[actionfromafar]

Mobile 8 was not compatible with Mobile 7. You can't go around and change interfaces when companies are betting the barn on you.

For Windows proper you can release and deprecate a GUI every 20 minutes because there is always Win32 to fall back to.

But when you are bootstrapping an entire eco-system you can't muck around like that. Also strategic blunder to buy Nokia and then do exactly nothing with it.

Linux was still toxic to Microsoft. Nokia had a Linux computer which was also a phone which sold incredibly well despite Microsoft almost denying its existance, definitely not marketing it. They had to stop making it because to stop selling it. (No not "Linux" like Android is "Linux". A real Linux PC in your pocket. Imagine a Raspberry with data connection and phone.

[seanmcdirmid]

Windows phone 7 was not compat with windows phone 8, but the interface was similar at least. I remember using both fondly.

[actionfromafar]

To be clear, I meant APIs :)

[whaleofatw2022]

That sounds a bit generous to Nokia, Maemo to me seemed more screwed into bureaucratic hell with Moblin/Meego partnerships...

[actionfromafar]

Maybe, I still think Microsoft missed a golden opportunity. People installed Debian packages on the darned things. They could have "WSL" on the phones in the future.