As you may know, Microsoft is betting big on Windows 8 and the mobile phone version of its new, Live Tile-based operating system. So far, Windows Phone 8 has met some success with the Lumia smartphones from Nokia, but it still has a way to go before it can plausibly compete with Apple, Android, or even bypass BlackBerry.
Still, that's not keeping Microsoft from touting Windows 8 over competing interfaces like Android, or the new Facebook Home Android skin that Facebook revealed last week. As many tech writers noticed, Facebook's emphasis on people over apps sounded extremely similar to Microsoft's Windows Phone OS presentation.
Apparently, Microsoft noticed, too.
"I tuned into the coverage of the Facebook Home event yesterday and actually had to check my calendar a few times," Frank X. Shaw, Microsoft spokesman, wrote in a company blog post. "Not to see if it was still April Fools Day, but to see if it was somehow still 2011. Because the content of the presentation was remarkably similar to the launch event we did for Windows Phone two years ago."
Shaw didn't stop there, either, adding that Facebook's goal is understandable, considering how complicated Android itself is.
"So, we understand why Facebook would want to find a way to bring similar functionality to a platform that is sadly lacking it," Shaw wrote. "But as Android owners know, that platform is complicated enough without adding another skin built around another metaphor, on top of what is already a custom variant of the OS."
Microsoft isn't the first to call Android complex, but considering the confusion surrounding Windows 8, ZK research analyst Zeus Kerravala said Microsoft is, in a word, jealous. Facebook is taking the same approach it took and starting with 800 million potential users, not to mention the fact that Android currently dominates the mobile OS market.
"It's definitely the pot calling the kettle black," he said. "This is all very much sour grapes."
