I am reminded of how Linux folks would moan about exactly the same thing: "Don't get me wrong, I love Linux, but it just doesn't have the features that NT has..." or whatever. It was apparently imperative to start with "Don't get me wrong, I love Linux". The writing in this article is exactly like the old, "Don't get me wrong, I love Linux" articles where the author would reveal that he or she actually uses Windows most of the time.

What can we make of this? Linux seems to have hit its stride, you hardly read articles with that tone any more. Will Windows Phone come back from near death? Or were all the "Don't get me wrong" people just Microsoft shills like a lot of people suspected? Or is this just a common journalism trope?

Essentially .... "I'm the resident Microsoft expert here at The Verge, and for years I've switched between Android, iOS, and Windows Phone to check out new apps and how each platform is progressing, but it's now clear Windows Phone is being left behind."

Who cares about Microsoft mobile OS? App developers don't. I develop only for android and iOS. Microsoft is not even on our radar, Microsoft just doesn't matter in this space.