Google blocks Windows Phone from Maps, limits Gmail
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 5th Jan 2013 14:53 UTC
Talk, Rumors, X Versus Y And so this situation is starting to get ridiculous - and consumers are, as usual, caught in the middle of it all. Google has just blocked Windows Phone devices from accessing Google Maps on their phones. In addition, it also seems Windows Phone users are now restricted to the basic HTML version of the mobile GMail website. While understandable from a defensive perspective - Microsoft's extortion scheme targeting Android device makers and all that - it's still a massive dick move that only hurts consumers. Update: the media attention has worked - Google is backpedalling, and will remove the redirect. "We periodically test Google Maps compatibility with mobile browsers to make sure we deliver the best experience for those users. In our last test, IE mobile still did not offer a good maps experience with no ability to pan or zoom and perform basic map functionality. As a result, we chose to continue to redirect IE mobile users to Google.com where they could at least make local searches. The Firefox mobile browser did offer a somewhat better user experience and that’s why there is no redirect for those users. Recent improvements to IE mobile and Google Maps now deliver a better experience and we are currently working to remove the redirect. We will continue to test Google Maps compatibility with other mobile browsers to ensure the best possible experience for users."
E-mail Print r 3   · Read More · 247 Comment(s) http://osne.ws/kkt
Thread beginning with comment 547818
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
RE[3]: it's about time
by UltraZelda64 on Tue 8th Jan 2013 18:43 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: it's about time"
UltraZelda64
Member since:
2006-12-05

Nice way to spin it. If that were the case, if products truly won market share based on their actual merits alone, then Windows itself would not have gained its monopoly in the way it did. And Microsoft would have never needed to use illegal tactics with its monopoly power to crush all competition before it even has time to exist as a threat on the market through strong-arming OEMs (BeOS?). Opera never went anywhere--if Microsoft didn't have the entire world by the balls with their Windows/Office/IE tri-monopoly, people would have been able to switch to it with no problem.

Hell, if a product had to be technically superior to win, Windows' own predecessor--MS-DOS--would not even have been the dominant operating system. Instead, that entire class of operating systems would be seen as the complete piece of shit that it is. Of course, Microsoft's lucky timing and deal with IBM, combined with hardware limitations of the original IBM PC, sealed history--and Microsoft's cheap tactics solidified them as a monopoly in many areas for decades to come.

It's about damn time for their eventual collapse, or at least significant reduction in power. It's what the world needed at least a decade ago.

Edited 2013-01-08 18:56 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 2

RE[4]: it's about time
by Windows8_Hater on Tue 8th Jan 2013 19:29 in reply to "RE[3]: it's about time"
Windows8_Hater Member since:
2013-01-08

You darn freetards are incredible. I am pretty pissed at Microsoft right now for their stupid W8 bullcrap, and your retarded GatesSatan talk still was able to persuade me to write this post.

Just when I thought there is nothing worse then the damn W8 loving Metrotards.. Poof, I am again proven wrong. You freetards are Microsoft's biggest ally, seriously.

Anyway, YES, Internet Explorer 4 was better than Netscape 4, by a wide margin. Before you wanna shitstorm me now, read this:

http://penguinday.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/the-ancient-past/

Edited 2013-01-08 19:49 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 1

RE[5]: it's about time
by UltraZelda64 on Tue 8th Jan 2013 19:59 in reply to "RE[4]: it's about time"
UltraZelda64 Member since:
2006-12-05

"A movement can exist without a god but never without a devil"

As a satanist who does not believe in the generically-named imaginary god that Christians claim to worship and who does not view "Satan" as the evil deity that they do, do I really give a damn to read an article with such a subtitle? Further, its (and your) use of the word "freetard" (and "Metrotards") doesn't exactly lead me to believe that anything insightful and of real maturity can be gained from it, either.

Wake me up when those two "words" make it into a real dictionary, and then maybe I'll take it seriously. It's funny that I didn't even mention any "free software" operating systems or applications (only commercial) and you're still just tossing that "freetard" word (if you can call it that) around. And I don't even know or care what a "GatesSatan talk" is, so I'll just not bother with that one and assume that it also will never make it into a dictionary.

Sorry, I don't talk fairy tales, cults and superstitious mumbo-jumbo. Drop the religious nonsense and false words and try again.

Edited 2013-01-08 20:10 UTC

Reply Parent Score: 2

Read more of this thread... >
RE[5]: it's about time
by WereCatf on Tue 8th Jan 2013 21:07 in reply to "RE[4]: it's about time"
WereCatf Member since:
2006-02-15

There's something familiar about the name-calling, holier-than-thou - attitude and abrasiveness of your behaviour -- you just made a new account just for this occasion, didn't you?

Reply Parent Score: 2