so why is MS pouring shareholder value into the WP hole? Another x billion to buy Nokia... for what?

That IS puzzling. I don't know.

I have friends who are developer evangelists for MS who talk about the big push to get apps in stores. There "are" some good apps in the MS Store - just not enough of a phone base.


And on your other point, I agree that much of this is anecdotal. I'm not challenging that. The plural of anecdotal might not formally be data - but sometimes the question is one's interpretation (or skepticism) on when the data points follow a pattern that's analytically significant.

Case in point, I noted a few years back on upgrade patterns with SQL Server, as MS went towards more frequent upgrades. Part of it certainly was increased community outreach on the part of MS. Part of the reason was dealing heavily with headhunters and I.T. managers who are looking to hire students I've trained - so for years I got to find out what companies are doing with product versions and upgrade paths. I figured if an I.T. recruiter wanted 20 minutes of my time to ask about a person, I could take a few minutes to find out specifically what the company was doing. (Of course, the downside was that at least once a month, I'd talk to a recruiter who couldn't even spell SSAS unless I spotted the recruiter two letters). Since then I've seen some actual stats that were consistent with what I (and many others) were observing all alone. Sometimes trends and patterns are not rocket science.

Then again, there's a real calibration factor between % of people upgrading SQL Server enterprise licenses and the high % of high school students flocking Best Buy to get a new phone. :)

And sometimes these anecdotal observations can serve as a good reality check, to keep someone from assuming that something "never happens".