I know - my message is against the norm on this discussion board.
As a software developer myself, I can appreciate waiting for bugs to be ironed out of software before it is released. I have plenty of patience for this. I commend Verizon for seeming to be the only carrier that cares about the quality of the software.
The only reason Verizon can send back the Cyan/WP8.1 update to Microsoft is if there were bugs in the Cyan/WP8.1 release from Microsoft. Yes - ultimately the bugs were breaking the apps created by Verizon but the software updates simply shouldn't break these apps. This is truly Microsoft's fault and they are responsible for fixing it.
Verizon is not asking Microsoft to change the OS by adding some custom feature just for Verizon's apps. That would be stupid and Microsoft would tell Verizon "Not going to happen." Instead, I really believe that the Verizon apps found one or more bad bug(s), a breaking change in the new OS version, that Microsoft needs to fix, ultimately making other "non-Verizon" applications more compatible with the new OS. The update will trickle down to the other phones used by other carriers.
Source Control Manager Developer Talk: I suspect Microsoft is branching their Cyan source code to include the new update to Cyan/WP8.1 and then will roll that change into Denim and WP8.1.1 and ultimately WP10.
The true failure on Verizon's part is the complete lack of communication with its user base. Many WP users are professionals and really appreciate updates. Had Verizon been clear and stated, "We found 17 bugs in Cyan/WP8.1 that we want Microsoft to fix before we release it to our phones", I suspect the users would lay down their torches/pitchforks and say, "Okay - we'll wait." We shouldn't have to learn about this from Microsoft who is not exactly be proud to state that Verizon found problems (bugs) in their OS. This is where Verizon Wireless continues to fail us.
I am a developer as well and agree with the majority of your statements. However, my second problem is that this is going so slowly.
Does MS have the type of developer that writes 4 lines of code and goes on break for an hour or two to check their Facebook account? I doubt it. I think Verizon has the type of worker that does that.
I agree that the time lost was because of Verizon. Due to Verizon's silence, we can only speculate about any of this.
For the Verizon developers, it might have taken a lot of "banging their head against the wall" (months wasted!), trying to get their apps to work on the new OS before they finally realized it was Microsoft who had broken their APIs in the new OS. Then there's the internal decision at Verizon concerning whether to send the OS back to Microsoft for fixes or completely rewrite their apps. I suspect having Microsoft fix their OS was faster.
I am having to guess all of this because of their continuing silence.
How do you know it's not VZW insisting that the firmware be revised to workaround the bugs in the apps? This is after all firmware that has been successfully rolled out to almost every Windows Phone in the world.
I'm sorry, but the developer preview for cyan was out back in April of 2014, it was released July 15? so 4 months later and you are just now figuring out that it won't work with VZW crAPPS? Hard for me to give them credit. I think a large part of it is the Verizon Voicemail app that you have to pay for to get voicemails in text form in a list instead of having to go through giving a pin and calling a number to listen to voicemail. Microsoft has it's own version of this that comes with phones that don't have big dRED's name on the back, and front. so the software in Win P 8 and WinP 8.1 has to be different for Verizon because of this pay-for-use visual voicemail app.
Sorry here's a link to what I am referring to. Check my voicemail | Windows Phone How-to (United States)
note the depending on your carrier part.
I just hope this isn't the same with VZNavigator because I use Microsoft's Here Maps, and Here Drive extensively as a field biologist and I absolutely hated VZ Navigator.
You give verizon credit. OK. I'm not inclined to be so generous. I am also a developer, and I know that as such I may have to tweek my applications to operate correctly on new a new OS version. Evolving the OS is how things are improved and tightened up, in other words... made better. I actually -- having used myverizon -- would be tempted to believe that it was buggy before and testing for the update showed them items that were missed in the past.
Maybe what should happen is that vzw should commission updates for their applications, and release Cyan with the expressed message that if you upgrade, these applications may not return expected results. That way, the users can determine for themselves whether the apps that require the update are more important than these pos apps. You know, pretty much like things work in the real world...
Also, as a developer, I know that updates to my applications are one of the reasons I am employed and making a living.
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