Contrary to what some outlets are reporting, I really don't believe that
The same, it has to be said, is true of Xbox One as well. And this has been Microsoft's plan all along from what I can tell, and it's very smart. If you get every one of your major platforms running on the same basic core - in this case, Windows 10 kernel - then your future becomes a lot more interesting. It's worth pointing out here that Windows 10 jumps from kernel 6.3.9600 in Windows 8.1 to 10.0.10130 in the most recent Windows 10 build. On the Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview the OS version is 10.0.12562.84. Xbox will presumably make the move over to 10 at some point this year, it's currently on 6.2.12998.0.
And don't forget, the move away from the Xbox 360 architecture has really hurt Microsoft in the short term on Xbox. It was the switch from PowerPC to AMD-64 that meant that existing games weren't compatible with the new console and that developers had to move to a whole new way of developing for the console. There had to be some sort of long-term plan here that the company was able to see was worth the pain. It's sometimes easy to write Microsoft off, but in fact the firm has been around a long time now. It may not bring in the money like Apple, but it's a solid business with some smart people running the strategy.
For one, think about the atrocious uptake of Modern applications in Windows. Most of them are pretty horrible because of that full-screen UI. But with Windows 10 that vanishes completely and is replaced by size adjustable windows that no longer need to be as ugly as sin. Indeed Microsoft shows how good things can look with its music app, which replaces the utter disaster in Windows 8.
But aesthetics are just one part of it all though, although the amount of moaning about Windows 8 would suggest this is a major problem for some people. The potential is much more exciting than that, it's about making a program that can run on a PC, phone or Xbox One. It means that Fallout 4 could, as an example, be sold as a universal app that runs on PC, Xbox and have elements that work on phones as well - perhaps PIP and Fallout Shelter. Indeed, Microsoft's plan is that your phone can run some select apps as if it were a computer. Just connect a screen, keyboard and mouse and you can run the full Windows 10 PC experience on your phone. Here's a video that explains that:
And more likely, it means that Microsoft can write one Skype app that has UIs that suit PCs, phones and the Xbox One. It's potentially just like
Imagine what that could do to the amount and quality of apps available on Microsoft's phone hardware. App support is arguably Microsoft's biggest issue for mobile so if it can fix that then it can get some more market share. Make no mistake, Windows on phones is never going to dominate the way it does on PCs, but it can still be a very worthwhile endeavour as the third-place OS. Let's be honest, that's all over for Blackberry now.
But if nothing else, common sense would tell you that even if Microsoft didn't see a future in its own mobile platform, it wouldn't kill it just before the most significant change to its platform since it moved from a DOS foundation to NT in Windows XP to bring business and home products in line with each other.
And you could do worse than look at that example too. Windows XP will always be remembered as one of Microsoft's biggest technological leaps because it finally moved Windows away from being an over-inflated GUI to being a proper OS. It's easy to take for granted now, but moving home users to NT was a massive step, and it wasn't plain sailing either.
Windows Mobile is going away only in name. Windows 10 now has the potential to dominate not only PCs, but the console world along with mobiles too. Perhaps it's time we had a little more faith in Microsoft's ability to plan ahead?
