported part of this story.

No Google app suite, which Google is absolutely allowed not to make. So Microsoft made the apps for free for Google, google said no, then Microsoft released their own brand clients (e.g. Microsoft YouTube client, Maps, etc) and Google shut it down with lawyers.

Can any platform survive without Google ecosystem support? If Windows Phone was the case study then likely not.

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asveikau7y ago· 2 in thread

I commented something like this last time I saw this sentiment on HN.

You forget, or I forgive you if you never knew, that google made really good apps on the old Windows Mobile. Google Maps was especially good on WinCE. Then Microsoft declared all Win32 apps dead in favor of a very half baked Silverlight runtime that didn't have such luxury features as sockets or scrolling that actually works. So if I were calling the shots on Google's end at that time, no way I am going to advocate for a massive rewrite onto a runtime that doesn't work well for a very small number of users.

Microsoft's own boneheaded actions killed Google's goodwill for its mobile platform.

Someone1234OP7y ago

You likely have commented that multiple times, since it seems like a copy/paste to a completely different discussion. It isn't relevant here.

Microsoft made the apps for Google, then when that failed released them themselves with no expectation of Google taking over/paying for support. So your point isn't at all relevant to what happened in the Windows Phone situation.

As I said right at the start of my post: Google is fully entitled to refuse to produce apps for Windows Phone. That isn't the problem here, Google effectively blocked their API on that specific platform and their strong market position strangled the platform to death.

asveikau7y ago

You missed that they had Google apps, then MS threw out the platform and replaced it with something non-competitive and very confused about what an app was or could be.

The apps that MS made for third parties were rush jobs and poorly maintained over time, and because the Silverlight runtime was not up to the job, performed poorly. They did not well represent their respective brands. They were nowhere near the quality of Google Maps for WinCE circa 2009, to say nothing of how they stood against their contemporary equivalents on iOS and Android.

Would you really want a bad app, that cannot do what your real offerings do, out there representing you, with your name and logo?

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