Weekly update status

I think you'll have a more patient audience if you could elaborate on the ".. please be patient for just a bit longer" part. Any specifics in regards to when AT&T plans on approving the updates is highly appreciated. Thanks!

I think weekly updates like this will definitely turn support around for your platform as long as your make sure to continue to apologize for missing the already delayed update.

I agree with @ousooner314 that those customers on AT&T need more specifics or at least an explanation as to why AT&T, the PREMIER PARTNER for Windows Phone 7, is going to be the last cell provider in the U.S. with the update. This warrants an explanation, especially why the February update (rumored to have been completed in December) is still missing.

I'm really not happy at all. I got my phone after i heard that copy paste will be coming in the spring.  So March is what i thought. Early March was the date to look at. Then it was delayed for 2nd half of March. Then before March ends. Then early April. Now its looking to be like last half of April because of the testing phase taking a week and then scheduling taking the least amount of time of one week. So as an At&t costomer I am mad. Why the hell was it announced that At&t was the premier provider if they get the update last. Im so pissed. I never complain about things unless they are outrageous. I can't even spell correctly I'm so angry.

I love the Samsung Focus and microsoft but it seems the upmost important to any of you to keep your customers happy. It would be so bad but the more i have the phone the more I get laughed at. I'm not going to switch but cant you, Microsoft, help your premier provider test the damn thing. For God sakes. if you guys send out the update 2 a week i would be happy. 1 every 4 days is all im asking. That works out to be 8 but you know what I mean. If i wait another week and it comes back testing i will be calling and complaing multiple times. It's not even a big update and people arent even getting it.  I defend and defend you guys. I tell people why apple sucks so bad even when it comes to the phone. They see what i have and agree and i tell them that it will only get better in the future of it.

All I have to say is, "This is the first time microsoft has let me down. You failed me guys. The only peice of hardware i bought, that i hated, was this phone. I like what it does, but what it doesn't do irritates me to no end. You failed me......im sorry....but i can't defend you forever."

It's hard to stomach the statement "be patient" when WP7 users have been patient for 3 months now.  We've been patient and understanding.  We were promised an update in March.  The end of March rolls around and March becomes April.  Now we're expected to be patient as the update may or may not be delivered anytime soon?  Really?  

This is the first update in the lifespan of the platform.  WP7 is fantastic, but miles behind the competition.  How is patience going to bring the platform to parity with the rest of the market?

I'm happy.  Happy I decided to stick with my dumb phone for awhile yet.  Keep on truckin', Microsoft!

I have reported several weeks ago, that after choosing my location, my phone is not in the list. What should I do?

Further you now managed to break the "Where's my phone update?" page in Google Chrome. That's quite an achievement considering the page holds no more content than three lines of text and two links. The links can't be clicked because the footer is over them.

Lots of unhappy users out there... :-(

Can't say I've been too thrilled about the update process for the Feb and March updates, but I hope that Microsoft has learnt lessons and that future updates will be smoother.

After all the excitement/anguish - the fact that the update is a couple of months late (certainly in terms of peoples' expectations) is not exactly a game-changer or platform killer.  Hey - it's only copy & paste, and a couple of other small improvements - hardly a major catastrophe.

Kudos for getting a tool out quickly that resolves the 800705B4 issue, though. Too late for me (I had to do a full wipe of the phone in order to get the Feb update to install), but I'm sure it'll prove useful to thousands of other phone users out there.

As long as recent events have helped to shape how updates are released in the future, then I'm inclined to write this off as teething issues... :-)

Eric, for those of us who have used home-brew, specifically the Chevron one which didn't require registry edits, could you explain how we would know if we AREN'T getting device specific updates, or if our phone is in fact mis-configured. And if so would a reset solve the problem of either failure to get device specific updates, or solve a misconfiguration. I realize you don't need to do this, and you may be making educated guesses, but it certainly would be appreciated.

I'd prefer my phone to be in the "default" state, and any insight into knowing it is, or will be after a device specific update or whatnot, would certainly be appreciated.

If you allow carriers to block updates for as long as they have been, yet don't let people use workarounds, then say their phone is messed up when they try to do what Microsoft isn't letting them do because they seem to care more about the carriers than the users, you should provide a tool reset the phone back to a state that it can be updated properly in the carriers ever decide to release the updates.  ..or do we have to go to homebrew for that too?

I like the estimated testing completion date footnote on the update status.  The communication is slowly getting better.

By the way, finally got the NoDo update to my HD7 without a hitch.

It's already been reported that updates are flowing for the people that used the Chevron tool.  I understand why Microsoft is reluctant to support these apps, but at the moment everyone needs to relax and enjoy their non approved, updated phones.

@jonemo: Sorry I missed your earlier post. Can you provide more details? Where are you? What phone are you trying to find? Who's your carrier?

What version of Chrome are you running? I just pulled the tables up on 10.0 and they looked fine to me. But I'll pass along your feedback to the web folks.

This is still unacceptable.  Either cut the carriers our of the update process and push them down via Zune without the carriers involvement or put some serious muscle on the carriers to push it themselves.  Right now, the only losers are the users.

One thing sums this up.  I really can't believe we are still dealing with this issue.

After getting NoDo on my phone, I can say good work guys on the software end of the deal.  Everything went smoothly and necessary bugs were fixed.  Performance is improved.  I look forward to Mango and hope these carrier testing issues can be mended next time around.

Also, What's up with the podcast?

@Rich Miles: Glad to hear. That good suggestion (to add dates) came from a few of you.

I updated my phone via the Chevron HomeBrew. I don't even care about the phone not being able to receive future updates (which I think the warning from MS is just a load of crap) because by the time another update comes out for WP7, I'll likely have gotten bored with WP and moved on.

So the fact that the homebrew solution uses the MS update platform, and the MS updates straight from MS servers makes it not work?

All it's fudging is the checking of whether the device is due to be updated.

Another point is that this update appears to work on developer devices (the Taylor and Panther) that won't get devices because apparently developers can't handle software that's a little bit less polished and tested than it has to be for general release.

When the internal update mechanism your using is deliberately device agnostic (hence the HTC, Samsung and Dell OEM updates), it seems stupid to stop users from circumventing carrier checks, when in the end, they're going to get exactly the same files delivered in exactly the same way.

@ousooner314: I hear you. We know that's the news everybody is waiting for, especially here in the U.S.  As soon as there's something concrete to report, I'll post it. As unsatisfying as it may be, that's about all I can say at the moment.

From an Aussie perspective, Telstra are freakin useless.  Selling and promoting the HTC HD7 "as the only phone out of the box with NoDo" since 29th March - and then still having an ETA for existing WP7 handset owners like Mozart of TBC "still testing"...

What a Joke. Fail = Telstra.

Thanks to Chris Walsh - and the MS Windows Phone Support Tool (yes I needed to resolve the 800705B timing out issue for the pre-update) I now have my Samsung Focus (ATT sold) working on Telstra 3G with NoDo V7390 just fine.

Marketplace improvements are great., Cut and paste is....well cut and paste, and game load improvements are great too.  Nice work MS.

So MS - now I want to know if I can backup my phone as an 8GB backup, add a microsd expansion card, hard reset and wipe and then restore that 8GB backup to a phone that now has 24GB or 40GB combined JBOD storage.  Any idea if this will work Eric?

Cheers.

It has been reported the HTC is pushing out firmware updates on its own.  Dell has issued a statement that they would be pushing a firmware update for the Venue Pro after Nodo....why can't it just be like this?  Microsoft's updates, then OEM's updates, then carriers' updates all pushed separately.  Better yet, let the carriers push out they're updated Apps the same way everyone else does through Marketplace.  There you go; no testing involved at all.

Can you please kick the guys from Deutsche Telekom in their a*s for being so slow. Luckily I've debranded my Mozart weeks ago so I don't have to wait for them, but I feel the pain for all other German Telekom users out there.

Get these damn carriers out of the equation, I dont see why people would stop using homebrew solutions that will allow them to get updates (even if it puts their future updates in jeopardy), When the Carriers are pretty much preventing them from getting updates in the present.

I'm surprised this many people actually use a windows phone.  They're like Zunes and Bigfoot:  I've never actually seen one in public.

All three of my HD7 phones got their Feb/March updates the proper way in March, so I am a bit happier. The process was very smooth when it happened. I do believe we need more MS updates before Mango, or Mango needs to come mid-year. MS needs a more aggressive update schedule for bug fixes.

There is still a lot of work that MS has to do to catch up. I believe it would be helpful if someone from MS would go through the list of requested features in the forums and let us know what is realistic to expect. Will the camera setting ever be persistent? Will we ever be able to attach to a hidden access point? Will I ever be able to set my default search engine in IE to Bing? Those are just the little things.

How about barcode scanning software with direct access to the camera so I don't have to try 5-10 times to capture a tag? How about the ability to download podcasts directly to the phone and stream movies through Zune? SkyDrive integration for all sorts of file types.

Maybe it is time to create a Feature grid like the Update grid and put some of the obvious features on it. Give us some transparency around what to expect from MS in the coming year. Whether a request if being actively worked on and what update it could appear in. I know some future features need to be hidden for competitive reasons, but just like we know C&P was coming, aren't there other features that could be elaborated on?

If you set a date, announce expected features and then drop a few from a release, I don't think you would hear too much complaining as long as the process was transparent. One of the things I really hated about this first update was that we were never really told what would be "fixed". Everyone knew there was a serious issue with the Marketplace crashing, but even though changes to Marketplace search were announced, it was not explicity stated that the crashing would be fixed.

Glad I chose T-Mobile even though they were not the "premier" carrier and have a serious Android fetish. You have to talk some of their sales people into selling you a Windows Phone.

The comment responses from Michael are a major improvement as far as creating a perception that communications between Microsoft and customers are flowing in two directions.  I know that Michael can't monitor comments all day, but I appreciate the effort (and I assume somebody suggested and/or approved this, so go shake their hand - one customer is somewhat less irritated at Microsoft).

On a side note, I am very unhappy with how AT&T is handling this same situation.  Despite all of the pressure, it is only Microsoft that has made any visible change to its approach to communications.  Credit where it is due.  AT&T, on the other had, puts cut-and-paste non-responses in its Facebook discussion forum.  I will actively oppose the AT&T/T-Mobile merger by submitting a comment to the FCC and asking that conditions be imposed.  One condition I want is that AT&T must offer an unbranded, unlocked phone to any consumer requesting one and paying full contract price.  Then all you are buying from them is network access and bits.

got my o2 NoDo for hd7 uk last night took about an hour and works fantastic the phone is faster, apps loads real quick. i mean steam castle takes 1sec to load compared to near a minute before NoDo.

@Michael Stroh,  its great to see you write back to people on Eric's blog as we basically all know he wont reply back even thou he is "General Manager, Customer Experience Engineering" please fire him and get someone else who knows how to write back on his on blog

When is #MSFT going to get  that all this vague palaver just pisses people off even more? Specifics, and honest ones, please.

@Korn1699 (and others): Thanks for weighing in--I'll make sure to flag your feedback for Eric.

Here's my personal take: I understand your POV, but I guess I read Eric's post a bit differently. I think he understands everybody's motives for doing this--he just strongly recommends that you don't.

The team is very busy working to deliver the official updates, and there are lots of unknowns around these "bootleg" ones. His point is: They haven't been fully tested, so there are potentially serious risks, therefore caveat emptor.

Hi Eric,

Chris from ChevronWP7.

I've got users reporting they've received the POST NoDo update for Telus Samsung Focus customers who've updated to NoDo via my tool.

@chriswalshie - Is this POST NoDo they are reporting just a update for the firmware, radio software, and/or bootloader and NOT a newer OS version.

Why don't you give us some FREE Xbox Live games while we wait for said UPDATE? This is getting ridiculous!!! I know when Xbox live had some major issues, they gave a game or two free to everyone for the troubles. We’re waiting!!!

Future Updates better go smother or you might as well hang it up.

@Michael Stroh What it really comes down to is that, if Microsoft and the carriers had delivered on their promises, we wouldn't need the "bootlegs" and "homebrews" in the first place.  These work-arounds are a direct result of your inability to deliver the updates when promised.

@Everyone Just spoke with my contact at AT&T corporate.  Still no clue as to what's happening.  Please flood them with calls and emails.  Force them to get off their tails and support us.  I have the information if you want it.  Just say so and I'll post here.

I never hated a phone this much, which is really weird because I loved it at first.

I bought the phone the day it became available, I quickly realized the large number of missing features and things that are half implemented (going from basic Exchange support to WiFi to to to to, I don't have to list the >100 features missing on the phone). I was tempted to return the phone until I heard the promise from microsoft of "a series of significant updates in the next few months" and 5 months later now (well, 2 days short of 5 months), I have zero updates. Even this stupid March update, the only real feature it adds is copy/paste (and it's not even fully implemented as I heard because it does not allow someone to copy a phone number into the dialpad of the phone which is stupid) and the rest are small bug fixes.

I now have to pay $350 to break my contract with AT&T and I'm not happy about it. I hate this phone so much I won't even buy an Xbox or any other Microsoft device unless I have to (and I'll have to buy a PC).

My company even stopped allowing WP7 devices to log into Exchange because the Exchange protocol is not fully supported, I cannot use the SharePoint feature because the authentication is not supported by WP7, I cannot connect to WiFi at work because the network is hidden and cannot connect to WiFi's at friends houses because they use MAC filter and I cannot get the MAC address of the device.

Horrible horrible experience. I hare this device so much I will make every noise I can to cost MS at least the $350 I'll have to pay now!

If I buy a car from a dealer and they promise me "several free maintenence and tune ups in few months" and I never get them, I probably would complain to consumer affairs. It's only in the IT business that I get "sorry but well, deal with it" response.

@Eric Hautala - Please stop hiding behind these "public service announcements" and actually do something.  I understand that you're not completely in control but you're the ones that allowed the carriers to block the updates.  Now, it's time to do something about it before you lose enough customers to make the platform pointless.

At this point, I trust the chevron updater tool much more than the slow as molasses, never gonna get an update AT&T model. If I have to live in the homebrew world, fine. I did it, and it worked flawlessly on my Focus. Easier than even my iPhone updates used to be.

AT&T (and to some extent MS for letting them) has completely lost my confidence. Since updates are as rare as unicorns, this gives the homebrew community plenty of time to work at a leisurely pace and still beat all the carriers out with solutions. And since we have basically forever to wait for the mythical Mango that actually is the upgrade worth having rather than this tiny 'does nothing of real consequence' upgrade, there is plenty of time for the people with passion around the product to help the users the carriers would be just fine neglecting.

Microsoft--you need to be updating more regularly, bringing your platform up to just compete with iOS and Android, one real OS update in a year (mango...adding copy and paste is not really a huge update) is no where near enough to compete. But more than that, you have to get AT&T out of the way if you don't want your users seeking out their own solutions...you can't get up on stage, say how wonderful all the updates and new features are, then make it so no one can have them. You promote and push and market these features, talk them up, I'm sure at MIX you'll go hog wild on Mango and Apollo, get everyone psyched, then we'll have months and months while you get it finished, then months and months more while the carriers screw around and maybe kinda sorta release it. If Mango is GA+1 that means like this time NEXT YEAR, we might be seeing it.

ATT is absolutely horrible when it comes to updates.  It makes no sense at all.  

A couple of things:

Why on earth are you doing this one game per week game release for the XBOX live games?  Seriously...there is a new 6 weeks of spring promotion that is starting sometime (who knows when) and by the way that the apps are listed 'Angry Birds' will be released last...why is that?  This is not the XBOX, just release the games...it really annoys me the way this is done.  I would seriously like to stop carry my iPhone around because it houses all of my games.  If you are holding up the games for some marketing campaign...please stop. It's a waste of money and customers' time.  We will buy the games!

I understand having the carrier testing the updates, but how about you take the Apple approach and iron out all of those details and give us a solid and clear date...not season or quarter, a DATE.

Lastly, the notification/live tile limitations are horrible.  The live tiles are advertised, but if you download a certain number of apps (whether or not they're on the start screen), the notifications stop....for all apps.  I deleted some of the apps and still get an annoying error message.  I update my phone to NoDo, unofficially, and still a problem, so I wiped it and viola! live tiles/push notifications work....I had to lose all of my game data and texts to get notifications for my games.  Also, why are my apps not being backed up?  There is no actual process to back up my phone it seems, and that's sad.  

The apologetic/"we feel your pain" posts are getting annoying, especially since there will be no results from any of this.  Please don't wait until "Mango" to update some of these issues...incremental updates are great too.  I bought this phone with hope of rapid and constant updates (thanks Joe B.) and come to find myself constantly let down.

I am not sure how AT&T was touted as the premier "North American Partner at lauch" when they are the last in NA to actaully get the updates pushed out to us. Mid april is coming up quick please just convive them to realease the update, that is all we really want.

@Michael Stroh, either way, it would be nice if Microsoft released a tool to flash it back to 7004 (or whatever version came on the phone).  You have to have some sort of tool like that for testing.  I'm sure it probably isn't something you could just release, but a simplified version or something similar to the support tool that did that, would be nice.

Wow great to hear news from the WP7 team!

Anyway there is a problem with some Samsung

Omnia 7 devices here in Europe:

We received the NoDo update (update process

worked fine) and a specific Samsung update after that.

Now lots of people are complaining because

the Samsung update did not work well - most users

have a half bricked phone now - me included...

The phone hangs during the reboot phase of the

Samsung update - we have to remove the battery

after that - the update fails. It is even impossible

to restore the phone with Zune to the previous update since

the phone hangs in the reboot phase again...

This is a serious problem... and there seems to

be no solution so far... we do not even know

what the Samsung update does. :(

Is this a known problem?

I do not know if Samsung Focus users in the U.S.

will be affected by the problem... since it only

occured for Omnia users so far.

I upgraded my Focus with Chevron's homebrew update forcer. I imagine I didn't get some of the device specific drivers, but honestly I don't care at this point. It's working just fine, and I'm plenty happy. I don't blame MS for the setbacks, but rather AT&T. I wish you guys luck in getting them to actually commit to pushing an update. Honestly, I doubt I'll see Nodo pushed this month. I fully expect to use the homebrew update process again come Mango.

I appreciate the ongoing status updates that are being posted my the WP7 team. I like many others am frustrated by the delay in receiving updates on my ATT Focus. However, I love this phone and don't really see it as seriously lacking. I do hope though that future updates will be pushed out in a more expedited manner. On a side note, what has happened to Windows Phone Radio? I enjoyed this program each week and there was usually at least 1 item on the show that helpful to me. Thanks

Chris Walsh's updater tool can be the better option for lots of AT&T customers.  

I think that if there are potential problems with getting the next update, I bet it would be fixed faster than waiting for that update from AT&T.

@Korn1699

It would be better for them to have a tool to let you (re)flash it to the latest version of the OS (currently 7390), not 7004.

I've used Chris' ChevronWP7.Updater to get the pre-update and NoDo on my Samsung Omnia 7 because I'm a fed up with this whole process; fed up with the delays and fed up with these posts that are quite obviously simply to keep us happy without providing any useful information at all.  Joe has clearly stated in his recent interview "oh no the roll out of updates is actually quite simple because Microsoft own ALL the code".

Microsoft you are killing a wonderful platform in it's infancy by letting these carriers delay the updates for no reason.  You need to stop this nonsense NOW and move to scheduling AND shipping frequent updates to ALL devices.  I get that you wanted to stagger the updates this time around, especially following the Samsung issues on the pre-update, but the carriers shouldn't be part of that delay.

Do I regret using Chris' tool even if it does cause future updates to become unavailable to me? No I do not because I will not be held to ransom by my carrier (T-Mobile UK / Deutsche Telekom) who would rather I purchased a new handset and contract instead of letting me get the latest features on my existing phone.  Why have you imposed a deadline on these carriers, why haven't you told them test by this date and report bugs or the update goes out.

You say updates are cumulative which is great but that doesn't help us if carriers never sign-off on any updates.  If you think this is a PR disaster now you had really better hope that T-Mobile UK do not start sending out new devices with NoDo pre-installed before they complete the testing of that update.  This is exactly what is likely to happen.

I'm also offering an invitation for Eric or Michael to come be a guest on the TDL Mobile podcast and defend your position on these carrier updates.  I would expect you will decline since there simply is no reason for these carrier delays otherwise you would not be sending out updates to unbranded phones (what networks do you think they get used on?) or to Orange UK devices that are allowed to roam onto the T-Mobile UK network (as they are now one company) even though they are still "testing".

@Eric   So when will it be ready?   You can say that you understand why we're impatient,  but then follow up and explain WHY this process is taking so very long.      What are the technical reasons for the delay?   What are the contractual reasons for the delay?    Why doesn't anyone from Microsoft talk about the issues in ernest?

Also, why doesn't anyone from Microsoft or the carriers say anything useful about this.  So far I've determined that either Microsoft or AT&T, or both, is lying about this update-- AT&T told me they are not delaying it and it is your responsibility.    What is the truth?

I am done.  I am going to Verizon tonight porting my number.   I purchased my phone outright so no contract.  I spoke to 3 people at ATT today (4/6/2011); none of them including the office of the president had heard about nor could tell me anything about an update. This OS deserved much more than it’s getting.  This has been a terrible experience Microsoft.  Kind of like the first time Windows Mobile let me down.  Trust me I will never ever make this mistake again.

Who owns the testing phase? At&t reps say they have no clue abt testing and you guys say At&t is testing. What are the steps involved in testing? and why only At&t is having issues?

It would be nice if you can answer the above and give a date rather than "late march" sort of vague timelines which may or may not be true.

If you cant provide me the update, at least tell me how to fix my blue-tooth problems on my focus or replace it. I tried reaching out to At&t, Samsung and MS customer support but every one blames on one another without fixing my issue. Even though iPhone is not as good, I could at least go to Apple store and they will fix the problem even if that means replacing the phone (even after warranty expires)

Firstly, Shame on you for writing that you "started" delivering "MARCH" update to customers on April 6th.  Secondly, Screw you and your Carrier partners!!!

As per this.. "You might not be getting the important device-specific software we would typically deliver in the official update. Or your phone might get misconfigured and not receive future updates."

We will see when you are ready to deliver the official update... I am least bothered about missing your device specific updates (you are unable to deliver a generic update properly and talking about device specific updates??.. laughing out my back!!). And I am pretty sure your next official regular update will be sometime in 2012 and it may never reach AT&T branded phones in 2012 so I will resort to similar workaround for installing your next updated.

So stop talking BS and complete the Mango release coding!

@a688, yes that would be better, but they might not have that.  It probably would be hard to include all the device specific updates too.  Also, as far as I know, a lot of the Microsoft phones they used to test aren't a released device, but an unbranded one for testing, so I wouldn't see them having something with device specific updates.

Eric, you just don't get it. You make the situation FAR worse when you give us absolutely lame responses like this.

"We’re working hard to get this job done as quickly as possible".

What exactly are you doing??? It's taken until April to start rolling out NoDo. Some of us (Telstra) have only JUST got the pre-update. Forgive me, but that "working hard" comment? Yeah right.

So I call BS to your post. Stop running your comments through your PR section, we can all see right through it. Talk to us like human beings.

"But my strong advice is: wait"

Pathetic. We've been waiting since October, and not all of your customers have NoDo.

Hi Eric,

This is another instance where you are coming up with information that is not accurate, incomplete and inconsistent. Frankly, If I were you I would pick up the phone and thank Chris Walsh for providing the updater tool. If not for him, you would see WP7 share drop from 2% to less than 0.5%.

Android updates suck and we all know that, and we don't care, and that is why we bought windows phone. We need you to update WP7 on a regular basis and not involve us in some huge process of testing, scheduling, and deploying. Stay ahead of the curve by having continuous updates in the pipeline tested and ready for deployment. Bottomline is that you guys have definitely shipped an OS that needs several improvements and more than anyone you need this update to stay in business.

Here is a simple success plan for you-

1. Fix all bugs. Things like inability to connect to an SSID manually or inability to add an SD card, etc, are annoying.

2. Build more features. (rapid development?)

3. Deploy them often.

4. Improve the quality of apps and remove unnecessary crap from Marketplace.

5. Communicate often. Be clear and precise in your communication. Here is an example of the kind of communication people like:  groups.google.com/.../a7640a2743922dcf

Eric & WP7 team – remember Jim McCarthy’s Rule #2 – “Don’t turn the bozo bit on”, please …

Good luck with your future updates.

@Korn1699

NoDo, as well as future updates, should be separate from device & carrier specific updates. Zune/update tool should be able to download whatever the latest WP7 update is and then when I go to update my phone have it download device specific fixes and possibly even ask what carrier I'm on, not just read the registry, to determine what, if any carrier specific fixes I need. I imagine that would make it easier for developers and people who have multiple phones of different types to update their phones w/o having to re-download any generic WP7 update for each phone. Sort of like how Windows Updates are for Windows and you get individual hardware updates as well only specific to your hardware.

Microsoft used to be a company that could innovate and do it quickly. Now, it's become too much like IBM, still innovates, but moves so slow that the competition passes it by, making its innovations moot.

Quit blaming people like Chris, get off your backsides, and provide premium customer support - not lip service - and do it on a fairly consistent, frequent basis.

Wow...  We should create an app called Angry Users...  I have 2 phones and 1 of them is unlocked and for development and it got the update.  IT ROCKS.  Unfortunately, my main phone Samsung focus is not updated and IT SUCKS...  Why is Microsoft going through the carriers?  Why not just deliver the update through Zune?  It doesn't make any sense.  I don't go through my Internet ISP to update my Windows PC!!!

WARNING: Plug

I created a fun app called "Dude, Where Is My Update?" and it got tons of downloads which only shows how much people are desperately waiting for the update.  Anyway, the new version (which should be approved any minute now) adds interesting tracking, so you can find how many people have the update in your location or using the phone.  You can find more info on my blog - google.  Or just go and download the app from the marketplace.

I love WP7... SO, MICROSOFT FIX THE UPDATE PROCESS.

Everyone - Microsoft is trying here, we've already come down on them enough and they are now doing things to reverse that. The fact that NO ONE at AT&T seems to know anything says it all. As I've said before I think they have a vested interest in this and android failing, and Apple doing well. And I think it has more to do with Apple Stock, than it does with other more obvious reasons.

What I'm wondering is when is the phone going to have alphanumeric password support for exchange!! I still have not read anything from Microsoft about this, right alot of your enterprise customers are left in the cold. Once again Apple gets the upper hand on exchange support and its not even their software, good luck with this os because its going to go the way of Vista

Microsoft better do something big before apples June announcement or I'm jumping ship!

@a688, yes, although there may be device or carrier specific updates need to be installed before the update from Microsoft can be.

I know I might be an oddball but does anyone else miss Windows Phone Radio?

By the way, there are three people in my office who have looked at my phone and said "that's really nice, I wouldn't mind one". They've also actively looked into getting one, so it's not just "other-side-of-the-fence" talk.

Problem is, I've told them all NOT to get a Windows Phone. I've told them how rubbish the update process is. I've told them that the phone shipped incomplete and with basic functions left out. They have all now decided not to purchase a Windows Phone.

I'll continue to tell this to my friends, family and colleagues who express interest in the platform, because I am in no way putting my name against a product they'll get so frustrated with, made by a company who puts out corporate PR BS instead of just getting on with the job.

For me it isn't about getting my phone updated to NoDo. For me it is the slowness of the updates and the lack of follow though on commitments made.  I came from an Android phone, which AT&T/Samsung took almost 1 year to get Froyo out for. It was one of the reasons I bought a Windows Phone, I *thought* Microsoft would be able to deliver on making the phone better over time. It is now evident to me that I was wrong. So while cut and paste is nice, Windows Phone 7 has been out for almost 7 months now and the only update that has materialized on *some* peoples phones are cut and paste?

There are 2 areas for me that Windows Phone 7 lacks.

The big one for me is IE, the current version of IE is pitiful, no video, no html5 poor layout on many webpages and slow. For most applications I would say it is unusable.

The second one is around maps, Microsoft has this little thing called Bing Maps, it is pitiful on Windows Phone 7. Heck as a developer I have even considered writing my own app using the Bing Maps webservice. Why is there no navigation for starters?

Now when you take those 2 items (and I am sure everyone here has at least 2 pet peeves about Windows Phone 7) when do you think you will get updates to address those? At the current rate you *might* get IE this year (I doubt it but hope I am wrong). By the way I mean on my phone, not development done at Microsoft!!!

Microsoft, you MUST decouple the apps from the OS like Google has started to do. There is no reason that IE and Maps  shouldn't be updated with a marketplace update rather than waiting for an OS update. Google has learned this invaluable lesson, I wish you guys would look at what they are doing to get around the carrier semaphore.

What good is it talking about Multitasking/IE9 etc. if you aren't going to deliver it for months, possibly even a year. Stop talking about it, you are doing yourself a disservice. Under promise and over deliver!

@Sobieck00 Yeah I miss the WPRadio podcast too.  Brian has tweeted that it is back this week - so Issue 22 shd be here in a couple of days.

I guess with so much flying around on the subject of updates (mostly negative) here, and with some out of office committments like the Dev conference late last month, they held off throwing another PCast out there till they could position it with the right balance of issues acknowledgement and update/action etc.

They wouldn't wan't another situation like Joe's channel 9 interview re: forthcoming MIX happening!

@Sobieck00 @Strider_Auz thanks for the support of the podcast. We are coming back this week - I wish there was a more exciting answer for being away, but it was really a matter of scheduling and moving offices.

As your update page ironically declares "Estimated testing completion date is early April 2011". Today is April 6th, early April is nearly over. Not to mention there is no legitimate media card support yet. In this day and age, does Microsoft really expect people to live off of 8 gigs? When can we expect an update for full media card support?

@curtk Agreed, they definitely need to get rolling with the updates. Expecting "Mango" to be the savior update of this platform to add more functionality that the competition already has and not releasing some small bug fixes and new features  in between would be a huge mistake by Microsoft. I'm going to be listening/reading real closely to all the news coming out next week at MIX11. Like you said they're going to talk up all the features we can expect on "Mango" to get us hype but we're tired of waiting and waiting.

Not having MultiTasking/App Switching in the first place was a huge mistake. No Socket support was another huge mistake... These type of features could've given the developers so much more to work with by now. hell we could've had some original great apps by now if those missing features were there to begin with.

Like others have mentioned, we should have another chart by the WP Team detailing of the req features that are going to be added soon and also give us a time frame. Another thing, we need exclusive features/Apps on this platform to really make a statement.

It’s great that Europe and Australia are get there updates.  Yet your customers in the USA are getting a royal screwing by your “premier” partner AT&T.   It should be your top priority to get AT&T moving. Early April is over in my opinion and once again Microsoft has missed the mark.

Another vague non conclusive response.... more and more maybe's... with each response Microsoft is just adding that you are idiots to jump on to our platform as early adopters!!

I am glad you are staying in contact with us. But I would like it if you threw your weight around a little more. Only give the carriers one week to approve the update. You are a big company. Microsoft needs to please its customers not the carriers. The situatuion in australia is beyond a joke you need to address the issue now we are sick of waiting and want the updates now! Don't punish the early adopters.

It is now available in India. I installed the update yesterday successfully.

Pesimist's Opinion:

Testing ??? Why is testing even performed ???  You mean to say, you don't *know* if the changes you've already made to the update(s) intended to fix the problems actually work ???  "Testing" is completely unneccesary !!!  You mean you dont want *users* to act as guinea pigs, instead, you want to ensure that the updates will work? ...Dumb, I tell you!!!  You don't know *exactly* how long testing will take, more issues will not be discovered because the phone software/firmware *is* prefect!!!  You also mean that it is not recommended to use unapproved hacks and void our warrantees and possibly prevent future updates from working?  Wow!  It's irrelevant that there are so many different phones out there from different hardware manufacturers, they should all have gotten together and designed identical phones so there was only a need for one update.  *Everyone* should wait until *all* of the different versions of the specific updates are available it should have happened are the same time?  Wow!  I have a Samsung Focus (probably the last model to get these updates) and that sounds ridiculous, or... wait... is it?

Realist's Opinion:

IMHO, the pesimist has a totally unrealistic, twisted perspective of the real world.  The software development process does *not* always follow as predictable a path as we would like to think every time.  Those who don't understand this *should* be kept in the dark by ambiguous dialog and sparse communication as perhaps the MS Phone team has done so far.  Granted, I feel for those individuals who did receive the update(s) and their phones stopped working, either partially or completely.  You have, unfortunatley, experienced a defect in a product and/or process ... just like *all* industries experience.  Software companies are not the first or only companies that need support phone numbers or take service calls for their product... even Apple or Google products suffer the same fate.

Without a doubt there's going to people that will negatively reply to this post and is to them I say.... "Whatever... you are a pee-on with an opinion that will fade away in 15 minutes just like mine".

"Didn't your mother tell you if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

@Michael Stroh - Please elaborate on whether the delay with AT&T is actually the fault of AT&T, Microsoft, or both Microsoft and AT&T? Considering that you didn't use the carrier's name on the US, "Where's my phone update?" status page, I'm starting to wonder if it's not Microsoft's fault.  

There are many comments, like the one below, where AT&T vehemently denies any ownership of this problem.

“I just talked to an AT&T rep, and again, they absolutely refute that they are doing any NoDo testing at all.  They claim that the testing is being done by MSFT, and it is up to MSFT to release the update once they have tested it on their AT&T network."

The problem, Michael, goes to credibility. Even if we eventually get the various updates, the lack of an explanation does nothing to restore our faith in Microsoft or AT&T. An explanation is the least you could do.

Nice scare tactic Hautala, despite it being partially true.  Yet, to echo the statements by previous commenters, you guys really dropped the ball on this.  Too much control is in the hands of carriers in regards to updates; that definitely needs to be fixed.

With that said, how could you not expect people to turn to the homebrew apps?  I mean it really goes without saying that Microsoft's and the majority of wireless carriers inaction is closely correlated to the release of the ChevronWP7 updater.  

Hell at least Dell took initiative.  I HIGHLY suggest you guys get your act together.  This is turning into a Sony PSP mess.  Expect more people to find homebrew ways because you guys are so painfully slow at releasing updates and improving Windows Phone 7.  Absolutely ridiculous.

Oh btw:  You guys are so painfully slow the homebrew community is bypassing you completely:

Multitasking:

zunited.net/.../hack-brings-multitasking-to-wp7-sooner-rather-than-later

You want me to believe that my changing a simple STRING in the registry temporarily, connecting to a VPN, downloading and installing the OFFICIAL update the EXACT SAME unbranded LG Quantum phones got two weeks ago will somehow cause me to stop getting updates or brick my phone?  Because the fact that I have "AT&T" screen printed over the top speaker of the phone somehow makes it "different" than an unlocked, unbranded Quantum? Riiiiiiiiiiiiight....

The implication is downright insulting. I've been supporting, repairing, changing registry settings since the registry was invented. But somehow I might be too stupid to figure out how to change a simple HKLM STRING key back and forth.

You'll note I'm NOT discussing the all-in-one updater tool. I was never a fan of that tool, it just "felt" suspect, even if it isn't. As I mentioned on Facebook, somewhere, that all-in-one tool made me uncomfortable, as if I were downloading a Windows Service Pack repackaged and distributed by a third party because the official channels were too slow.

At this rate, I wonder what the NEXT comScore report is going to look like.

It's a miracle you didn't lose MORE than 1.3% marketshare this last quarter.

@dev Sorry but your "pessimists opinion" makes zero sense. It would make sense if this were Android and OEMs could slap together any number of hardware configurations with Android running on them. But this ISN'T Android. Not even close.

Yes, there are 4 OEMs. All of them are REQUIRED, by Microsoft, to use minimum hardware requirements. Functionality of the hardware is MANDATED, again by Microsoft (eg. such things as microSD card slots). Ergo, there is no reason for a major hold up because, right now, every one of the phones available are, for all intents and purposes, IDENTICAL. The only thing that differentiates them are optional features (SAMOLED screen on the Focus, keyboard on the Quantum and Arrive, slide out speakers on the Surround, et cetera). Ergo, your overexaggerated concept of four manufacturers is moot.

You can't even really blame the carriers. Contractually they're not allowed to modify the core OS, at all. They are allowed to install their own apps and hubs, with VERY MINOR integration into the Marketplace hub, all of which must ALSO conform to Microsoft's OS requirements (the ability to uninstall, et cetera).

Beyond that, how do you reconcile the fact that unbranded versions of the exact same phones on AT&T have had access to the updates for one to two weeks now. The hardware isn't any different in any of these phones, only the carriers and geographical location are. Yet an unbranded Focus in Europe could have gotten NoDo with no issues, legitimately, almost two weeks ago while U.S. users are left waiting on AT&T? AT&T who, by the way, doesn't need to do any repeat testing because MICROSOFT does it FOR THEM (according to Joe Belfiore, 5 months ago) and then submits test results based on AT&T's OWN testing suite to them when Microsoft passes the update to them.

Still unacceptable. I really thought this was supposed to be a promising platform, but I was wrong. This isn't about getting the update, this is about releasing updates very slooowwly. It's confusing & frustrating, and you tell us to be patient? If this is how push a minor update, what more for something like Mango?

I'm pretty sure WP7 users will get just one update this year which is NoDo. Everyone will get Mango next year. But hey, I'm not worrying anymore, I already sold my Mozart which I think is the wisest thing to do.

You know what, I'm really loosing my patience. All I see on "Where’s my phone update?"-list is that Deutsche Telekom (Germany) is still in testing-mode , while almost every other carrier is finished with the process. Via twitter they said they will be finished at the END OF APRIL!!! Seriously, Eric, Michael, anybody, please explain to me what takes that carrier THAT LONG?

Furthermore I'd like to know if and how you want to take care of that problem with the next update. Or can I assume that there will be no difference in the update-process next time? If so, I see no point in waiting for a damn branded update, that get's me the ugliest GOOGLE POWERED website when I push the search button while browsing with the IE.

I'll simply debrand my phone and be happy about getting updates in time.

I really would like to hear from one of you. Thank you!

Oh and besides all the mess with the updates (and branding -come on, a Google Search on a Windows Phone?) I love my WP7!

But.... Mr Ballmer  planning to send Windows Phone General Manager  to Lybia,  ?

@ousooner314, I agree but with emphasis!  WHY IS AT&T MICROSOFT'S PREMIER PARTNER.  Just go to any AT&T store and look for the Windows Phone 7 coverage.  The AT&T store looks like an Apple Store.  And AT&T is killing the WP7 by holding an update that they have had inhouse testing for MONTHS!  Why, MICROSOFT, are you not IN THEIR FACE?????

Fully agree with "Retsud" ,

Why I have GOOGLE search on my WP7  ( T-Mobile UK ),

also I dont understand why Microsoft is allowing carriers to test updates as and when convenient. It will be much better for users and for Microsoft to bind them to dead lines or specific timeframe to complete testing. So users dont suffer.

the early adoptors are the most valuable assets for any company, you wanted us to show and demo windows phone 7 to our friends and family and now everyone asking me where is Copy and Paste,

Deutsche Telekom (UK) how long it take to test something that half of the world has already tested

Is this the time to switch to an Android !

@ dev - Dude, good comment... especially: "Didn't your mother tell you if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." LMAO!

@turtlebreath and @ibmckay  

- As bad a AT&T is, they have responded to me every time I have sent them an email complaining about this.  Similar emails sent to MSFT have been neglected.  Everytime AT&T has said the same thing - the testing is being done by MSFT, not AT&T.

While this makes no sense to me personally, in the absence of a response from MSFT, I am beginning to believe AT&T.

@Michael, I think you've touched on a critical differentiation here that most of us place into contention: "bootleg".  I'm totally against bootleg/black market.  But cooked ROMs being ported to other devices notwithstanding, I don't think you can make the case that "cutting in line" is the same as bootlegging.  The workarounds many of have used to update our phones to the packages that were ALREADY heading to us via the slow boat the China are simply digital analogs to cutting in line.  We are taking advantage of a method to get around a hugely broken process.  It's not like we are bypassing a purchase requirement or something.  I cannot insist enough that the WP7 update meme MUST be more like the desktop/laptop update meme.  I defy anyone to make a credible case in this age for anything different.  Okay, so the latest method that Chris Walsh temporarily made available MAY be messing up some phones.  The other methods prior to that (which I used), while a bit tricky, were pretty straightforward.  I've had no issues, am enjoying the nice improvements, and I'm certain my device will work as well as any other machine at accepting future updates.....um, as well as the process CAN work, I suppose.  Here's the bottom line, though, in my opinion.  Until the update process, with extremely few exceptions, is so agile that once Microsoft has worked it out with OEMS that it deploys on a regular battle rhythm just like the desktop, you are going to have a large contingent of us looking for the next version of "cut in line" method to get the updates VFR (visual flight rules).  Brush up on Lean tools for business.  A paramount driver for all processes is suppose to be VOC.

"Believe me, I get it." - how the he'll can we, all you've done is lied to us!

'We’ve made a lot of progress in recent weeks' - what, create a basic page that just sums up how useless you are and started writing more posts saying the update will eventually come!

'We’re working hard' - really? What on, it can't be wp7, apple manages to send out regular updates in one go, what's so hard about that? You've got to be the slowest working team in the history of technology and that's saying something!

@wildev - Here's the answer to you last question "Why, MICROSOFT, are you not IN THEIR FACE?????"

The answer is simple.  AT&T is bigger than Microsoft and holds the user base.

@Michael Stroh & @Eric Hautala - I've been a software developer for the last 23 years which much of that time spent in the telecommunications industry (including with AT&T) and I fully understand the software development lifecycle - even if it's a distributed one.  If you want to keep everyone onboard with WP7 and your update process and provide true transparency, you need to do a few things.

1.  Instead of weeky updates, it should be a daily thing.  If you're truly working as hard as you say, you should be making progress daily, not weekly.  We use a Agile development process here and we make progress on an hourly basis.

2. Provide firm dates.  If a date slips, explain yourselves to those consuming your product.  Isn't the way ALL consumer-driven software projects are run?

3. Provide discrete information about who owns each step.  If it's the carrier, say so.  If it Microsoft, say so.  Don't just post **Testing.  That tells us very little.  Who's doing the testing?  Who should we call to light a fire under their butts?  Who's holding things up?  Who's incompetent?  And, most importantly, who's accountable?  Nothing in this process so far shows any accountability by any party.

@edm - You are 100% correct in regard to the responsiveness of AT&T.  Twice I've sent emails to both Steve Ballmer and Randal Stephenson (CEO, AT&T) and each time I've received a call back from Mr. Stephenson's executive office.  Yesterday's email was returned with a phone call from Mr. Stephenson's office within 20 minutes of me sending it.  That's what I call a response.  I have yet to hear anything from Microsoft.  Is someone over there hiding?

This whole update process, not the waiting, has to be the biggest (with the exception of Vista) egg to Microsoft's face.

NoDo is today available for Orange customers in Romania. The copy/paste is gorgeous. But... I expected more improvements, like the next two:

1) I want to put any sound as rington to my phone. Is so basic to any dumb phone that is amazing is missing from WP7.

2) I need a browser, any browser on WP7 that can read flash. My company site is in flash and when I meet with customers I can't show my site to them. I need my laptop to do something so simple.

And now, as if to rub it in, Apple will release yet another update (with features and bug fixes) in the next two weeks OVER AT&T NO LESS. What do you bet theirs will be out before NoDo is on AT&T? At this point, I think Apple is just doing this to prove a point while our mess continues. How many updates is this for Apple since November of 2010 when WP7 shipped? 7, 8? lost count.

www.bgr.com/.../apple-to-release-ios-4-3-2-in-the-next-two-weeks

Can you please provide an explaination regarding the exclusion of tethering and hotspot capabilities in this phone? I just got one yesterday and for the most part I like it, but not being able to share the internet access the phone has with other devices is a serious hole. My old HD2 and Touch-Pro running WinMo 6.5 could do it. I would really like a truthful explaination and not just a bunch of marketing hoohaa. Is Microsoft bowing to external pressures from providers who don't like the fact that users have been able to do this type of thing with older devices?

people are impressed by the phone but i cant honestly advocate it with this current update process. Im calling it now. Windows Phone is another Zune. Early adopters (your most passionate fan base) are now promoting for friends and family to not get these devices. we have been lied to and this update process is ridiculous for 2011.  i dont mind purchasing apps since i will be using the phone for another 1.5 years. music is unprotected through zune... but i am looking at other consumer platforms. microsoft ive been advocating for you for years but i now know for sure that you don't know how to manage your company any longer (not on the consumer side).

I'm sorry, Eric, I truly am.  I bought the Samsung Focus on launch day.  Loved it.   My family saw mine, and went back the same day and all bought the same phone.  Sure, there were problems- the Marketplace was broken.  Voice recognition is flaky sometimes.  Apps in Silverlight have problems with scrolling. Occassional 3rd-party app crashes.  Live Tiles screwed up the registry and stopped working.

I figured there would be some quick bug fixes and patches released.  I was ok with it.

Note- all my complaints above relate to bugs, not new features. Bug fixing patches should be quick and released as soon as ready, right?  Apparently not. In fact, the last three very user-visible bugs weren't addressed in NoDo.  And I don't see Microsoft discussing changing their policy.  Why am I supporting this phone?  I'm ok with new features only once or twice a year, but I've lived with marketplace crashes and crappy search for 6 months?  Really?

Here's what you need to understand: if it's broken, fix it. If it's not (ie, it's a new feature) you can wait til the next big release.  But for things that frustrate users everyday because they don't work- that you have to address quickly.  It's not 'delightful' to see things just break in front of you that should work fine.  

Fix your update schedule.  Fix your release policies.  I'm buying a different phone next year and maybe I'll come back to Windows Phone if you guys can show that maybe you 'get' the consumer.  For now, I'm no longer holding my breath.

@Michael Ball - Thank you for an excellent post. I couldn't agree more.

Again, for the new-to-WP7 please refer to my post listing websites you really MUST frequent if you want to stay up with the ins and outs of WP7 and devices.  It should not be a surprise to ANYONE at this point that WP7 does not support flash.  In fact, only Android supports right now.  Rumors have existed since launch that Flash is being worked for WP7, but absolutely no information past that has surfaced....it's Adobe's baby, NOT Microsoft.  Flash IS A PLUGIN, not a native browser function.  Also, Flash IS OLD TECH.  I don't give a flip if most of the web uses it.  Flash is bloated, horrible code.  HTML5 is where we're going, so I'd tell your company to start learning to write in HTML5 and migrate off of Flash.  I hate all things Flash.  Now, as for tethering, I'm pretty sure that's both device-dependent and carrier-dependent.  I will tell you that there is a way to enable WIRED (via USB connection to your laptop) tethering on the Samsung Focus using the Diagnostic feature.  Just do a web search for Samsung Focus tethering and you'll find it easily.  Of course, I'm not sure what AT&T will say if they discover you are using tethering without paying for it, but that's not my problem.  Again, for the folks who are new to the game, you should already have known what was in the NoDo update.  With all the stuff that's been written there's just no excuse for NOT knowing.  It was only to fix a very few things.  Copy & Paste, CDMA capability, app loading and Marketplace performance were mostly what it was about.  The Mango update (for which a LOT has also been written---please look it up) is the monster update that will expand multitasking, upgrade the browser to IE9 (still no Flash plugin--that's Adobe), Twitter integration, full document syncing with the Skydrive, and a slew of other fixes and features.  No definite release for that, but the drums seem to be beating out "holiday 2011".

I think the sentiment of many here ring true: The carriers (seeming) lack of interest is killing the adoption of the platform! I know you (MS) have to play the difficult balancing act of getting carriers to market and sell your product, and at the same time get people interested in the platform so they invest time and money into it so it doesn't become the next WebOS/Palm fringe platform. Alas, the public perception of many is that the carriers simply don't care, and you cannot effect any change in the matter.

Whether you can publicly admit to it or not, these unauthorized apps have been the reason many have not yet abandoned the platform.

As a developer, I had high hopes for this platform, and I really like its potential. I cannot risk time and money in a platform that seems to have a vague future not because it's bad, but because users are frustrated enough to abandon it-again-mostly due carriers treating it like an annoyance or a fringe/niche product.

I understand the politics and hopefully you're pressuring the carriers to change their attitude or-better yet-get them out of the way altogether (as you originally told us!). However, if you don't make a conscious effort to ensure the carriers don't kill the platform, many of us will certainly abandon it and move on to greener pastures.

Show us we made the right choice,

@edm   I agree with you--  Microsoft might be responsible for the testing-- AT&T has been very responsive to me, answering my questions within a day.   When I emailed Ralph de La Vega, the executive response team called back the next morning.

(disclosure:  I'm a former employee of AT&T...  I know a lot of good people that work for the company.. I can imagine that their process heavy development & testing process could  be responsible for the delay,   I also have no problems switching to another carrier -- or another mobile operating system --  if it ensures I get updates more quickly).  

My hope now is that all of the parties are working to make sure that future upgrades are deployed much faster.

I cannot believe how stupid some of you are. Just be patient and let MS work on this without you prats causing issues for no reason! You read what the press say and think you should be outraged by the late update. MS said the update will be in spring so that can be as late as the end of April. And let me remind you that this is not entirely MS's fault, with several manufacturers it was never going to be easy to role out the update. Samsung messed up so MS had to clean up for them, there were those Chevron guys and all the testing. Tbh I think MS have done a very good job to make an OS work very well on such a variety of handsets. We could say that MS made things hard for themselves by having a number of manufacturers to cater for but then we would be complaining about the lack of handset choice and that MS was copying Apple. Just give MS a break, the press give them a hard time to sell stories cos everyone likes to read about a large firm messing up. Why not support and help MS improve their products for you. Whining gets you no where but solving issues does. (And no, I do not work for MS - I just have my own opinions rather than that of the media)

Appreciate you guys taking the time to notify the community of whats going on. But I hope you folks can understand that it can be really frustrating when an important update which adds a high profile features like copy paste is released users will be keen to try i as soon as possible. And when carriers Like Telstra has still not rolled out the 1st update while others have pushed out NoDo ,  it just makes users more frustrated .. I believe more users might go for the unofficial update method for the IE and Mango updates, if the carriers delay the updates in this fashion

You know, I'm usually really reluctant to go there but,  @Daedalus_x304, I think I'll make an exception in your case.  You don't know what you're talking about.  It appears to me that you can't comprehend what folks are posting.  Refrain from calling people "prats" (assume you meant 'brats') when you interject yourself into conversations between adults.  Most of us know QUITE WELL what Microsoft said.  If you'd care to visit Paul Thurrott's website (windowsphonesecrets.com) you can read a very thorough description of what M$ said and what has actually transpired.  If you cared to read the other threads IN THIS BLOG you'd see that, until VERY recently, the status and information provided was not really any substantive information at all.  You clearly don't comprehend why folks are upset over how Windows Phone 7 has been marketed and supported---by Microsoft AND the carriers.  If you actually took the time to read all the posts you'd see that most of us DO place adequate blame across the board, from OEMs to Microsoft to the carriers.  People like myself and Paul Thurrott were early adopters and VERY strong supporters of Microsoft and the WP7 platform, and remained so for several months when a LOT of folks were ready to throw them under the bus.  We DID give them a break.  And even though most of us did finally reach a point of being fed up, we remain supporters.  But supporting a platform does NOT mean we give up the right to complain about things we believe, as CUSTOMERS, are not to our liking.  You need to learn about economics and business, my friend.  A business exists for one thing: to make money.  It cannot make money unless it has a product or service that people want.  And you can't hold onto a customer base unless you continue to deliver a product the way the customers want it.  WP7 came out of the door WITHOUT many, many features that other smartphones already had.  It came out of the door with a lot of bugs.  But we still bought them.  We bought them because there was an understanding that updates would come quickly and frequently.  While no definition was given as to what "frequently" was, I think it's not unreasonable to say that five months does not qualify.  If you are happy with your WP7 device as-is, then that's perfectly okay.  But many, if not most, of us have higher expectations, and Microsoft has acknowledged those expectations.  We recognize they are working toward them.  We are beating them up, if you will, over the lack of honesty and transparency.  We are also beating up the carriers, who are equally guilty--in my opinion, more so.  In the future, watch who you call stupid.

"And even though most of us did finally reach a point of being fed up, we remain supporters.  But supporting a platform does NOT mean we give up the right to complain about things we believe, as CUSTOMERS, are not to our liking."-@ScubaDog

Well Said.