windows marketplace Broken
One of my readers pointed me to a thread running at the official Microsoft Forum. A large number of post on that thread express the issues faced by users while using marketplace.
Here are a few of the issues expressed there
- I don’t agree. , Boycotting Marketplace or MS is not extreme, but just a normal reaction. This MarketPlace is a real mess, and apparently MS staff refuses to listen to its customers and adapt itself. So we turn our back to MS. I am fed up too.
- Dear Microsoft – What are you thinking? With out he ability to install to SD card the Marketplace is completely unusable. It is mind boggling that a 3rd party hack was required to make this work in the first place. It just plain asinine that your new update disables the hack. The biggest reason I don’t have an iPhone is their stupid app store policies. Congratulations on proving to be even worse. This is unacceptable.
- If XDA can come up with a hack in a matter of days then their is no excuse for a company with an army of programmers. The amount of code to write in this feature is minimal. Get with it!!!!!
- Maybe for you it’s easy, but not for the majority. Why should I install a program on the main memory and then copy it to the sd-card?? We have a Marketplace to install programs “easily” and “central”….
- My concern is that the marketplace is going to fail. People aren’t purchasing apps because they’re waiting for a fix or are concerned about storage space. If people aren’t buying apps, then companies are not going to be encouraged to develop new apps. If windows can’t stay competitive with apps like the iPhone, then people are going to start to consider switching. That is a big deal.
- The absolute worst thing a business can do is ignore the legitimate complaints of its customers. Does anyone there really think we’re going to forget about this issue and it will just go away?
There has been a lot of frustration expressed over marketplace both from developers and users. I believe most people are angry because there are no official statement from Microsoft about how and when these issues are going to be resolved. We covered the story about Ageye Apps having issues getting their apps to the marketplace. They were later contacted by Frank Prengel ( from Microsoft ) who I believe is helping them with the approval process. Then there was the issue with ShopSavvy getting delayed due to a specific requirement that was not met. But Loke Uei ( from WM dev team ) has contacted them via a tweet offering assistance to resolve the issue.
So as you can see Microsoft have been listening to these issues and they have offered assistance to resolve the issues faced by developers and users. I believe that the Marketplace is going to be an integral part of Windows Mobile and boycotting it is not the solution to the problem. I think Microsoft should acknowledge the problem it has been facing with marketplace and issue an official statement which outlines how and when these issues can be expected to be resolved. We can related to the fact that when we come across an issue on our WM device , a quick search on XDA-Developers usually will give you a fix for the problem. But when a corporation such a Microsoft wants to release a fix for a issue they will have to jump through so many hoops before the product ( fix ) can reach the public. So once again I urge you guys to give them some more time before you make a radical decision such as boycotting the Marketplace. Do let us know what you guys think about it via the comments section
Ryan
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I've had some interesting installs myself where the marketplace arbitrarily installs to SD or to memory. Maybe this is Microsofts way of forcing phone developers to have dedicated storage in addition to SD storage? I for one will not be boycotting the marketplace but not for any political show, instead I will be doing it because there still aren't any apps that I believe are worth spending money on.
Hey guys and girls that use the windows mobile market place all download that you make go to the following folder: ******Application Data/Volatile*******, you have to be fast to copy this application and re install it on the sd card…
hope this help.
ohhh, I forgot, let the app download complete!!!!!!!
Most of the newest phones have PLENTY of space to install apps. Gone are the days when we only had 64megs. I think that power users that can fill up over 200 megs with apps are few enough and smart enough to get their apps other ways then through the Markerplace. These powerusers aren't the intended audience of the marketplace anyway!
Sorry, but this statement is false. I've got the new THC HD2, and I can tell you that the internal memory is very limited. You are now supposed to install your programs on the SD card.
Anyway, this is not the point. Microsoft has to let the paying customers download the cab on their SD if they ask for it and paid for it. Apparently a vast majority of them just want the right do this, and I can only agree with them.
But this is just one of the numerous Marketplace problems. Among the others, the filtering rules, the discrimination based on countries/languages, the lack of interesting apps.
Well, this is why the iPhone is a sealed pretty box. Apple has lots of built-in storage for their users. Windows Mobile came waaaaaaay before, and Marketplace has to work with so many devices, not just one. Yes, I feel Microsoft should let us save to the SD card, but I can see why they don't want the installers put on a memory card users can steal an installer from. That being said, there are so many workarounds that I'm a bit confused, too… like, why not encrypt the installers, or set up a blob of space, like a virtual storage device, to copy files to that would make it hard to get the installers? The point of software protection is to keep honest people honest – hackers will always find a way – look at the jailbroken iPhones :)
What some people are missing is that this should have never been an issue in the first place. These programmers at MS presumably don't all have iphones do they? Some of them must actually use Winmo phones and therefore understand the problems with loading everything onto main memory. Did it never occur to one of them to bring this issue up BEFORE launching the marketplace?
I agree with you ALMOST completely. Boycotting can't be the solution for the problem. Rather, we should make Microsoft work the things out. I am facing difficulties with marketplace though. I think we should give it a time to be mature.
I do not totally agree.
What Microsoft should have done IS immediately launch thousand of apps, whether good or bad.
After several month there are still no more than 30 apps in some local markets. This is not acceptable… Better you do not open the local market at all.
So I do not think it is too early to judge. My opinion is that this marketplace is already a big failure unfortunately, due to too many silly restrictions rules for developers & customers.
Not good at all considerig the competition against Apple. But Apple really doesn't need to worry…
This is IT. it's ridiculous. if microsucks thinks that HD2 is going to save their asses, so be it. no more windows phone for me and my peers. the marketplace is in a mess. how can we trust ourselves to use office program when they can't even solve marketplace issue. the apps in market place sucks at all, the games graphic is so outdated that i can't even impress with my HD2. the only good thing is HTC HD2 hardware and nothing else. New startup Android in the market for only 2 years and they beat the hell out of windows phone with more apps and style. each day, the word Microsoft irks me more. so long, microsucks.