I saw this post "Why Windows 10 Phones should be a force to be reckoned with" and the title bothered me a lot. There were a few interesting arguments mixed with subjective preferences but none of them were supporting the conclusion. I decided to answer it and I adapted an article from Wikipedia about the Stockholm Syndrome by changing a few words.

"Windows Phone syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse (finally WP10 & flagship phone) from their captors for an act of kindness. The Kantar’s "Hostage Barricade Database System" shows that roughly 3% percent of victims show evidence of Windows Phone syndrome.

Windows Phone syndrome can be seen as a form of traumatic bonding, which does not necessarily require a hostage scenario, but which describes "strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person (a.k.a Microsoft) intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other. (i.e. lack of essential features, slow development, abandoning developers,crappy or meh phones, no pride in the product)"

I thought is was funny since the post was wishful thinking, but then it made me think and turn it into an article.

One of the things that separated the Windows Tribe from the other groups in the past was the maturity level. A fun group with tech savvy individuals who can offer sound advice if needed. Probably this opinion is not shared by the moderators since the hot topics always revolved around perceived skewed coverage of the Microsoft ecosystem. Some Tribe members got booted, others moved on, but the quality of the argument was never in question.

What I see this days in the forum is a lot of "concepts", "what to expect from Lumia 9XX or Surface 5" , "wait til next year or version 3 for a fix" and just very few "I'm using this and it's awesome". It looks to me that this is just a reflection of an ecosystem in change, trying to reinvent itself to survive. At the same time GooglePlex has become the vibrant community the Tribe used to be 'cause Android is humming it's way to the next billion of devices.

The truth is Admiral Satya has abandoned the ship a long time ago and did hide his fleet in the cloud. I wish Ballmer could have stayed a few more years and put the same energy in Windows Phone like he did with XBOX. I get it way he got pushed out but I think it was a mistake. Same as killing the Surface mini. We are like the Japanese soldier who continued fighting WWII for 29 years after the Japanese army surrendered because he didn’t know.

I do know why I chose my current Lumia Icon. I personally love the Metro/Modern UI, I've got a great camera and Office & One Drive integration. With it I have discovered the (Xbox) Music app that is perfect for me regardless of the limitations.

I'm a happy camper cause the phone does all I need, and I will buy the Cityman when available. But to be honest I will think twice 'cause the iPhone or any Android with good camera would work for me the same. I do not have a Windows tablet and with all Microsoft apps now available across platforms the only thing that makes the difference is the 20MP triple flash.

Change is hard but once gone it's hard to turn back. And what does Microsoft to keep us loyal? To be honest, nothing. They are riding the last wave of goodwill with Windows 10 in a hope to transition this hybrid OS to the cloud and make Office the new "operating environment" under the mantra of productivity. Probably they will attempt to convert as many as they can to some subscription base model but I do not think this will work because you can't compete with the letter F provided by "Alphabet". F as in FREE.

Will there be a Windows phone in 5 years? I don't think so. This gives them three more years to WOW me and the remaining 3%.

This is not a goodbye post, just a personal reflection on the status of Windows mobile ecosystem and how it impacts this forum. Please share your opinion and hopefully change my mind because if the next three years are going to be like the last one, it's going to be very depressing around here.

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UPDATE Several forum members felt that my comment was out of place and crossed the line. It was not my intent. I was only trying to point that history seems to repeat itself. Phones are personal devices so our choices are highly subjective. I am sorry it came out this way. I apologize for it.