Microsoft: Facebook Home a People Hub Ripoff
Microsoft says customers should get the real thing if they want a "people-centric" phone.
After Facebook revealed its Facebook Home for Android smartphones on Thursday, Frank X. Shaw, Corporate Vice President of Corporate Communications at Microsoft, jumped on the Microsoft Blog and took a shot at Facebook's latest scheme. He said he was forced to check the calendar a few times to see if it was still 2011.
"The content of the presentation was remarkably similar to the launch event we did for Windows Phone two years ago," he said. "When we sat down with a blank sheet of paper and designed Windows Phone, we put three words on the wall to guide the team: 'Put People First.' Those three words were chosen around a pretty powerful but simple insight: People are more important than apps."
We already know the deal and have seen the results: Windows Phone 7 and 8. Like Windows 8, both use live tiles to put friends and family first. Everything the user needs to know each day is pushed to the main screen, whether it's a Facebook update, a text message from a spouse, an email from Mom and more. Microsoft made the experience "personal" rather than create another iOS-based sea of apps.
"Millions of Windows Phone owners have already discovered how great a phone can be when it’s designed this way, and they aren’t shy about telling their friends," he said. "Naturally, some of those friends have been pretty frustrated that they haven’t been able to get a 'People First' experience on their devices. So, we understand why Facebook would want to find a way to bring similar functionality to a platform that is sadly lacking it."
Naturally, Shaw starts taking shots at Android, which up until this week commanded the smartphone market. Android is already complicated enough as it is, or so he says, without adding "another skin built around another metaphor, on top of what is already a custom variant of the OS."
On Thursday, Facebook's rumored phone was basically revealed to be an Android Launcher that brings people to the forefront. Users can have social feeds pumped directly to the lock screen and chat with friends no matter what app they're using. It will be pre-installed on the HTC First smartphone, and offered as a free download for the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung GALAXY S III and Samsung GALAXY Note II.
"From the moment you turn on your phone, you see what friends are sharing," states one of many Facebook Home commercials. "Your latest messages, calls and updates are right up front. And you can keep chatting from any app. So no matter what you're doing, your friends are always right there with you."
Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Shaw thinks Facebook users are better off getting a Windows Phone. "While we applaud Facebook for working to give some Android owners a taste of what a 'people-centric' phone can be like, we’d humbly like to suggest that you get the real thing."
-
Thunderfox "Naturally, Shaw starts taking shots at Android, which up until this week commanded the smartphone market"Reply
And what has changed in the last week to change this? Did more than a dozen people suddenly start to give a crap about Windows phones or Blackberries? -
bigdragon Millions of people may like the Windows Phone design philosophy, but hundreds of millions love the ability to customize their Android experience the way they want -- people-centric, app-centric, or otherwise.Reply -
hotice +1 bigdragonReply
Also, While I understand what Microsoft was getting at if you'd actually compare features Home offers far superior multitasking when it comes to messaging with ChatHeads. Microsoft can't compete with that. -
rantoc 'Put People First.' = Mobile Divisions MotoReply
'Put People Last.' = Windows Divisions Moto - If they bothered what peeps wanted why stubbornly refuse to put the start button in there when its so requested by so many -
Soda-88 rantoc'Put People First.' = Mobile Divisions Moto'Put People Last.' = Windows Divisions Moto - If they bothered what peeps wanted why stubbornly refuse to put the start button in there when its so requested by so manyYou have social media on your Start Menu?Reply -
CaedenV Hey MS, I love my windows phone, but you have no room to complain. Most great things about the phone were ideas from other companies, and now that you are starting to have a few good ideas other people are going to copy you.Reply
Less complaining, more innovating.