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[Developer story] My thoughts - Surface Duo developer for over 880 days
Since November 19, 2019, at 7 pm German local time I was busy with the development for the Microsoft Surface Duo and thus for smartphones which have more than just a screen. In these now well over 880 days I went through many valleys of tears but also through many moments of pride regarding my spare time occupation of software development. One thing has always remained: The curiosity about the uniqueness of this new class of devices for developers as well as users. Only for the daily use it has not been enough yet.
# Why?
Like many other interested people at the time, I was particularly attracted by the hardware, the hinge, and the "newness" of the device. Things that I did not know from my bread and butter development for iOS and iPadOS, and at the time I was desperately missing them.
It was also quickly clear that I wanted to share my enthusiasm for the new device. Thus began my very first long series of posts on Dr. Windows . My diary about the development of the #rTsd app - My "Road To Surface Duo".
One big thing that kept me going was the free choice of technologies I could use to develop for the Android from Redmond. Xamarin, Flutter, Android and now Jetpack Compose. So it is and was the perfect playground to be able to try out new things from software development in my spare time and still be able to exist through a concrete scenario.
# It's the "niche" that makes it endearing to me
What kept me on the ball all these years was that the entire Surface Duo developer community is "family-like." Of course, this is due to the fact that the Duo has not yet taken off in terms of sales and market penetration.
As an interested developer, you have direct contact with helpful and inspiring people from the DX (Developer eXperience) team directly from Microsoft through various channels. Since all my apps, which I write in my hobby, are open source on GitHub, exciting conversations arise, if one - which admittedly rarely happens - runs into like-minded people.
If you compare this with experiences from the Apple Developer Portal and its DevRel, for example, you'll quickly notice that Duo really makes you feel like a human being, respected and, above all, "listened to".
In addition, it feels like an enormous success to me if you can convince even one more person of the concept of two-screen devices and they start to deal with the UI guidelines and finally understand them. I am incredibly happy about that. Things that are unthinkable for iOS or conventional Android development.
# What I wish for the next 880 days
As mentioned, the most important thing is that Microsoft continues. With updated hardware in the form of a Surface Duo 3, with a rapid update cycle of the Android operating system and with people who help you find your way in the complex world of dual screen devices.
This is the only way to establish an independent community that will continue to inspire and motivate itself over time. A start could be a small Discord server where interested and Microsoft employees can meet and exchange ideas.
Even though we are here on a Microsoft Community my wish remains that Microsoft also brings the emulator of the Surface Duo to the M1 Mac after all these years. Otherwise, a complete target group will be excluded - especially in view of Apple's model policy, which will no longer include x86 processors soon.
# Conclusion
All this shows that it is often the intangible things that motivate us to engage with technology. The new, the unexpected, but also the human interaction between manufacturer and developer.
Thank you for this exciting journey!
This story is a short form of my longer - and more personal Medium article.
Thanks for sharing your story with us, Tobias and for all your hard work and suggestions to make our community even better! 👏👏👏👏
1 Reply
- CesarValiente
Microsoft
Thanks for sharing your story with us, Tobias and for all your hard work and suggestions to make our community even better! 👏👏👏👏