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Hi All, Just thought i would share this here in a new thread. I posted it elsewhere in another thread but i thought it should receive more recognition. As iPhone does have a myriad of apps already that we could definitely use. If the developers here could read this and possibly help start porting some apps it would push our phones in the right direction and is the next necessary step in moving forward.
www.pcworld.com said:
Microsoft Details How to Port IPhone Apps to Windows Mobile
By Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
Microsoft has published a CASE STUDY detailing how to port an iPhone application to its Windows Mobile platform as it prepares to launch an online store for mobile applications to compete with Apple.
A post on The Windows Blog highlights a case study published on Microsoft's Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) site containing a detailed technical blueprint that describes the porting of the iPhone application Amplitude to Windows Mobile 6.5. The report was created by a third-party consulting group, Crimson Consulting, and is meant to be a helpful document for developers as they build Windows Mobile applications for Microsoft's Windows Marketplace.
Amplitude is an iPhone app that picks up any sound in a user's immediate surroundings through a microphone, amplifies it and renders it on the device in a graphical representation. In particular, it can amplify sounds not normally picked up by the human ear, such as heartbeats.
According to the blog post by Constanze Roman, a Windows Mobile Community team project manager, Amplitude is well-suited for a porting project because it is difficult to port in a way that will provide a good learning experience for Windows Mobile developers.
"It combines a rich user interface with features such as alpha blending and transparency with specific audio and sound requirements, which makes it challenging to port the app but, at the same time, provides a number of helpful learning experiences," he wrote.
Microsoft plans to launch the Windows Marketplace for mobile applications in the fall, which in the U.S. means the late-September to late-December time frame. Last week Microsoft began accepting submissions of mobile-phone software applications for the site from registered developers in 29 countries. As an incentive, the company is offering prizes for the most popular applications as judged by downloads, revenue, usefulness and more. Apple already has a thriving marketplace for developers that build iPhone applications.
Microsoft President of Entertainment and Devices Robbie Bach acknowledged last week at the company's annual meeting of financial analysts that Microsoft's mobile business, centered around its Windows Mobile OS and development platform, did not perform well in the last fiscal year, losing market share while making modest gains in unit volume.
Apple's iPhone continues to leave most other competitors in the dust in the mobile space, and Microsoft has been struggling for some time to compete in this market. In fact, while Microsoft and most other tech companies continue to report declines across their business due to the recession, Apple is doing well financially, mainly because of its booming iPhone business.
In addition to the apps marketplace, Bach said Microsoft has a few ideas to improve its mobile business, including adding talent to the team and continuing to innovate on the platform without building its own hardware to compete with the iPhone, which analysts have suggested it should do.
Analysts agree that Microsoft needs more than an online store to boost its mobile business. Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, said recently that Microsoft would serve itself well by making an acquisition in the mobile space, which is not completely unlikely given the company has been hoarding cash instead of buying back a lot of its stock, going against what analysts have expected.
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This kind of thread have been discussed many times & turn out to be a flaming thread instead.
There're many haters when you just mention the "iPhxne" in this forum, but too immature for their behavior.
Having great apps in any platform device have no wrong or restriction,
it's either users can accept it or not, like accepting another race in your own community.
But then let us see how many will these haters download the ported apps if was really done.
*Cheers*
Join me in here, so that there wont be any more flames.
This topic is currently being discussed in other threads. So... thread closed. Sorry.
Many times Microsoft has promised and made it harder on the customers in the past when requirements were not met (which is quite normal) but it gets old. This time we are all excited about the new and improved ways of making things happen to satisfy the customers.Let's start with the release of Windows 7 - A new OS making the predecessor (Vista) an experimental stage. I personally am very excited with the introduction of WP7. Skeptics still reside but the satisfactory rates overwhelm the predicted fail rate by anti-Microsoft usersThe impressive displays of Windows Phone 7 mean well but the area currently failing ct will be the ease of creating apps and the approval process that's being reviewed. The application build process is changing along with the security and requirement. The platform itself can only make you want to see what this is about. With all changes the big question remains at the affordability mark. Yes it will be great to have from the beginning a great design and stable hardware to support the OS.The only competition to Microsoft at this point is not and never was Apple but Google with the Android. I mentioned those platforms because of the fast track they ran. The upcoming Windows Phone Series should set the bar at a level where no phone has been before. Yes it has been promised in the videos and demos but the actual users will determine if the product fits their needs or not. How does that issue get addressed without creating the same PC and Mac war?Microsoft has an edge on its competition (the integration of the Office products i.e. Exchange for Outlook e-mails and the whole Office suite management) with a platform already in place for the mobile devices management.Quite frankly, the Android Market makes the Windows Phone user nervous about their choice – It will be ideal to see an improvement from Microsoft since all hype is about the apps.Will the Windows Mobile Phone users be able to afford the new phones? Or will they have to wait in order to find out that the phone they were expecting to break records does not allow them the freedom fully explore all aspects?The competition is out there but delivering efficiently delivering to the customers. I am Windows Phone user and will expect more from WP7.
In my opinion I think it'll be both setting the bar high and playing catch-up at the same time. They're going to be playing catch-up in regaurds to features and APIs. However, I feel that the integration of all of their businesses into one platform can really be powerful if done right.
Xbox, zune, office, exchange, sharepoint, etc can be a deadly combination if done right.
You may notice how I keep adding that to the end "if done right". Because we don't have our hands on the finished product and they haven't had a chance to operate their app store the way that they are promising to. They have said that they are going to be a lot more transparent than Apple with approval.
I think that they have already demonstrated their desire to court developers so I'm not thinking that there will be an issue with a lack of applications. Sure, there won't be the 100,000+ of Android or the 200,000+ of iOS but there's going to be enough to launch the product.
As for the Mac vs PC war, I think Microsoft has all but won that but there is the issue of the "halo" affect. By putting out consistant hits with iProducts Apple has the chance of luring people away with Windows to their platform and I feel that Microsoft needs to step up their game in the consumer electronics field or when the kids that are obsessed with their iDevices grow up it could have an impact on their grip on the desktop OS market.
Bengal34 said:
In my opinion I think it'll be both setting the bar high and playing catch-up at the same time. They're going to be playing catch-up in regaurds to features and APIs. However, I feel that the integration of all of their businesses into one platform can really be powerful if done right.
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Exactly. It's already raised the bar in some areas - Apple is introducing its Game Center and adds Ping to iTunes, for example. Google is talking about improving the UI to make OEM shells unnecessary.
Yet in terms of features MS has a long road ahead.
WP7 has already set a higher bar. Apple went ahead and copied Xbox live and Zune Social. Created games center and ping.
powersquad said:
WP7 has already set a higher bar. Apple went ahead and copied Xbox live and Zune Social. Created games center and ping.
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Same thing I was thinking.
Taking a speech class and had a chance to write about the Android platform. Figured I'd share here. Enjoy and comment as you will.
I wish to start off by saying welcome to the future. A bold proclamation yes, but with such experiments and ongoing research by numerous scientists today, technological breakthroughs are vast and epic. One of the many platforms so to speak that is having phenomenal breakthroughs is in the mobile systems department. Here lays a couple companies with R&D plans that carter towards certain parties promising slick user interfaces, application channels, and a complete web experience. Couple that with feature rich phones that allow one to text, call, global positioning (GPS), and well, you have a product to sell. Google has done just that. Taking bits and pieces of everything one could ever ask for, and merging it all into its mobile operating system titled Android. Represented by a green round-headed robot figure, Android is passing its two year anniversary, and has surpassed other prominent mobile architectures like Apple’s iPhone software. But what exactly is Android? Why would one desire to chuck away their limited iPhone, or stray away from the Blackberry Enterprise lineup? One word: Open source. Couple that with the experience (the art of customizing your device), and the synchronization aspects of the device for virtually any account you have on the net, and you have a total package.
Having a total package within arm’s reach, and inside your pocket is quite a powerful tool. With Google’s Android platform, there is never a point where you can say No. Any and every idea can and could be coded into the device if you have the means to do so. Open source is the ticket. Asking yourself what this means is actually a very simple question. Open source is the definition of computer code that is freely available to anyone who wishes to find it. Google has opened up the software to all who have a spirit to create and provide applications (Apps) and programs to others. Hackers, coders, and all techy guros have created a plethora of net-libraries ranging from support groups, forums and websites to further help noobies in the process. Sounds like a lot, but in reality, the experience is quite easy going. Competitors like Apple and Blackberry have limited their system to developers by safekeeping some of its computer code. This limits creativity, as it puts restrictions and limitations as to what exactly what one can create. Add to the fact that companies like Apple also screen apps to a much higher caliber, halting smaller apps without much bang in the beginning to be choked to death. It seems as if anything is available for pleasure with Android though. If it doesn’t exist, pop into a forum and jot down a reply on a thread. If that’s not enough, I’m sure you have one friend that has already found solutions in the “Green-Guy”. There is always someone there who has the tools necessary to create it, or rather has already created it in the first place.
From forums and coders who have the know-how and tools to create a mind-blowing experience, the customization factor of Android is truly one of its largest selling points. To be quite honest, each and every android device could be considered a work of art. It’s all in how the user desires it for themselves…how deep the user wants to venture; how deep goes their rabbit? From changing backgrounds and wallpapers, to adding widgets to your home screen, the android spectrum allows one to make the phone their own, morph it into how they see fitting. But how is this different from other products? Surely other phones allow their users to alter what they see on screen. Yet I assert, the android experience is different. Almost, if not every aspect of android is customizable. Icons can be altered, the font can be changed, dates, times, anything can be tweaked. Sites like XDA, AndroidSpin, and AndroidandMe provide great reviews, heads up, and forums to browse through numerous applications, both beta and final. The options are endless, and it’s open in the air to anyone who desires a bit of change. Many new phones come preinstalled with newer software, as you might here Froyo, Éclair or Gingerbread tossed around. These are simply codenames for newer versions of software from Google. If your carrier doesn’t support the newer software, chances are a coder has already made it available for you. Convenience without a price attached!
Free in price is seemingly synonymous with freedom. Freedom to choose. Freedom to enjoy. Freedom to experience. Freedom from a stationary computer. Android is a thriving system that allows you to constantly stay on the up and up. Synchronization appears a mystery as your Facebook, Twitter, email, and numerous other accounts are integrated into the system via apps or at stock. With live widgets that monitor in real time your accounts, any and all social networks, social feeds, and business/personal accounts are updated instantly. No more carrying around a tiring laptop, or waiting to login the networks at any given campus. 3G speeds and now 4G on some carriers are making mobile devices the in crowd, as speeds are comparable to standard net speeds. As many people day are on the up and up, or rather, out and about, a mobile system that constantly allows access to ones desired feeds is grand. Couple that with ability to alter documents on the fly, listen to your favorite music (via Pandora, or from the Phones Internal Memory…think iPod), you have a complete package. It’s not just a Media Device, a Business Device, a Cell Phone, as it truly lives up to the name of Smart Phone.
For me the choice was easy. I thrive off customization, the ability to make my phone a tad different, even faster, or more efficient then what the original company did for me. But as Android ages, everything looks bright and promising. To proclaim dark clouds linger would be insanity. From its initial creation of being open-sourced, to customizing features and its ability to be versatile, Android has shattered the mobile systems realm. As it races to the top, Android allows users to update on the go, with synchronization from virtually every social feed. When people ask me about phones and what should be right for them, there is no question for me. It’s never been a question about what Android can’t do, but what Android does.
<- Laughing Out Loud.
It's full of grammar faux pas, by the way.
Still very well written *only read first paragraph* but I was impressed, not bad Also maybe a bit many commas...
BTW, shouldve been posted in the off topic section
Nice Speech. I Enjoyed reading it.
Sent from Conical. 07
Good day community,
Over the past several months, a few of us have been working on a projerct some may be familiar with. We have bundled an add-on to specific BlueStacks versions to allow for a complete Operating System environment, full of communications tools.
We didn't "develop", any of it. We have taken the time to scour the internet and primarily this site to garner the education, information and knowledge to actually bring it to fruition. We would like to say a big THANK YOU to the entire community here. We feel this is am important piece to a software life-cycle where developed information is compiled into a fully functioning system, exposing your people's craftsmanship.
The motive here is a moral one. I have been a communications engineer for 22 years and have seen and done things I thought weren't possible. I have been tasked with trying to develop an education platform technology matrix for schools. Specifically using my innovation abilities to solve problems. I am not a coder, I am more of a script writer. I have found success in making disparate hardware and software work together, and producing middle-ware scripts and functions to technologically solve challenges. In every sector.
I believe I have identified one of the major issues related to student success rates. Basic communications is hindered in many schools, internet cut out, and dictator like classroom regime. I feel communications is the king of industry and whomever has the information the fastest, cheapest, and accurate, wins. This is proven time and time again in capitalism. I feel students should be able to sms, or exchange pictures and peruse social networks, both to each other and their teachers. These are real-world tools, and the primary back-bone of a child's social life. But students need to learn to be accountable for they digital actions,
This "OS" changes things ever so slightly., not every student can afford the gear required to have that type of communication. If every kid could afford an iphone and ipad, than I don't need to do this project. Android on the other hand, little or no cost at all.
I will be deploying Android for Windows across the board. Students will have to setup a Google account and online storage. Copies of AW can be had for their home computer. The environment is the environment kids all love and use, the emulated touch interface is "cool" and the kids can support it and maintain it mostly themselves, and sync it to their PC phones or other devices, but those are NOT required. And no need to upgrade the PC's for a while, BlueStacks is Linux(ish), it's hardware demands are low, and I can keep the PC's at there current level.
I distribute it on thepratebay, another long story for another day, but this is the best way to ensure it stays out there, and the price is right to be able to push it out to the world. We have tirelessly worked to ensure compatibility with the apps the devs release and I know this particular release of AW has restored many of the items BlueStacks cripples
We have started a mini marketing campaign to drum up interest, although modest. And for you devs, this open an ENTIRE new revenue stream you didn't even have before. Making Android the primary OS used.
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That's the agenda, I would like to open a support thread for it somewhere on here. I have an armada of info, tools, rootkits, tricks and troubleshooting information that we feel can be valuable to the community. I'll get things posted here ASAP. Anyone that has played with this at all before will be able to appreciate all of the challenges we had to solve.
We did not knowingly disassemble or modify any of the original distribution files of any applications, staying in accordance with about every license agreement on earth.
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Looking for some feedback, questions, thoughts, ideas.. have to get 10 posts or something anyway...
Thank you to everyone!
-js
What's the difference between your project and the Android x86 project?
syung said:
What's the difference between your project and the Android x86 project?
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AFAIK Bluestacks has its own VM, so you doesn't need to install Virtual Machine any more.
I used this for a several months and it helps me to try an application without to send it to any Android device.
If you use Android x86 project, yo need to install it inside a Virtual Machine or make a USB Bootable, and as far I know it has limitations in the Play Store. Only some application that supports the architecture can be downloaded..
The Android x86 project is a piece of this absolutely. What BlueStacks is and what they have done is this:
Taken x86 gingerbread and ad an arm translator inside there. This is very unique, all of the other arm emulations fail out there after you even try to put them to the test with heavier use or apps. Basically the compatibility is just not there.
BlueStacks then added the vm player which is the most sophisticated player there is. Network mounts to shared fordler without installing drivers, and opengl support for limited HD graphics.
What we did
BlueStacks also crippled the hell out of the original ROM. All kinds of things missing that had to be put back in piece by piece, and still ensure compatibility. Some things fine to leave out, other maybe useful.
poring over the information, rooting bluestacks came easy, so we rooted every single v7.x of bluestacks, and began the mountain task of building compatibility. The winners are 7.4 for SD and 7.8 for HD. 7.8 handle the interface scrolling operations WAY better than later revisions. I can tell it was after this rev they forced on Surface Pro support, not back checking compatibility. And 7.4 installs on any machine but drops the arm translator. Still a nice product to put on an old machine, but little support for modern apps, and there won't be
Then doing a fair assessment of applications to do all the tasks one needs, file manipulation, printing, music, calling etc, We've spent over 200 hours trying to get a reliable lock screen, failed on that But we got most of it.
Finally adding and getting gapps to fully function was about like trying to drink a beer while standing on your head, it was like a marathon game of whack mole, we'd fix something, then something else friggen slam us over the head. Then we got to writing script, and adding widows apps like virtual keyboards and mouse to basically be able to run the entire OS with 1 finger as if you were Stephen Hawking.
We had an excellent response to the initial concept stuff version 1.1. It held on to around 400 seeders and 1000 user swam for about a week then began to fizzle. We expect that to triple and estimate 100,000 downloads in the first week. It is my opinion thepiratebay is the most accurate source for demand of anything digital, people that keep a copy and seed, actually really like something, versus an artificial "like" that other sites have and profit from. That's all Trip9d0zen stuff, about removing fake values and replacing it with real information exchange freedoms, so actually all financial can get to a creator, don't want to digress to far in this thread, but there is an ideology we have in common with thee twitters and thepitatebay's who have just the extreme basics of censorship, only to ensure safety, but never manipulated the information. We have evidence and models to change current businesses, and put the devs out in-front of these projects (or the artist selected agents). The more systems Android runs on, more success one can have. And Windows being the biggest, hands down, why not?
We feel this is by far the most compatible Android environment one can use, and can actually be used by anyone as an effective tool.
We know full well that once released, the ungodly amount of app work requests will be at its highest, but that's why I am here, where the devs are.. is this a revenue stream they want to suppport,?
I am personally using it exclusively for all my communications, social media and document creation, I only use windows for video playing files.
Hope that helps answer, here is the info to commercials for it, as our lil-1337s eloquently cranked out, smartasses...
youtube search for js99912
-js
It looks interesting, i'll check that up!
Dexcellium said:
It looks interesting, i'll check that up!
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Me too. Thanks
Android for Windows 2.0
new version just went live..... can someone reply with a hot-link, thanks
thepiratebay.sx
/torrent/8440340
Adding Game Data / Mount SDcard.sparse BlueStacks
Ok, I have been asked about this more than anything,
Used to be the SDcard was a .fs file and could be manipulated easy, now it's a bit more involved, but none to difficult.
You need to download:
thepiratebay.sx/
torrent/8453985
This will get you to be able to mount the SDcard.sparsefs as a drive letter in windows... Nothing new, just consolidating info as I have been requested for this more than anything else. Enjoy!
-js
Mozilla has lost its way. Technically it's not even a non-profit any longer, and it no longer behaves like it. Capriciousness and indifference to developer concerns is rampant.
For me, the change in the nature of the file browser is the straw which broke the camel's back. The file name now spills uncontrollably over the page, disfiguring any layout which surrounds it. Just as it does in Google's browser.
The direction Google is forcing the web into is contrary to the original vision of it as designed by Tim Berners-Lee. In response to user ire, the Mozilla team again and again blames Google, alleging that Google's design is "ultracompetitive" and that they "have to catch up" to them. Yet if you read their blogs they make no secret that the new standards and design choices are being made in collaboration with Google (HTML 5 is apparently the brainchild of a pair hailing from Google and Mozilla, respectively... or at least that's what they want you to think).
For me, the burden that the file browser now imposes is something that's just not practical from an implementation standpoint. With this change, web browser form design no longer even competitive to XWindow. The whole thing seems like it was dreamed up by one of the jerks on a reality talent contest... and a takeover by one of those very jerks seems to be the most probable cause of this particular miscarriage of philosophy, just as happened at Microsoft with XBox One last month. But I'm not about to clamor for a figurehead's head: just as at MS, something is rotten at Mozilla. We need a new seed to sprout that can take us into the future. A seed that will respect the intelligence of the people who have to now placed their faith in Mozilla, only to be told by the organization they exalted that they aren't as smart as it. This new organization, if it is not to suffer the same fate which hangs over Mozilla, will do right what Mozilla heedlessly does wrong, including:
respect for user freedom and competence.
avoids placing undue burdens on the designer
avoids obfusticating its code with impenetrable, bug-ridden COMs.
is open source.
In short, it'll be friendly and it'll actually listen to people who aren't ready to fork over their whole lives to an endless reinvention of the wheel like we are seeing at Mozilla.
Free browsers are nice and all, but they just aren't working out. We're getting what we deserve for letting Google take everything over and letting Mozilla get by without relying exclusively on user donations. The result is a corrupted organization and now, a faulty product. I'm prepared to pay a little for a good browser that respects common sense design practicalities. What about the rest of you, will you sacrifice the price of a couple large pizzas for a decent web browser minus the drama?
I've done my bit to try to change Mozilla's downward trajectory. I went on their forums and their chats and told them, this stuff doesn't work. They're making things hard. Their response was that they didn't really give two cents for the opinion of anyone who wasn't down in the trenches with them writing code in their incredibly complicated wrapper context. Like you, I've got other priorities. There are people out there with more experience and, quite frankly, better math skill that can do this job and get a lot more out of it. I want to give them the chance to do just that. Tired of the betrayals, just want to download my browser updates and be done with it... is that too much to ask? I don't think it is, and I hope you don't, either.
I've never tried to write code for a browser before, never even researched it. I'd be happy to help, but I'd like to see a mock GUI first to see how clean of a browser you're shooting for. Mock one up?
t3hcurs3 said:
I've never tried to write code for a browser before, never even researched it. I'd be happy to help, but I'd like to see a mock GUI first to see how clean of a browser you're shooting for. Mock one up?
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Actually I was looking around and it seems like there is this browser called NetSurf which may be doing everything right. There's no build for Windows or for mobile, which is an issue, but its libraries are in C which offers little room for obfustication a la C++. Should be portable to Java... I think if there was a windows build this browser could take off.
Although I don't really need Windows anymore. I'd just as well settle for a mobile version. There's also Amaya, but it has a reputation for poor ease of use and excessive minimalism. And there's Dillo which is stuck in a timewarp.
There is a question of where they're getting their funding from. However, they seem to be far enough along that if they did start to pull crap it would be easy enough to fork, and really I don't think the web needs much more technology beyond what it already has at this point. I need more information though. What do you think?
Sewrizer said:
This is the best advice I can give as a humble user, and the point stated above makes me believe that this is how things should be created from the beginning. A new browser has the advantage of being based on the present ideas, and since the devs have nothing to lose they can introduce off the wall features, original ideas which others didn't dare to add for fear of losing users.
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Yeah I agree with this. I asked Moz's JS engine people why they didn't program Firefox to use webworker technology to manage events, so as not to tie up the browser when waiting for file access, and they said it "wasn't in the spec" and "wasn't a priority". And when I requested that they program the canvas API to access multiple cores, they told me to take it up with W3C. Thinking like is not gonna move anybody forward.
I have no issues with Firefox's UI... it's its API which kills me.
EDIT: OK Netsurf is definitely not ready for prime time, but it certainly has potential. I think if it were combined with Mozilla's SpiderMonkey it would be able to handle Javascript alright... I don't really care it's slower than Chrome from the outset... could always be improved. Really dynamic recompilation is the state of the art. I like that it's written in C, and uses GTK and SDL. Gonna look into this...
Here's some evidence of how bad Mozilla has become.
Nevermind... due to new poster restrictions I can't post my links.