Looking further into the WP8 backup, this paints an even worse picture than I'd imagined:
http://allaboutwindowsphone.com/features/item/16663_When_is_a_backup_not_a_backup_.php From: ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com [mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com] On Behalf Of Nathan Chere Sent: Friday, 7 February 2014 3:52 PM To: ozDotNet Subject: RE: Today was very quiet on ozdotnet ... much hurt so defens wow Calm down cowboy. Sorry if that's how it sounded but it wasn't meant to come across as a rant directed towards you, so no need to get your knickers in a twist. I'm pretty sure I've already mentioned enough issues that it isn't a "sample size of 1", and I both looked at your links and googled around related functionality to see what was possible. The best glimmer of hope I could find was this: http://forums.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-8/225574-wow-look-view-text-message-backup-outlook.html which has subsequently been locked down by MS as well. There appears to be no way to access your messages once on Skydrive other than to restore directly to another Windows Phone 8 device. Yeah, combined with the points I already made, I think it's sufficiently "demonstrates something about an entire platform". From: ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com<mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com> [mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com] On Behalf Of Ken Schaefer Sent: Friday, 7 February 2014 3:36 PM To: ozDotNet Subject: RE: Today was very quiet on ozdotnet ... OK - you asked for backup/export, so I gave you some instructions on how to backup your text messages. Just because *I* don't know how to do this, don't care for this functionality, and can't be f*cked* looking this up for you, doesn't mean that the functionality doesn't exist. And then, based on a sample size of 1, you claim that this demonstrates something about an entire phone platform? Wow. From: ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com<mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com> [mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com] On Behalf Of Nathan Chere Sent: Friday, 7 February 2014 3:22 PM To: ozDotNet Subject: RE: Today was very quiet on ozdotnet ... That perfectly demonstrates how far backwards Windows Phone is compared to Windows Mobile and the pain-in-the-ass mentality of Win8/WP8-era MS. You still can't really export the messages. It's a black-box backup to Skydrive and a restore from Skydrive, ie your messages are still locked in. Is it really asking that much to be able to just export MY messages to something like CSV or XML and let me email it, upload to Dropbox, copy to my desktop etc? It's almost like DRM-by-stealth over your own content. Even as early as Windows Mobile 2003 you could sync your SMS messages with Outlook locally and do whatever you want with them from there. Windows Mobile 2003 did it better than Windows Phone 8! ARHRHHHRGHRRHIRGRGRHOGRGR </rant> From: ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com<mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com> [mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com] On Behalf Of Ken Schaefer Sent: Friday, 7 February 2014 2:40 PM To: ozDotNet Subject: RE: Today was very quiet on ozdotnet ... For text messages, you can: http://forums.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-8/230367-sms-backup.html http://www.windowsphone.com/en-au/how-to/wp8/basics/back-up-my-stuff The one main gripe I have is that you used to be able to start typing someone's name on the onscreen keyboard in WM6, and it would search both by number and contact name. That (still) doesn't work. I think a lot of basic functionality is there now - maybe more so with the Lumias than the other brands, as Nokia seemed to have invested fairly heavily. I like having a mapping app that can tell me if I'm speeding - iPhone doesn't have that inbuilt :) That said, whilst Microsoft's been backfilling the missing basic functionality, Android and IOS haven't been standing still. Cheers Ken From: ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com<mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com> [mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com] On Behalf Of Nathan Chere Sent: Friday, 7 February 2014 2:02 PM To: ozDotNet Subject: RE: Today was very quiet on ozdotnet ... Are you able to do something as simple as backup/export your SMS messages with Windows Phone yet (something MS were promising since the Mango announcement by which point I had bought a Galaxy and haven't had any reason to look back)? Is it worth a grumpy cat like myself giving the Lumia-era phones a try or am I just going to be left even more jaded and cynical? Click here<https://www.mailcontrol.com/sr/MZbqvYs5QwJvpeaetUwhCQ==> to report this email as spam. This message has been scanned for malware by Websense. www.websense.com<http://www.websense.com/>
