A 15-year-old Junior Secondary School 2 pupil of Agbara Commuinty Junior Secondary School, Ogun State who was declared missing by the police in the state left many people in shock after she was found having fun in the boyfriend's house. The girl identified as Asmau Ajibade, went missing for seven days after she left home for school.
Even though to err is human, I still try to confirm and reconfirm any information am dishing out. This is because of the quite numbers of people that read, follow, and depend on any of my post.
Often times, I use to have more than enough information at hands to dish out but always reserve it till the time I confirm it from grapevine or reliable source. This is not only to keep people updated but to make them informed properly on happenings. Though, not many of this information may be opium or seen as soothing balm but I can't just help it than to tell you the sincere truth and reality. Why ? Because there's no any how you will tell a lie and it won't bounce back on you. So, instead of conforming you with lies, I'd rather keep mute. The open truth is just that I can never deceive you. Whatever I know is right and appropriate, I don't hide away from it.
Let me state clearly that there's nothing I stand to gain in updating you let alone taking pleasure in deceit. I only take it as a selfless service. Nothing but a selfless service. And I never pray to keep writing on LAUTECH when I leave the school. Neither do I even wish to work in LAUTECH as some had wrongly opined. The truth is that I can't just help it seeing my colleague un-updated or consuming lies. So whatever is your reaction to any of my post, pls always remember that I've nothing to gain. I only uphold the truth.
To the main issue now, I explained in one of my recent post that the council want to pay 3 months which will cover for September, October and November. The Below is the excerpt of the story.
" The council has agreed to pay 3 months and has retracted its earlier position to pay through cheque. However, one of the unions opinion is that they are ready to accept 3 months but must be from August to Nov 2016. This is against the wish of the council as the intention is to pay 3 months that will cover for September October and November 2017. (11th of October, 2017).
In view of the above, I wish to reiterate again that the alert of November 2017 is valid. And infact, October alert too just confirmed again.
We are getting there by the special grace of God. AMEN.
First of all, we need to be reminded that we cannot obey ANYONE when it comes to any disobedience to ALLAH. What I mean is if your husband or parents request you to do something which goes against ALLAH and HIS MESSENGER, you must decline by reminding them about what ALLAH and HIS Messenger said. That's the command of ALLAH and HIS MESSENGER.
Abortion is forbidden in Islam whether it be in the earlier stages of pregnancy or otherwise. The extent of sin incurred varies according to the stage of pregnancy, so that less sin would be incurred if the abortion took place during the early stages, while it becomes increasingly haram (unlawful) as the pregnancy advances. When the pregnancy reaches 120 days old, abortion becomes totally forbidden and is deemed a form of murder that results in compensation becoming liable. This compensation is equal in value to 213 grams of gold, and it is given to the heir who did not participate in the abortion (i.e., brother/sister or grandparent(s), etc., according to the laws of inheritance). However, the only condition under which abortion is allowed is when there is an actual threat to the life of the mother confirmed by an official medical report that if the pregnancy advances any further, the mother may die. “While Islam permits preventing pregnancy for valid reasons, it does not allow doing violence to it once it occurs. Muslim jurists have agreed unanimously that after the fetus is completely formed and has been given a soul, abortion is haram. It is also a crime, the commission of which is prohibited to the Muslim because it constitutes an offense against a complete, living human being. Jurists insist that the payment of blood money (diya) becomes incumbent if the baby is aborted alive and then died, while a fine of lesser amount is to be paid if it is aborted dead. However, there is one exceptional situation. If, say the jurists, after the baby is completely formed, it is reliably shown that the continuation of the pregnancy would necessarily result in the death of the mother, then, in accordance with the general principle of the Shari`ah, that of choosing the lesser of two evils, abortion must be performed. The reason for this is that the mother is the origin of the fetus; moreover, her life is well-established, with duties and responsibilities, and she is also a pillar of the family. It would not be possible to sacrifice her life for the life of a fetus which has not yet acquired a personality and which has no responsibilities or obligations to fulfill. Imam al-Ghazzali makes a clear distinction between contraception and abortion, saying that contraception is not like abortion. Abortion is a crime against an existing being. It follows from this that there are stages of existence. The first stages of existence are the settling of the semen in the womb and its mixing with the secretions of the woman. Then come the next gestational stage. Disturbing the pregnancy at this stage is a crime. When it develops further and becomes a lump, aborting it is a greater crime. When it acquires a soul and its creation is completed, the crime becomes more grievous. The crime reaches a maximum seriousness when it is committed after it (the fetus) is separated (from the mother) alive.”
Scholars based on QUR'AN and Sunnah has ruled as follows;
1. It is not permissible to abort a pregnancy at any stage unless there is a legitimate reason, and within very precise limits. 2. If the pregnancy is in the first stage, which is a period of forty days, and aborting it serves a legitimate purpose or will ward off harm, then it is permissible to abort it. But aborting it at this stage for fear of the difficulty of raising children or of being unable to bear the costs of maintaining and educating them, or for fear for their future or because the couple feel that they have enough children etc this is not permissible. 3. It is not permissible to abort a pregnancy when it is an ‘alaqah (clot) or mudghah (chewed lump of flesh) (which are the second and third periods of forty days each) until a trustworthy medical committee has decided that continuing the pregnancy poses a threat to the mother’s wellbeing, in that there is the fear that she will die if the pregnancy continues. It is permissible to abort it once all means of warding off that danger have been exhausted. 4. After the third stage, and after four months have passed, it is not permissible to abort the pregnancy unless a group of trustworthy medical specialists decide that keeping the foetus in his mother’s womb will cause her death, and that should only be done after all means of keeping the foetus alive have been exhausted. A concession is made allowing abortion in this case so as to ward off the greater of two evils and to serve the greater of two interests. Al-Fataawa al-Jaami’ah, 3/1056.
From the above fatwa, we must fear Allah and avoid the abortion practice. Fear that you are taken the highest risk in life to die in a state of abortion or as a result of abortion.
ABORTION DUE TO RAPE
There follow some important points concerning the woman who has been raped: 1. The raped woman who did her utmost to resist these thugs and their ilk is not guilty of any sin, because she was forced into it, and the one who is forced to do something is not guilty of sin in the case of kufr, which is worse than zinaa (unlawful sexual activity), as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “except him who is forced thereto and whose heart is at rest with Faith…” [al-Nahl 16:106].
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah has forgiven for my ummah for their mistakes, what they forget and what they are forced to do.” (Narrated by Ibn Maajah in al-Talaaq, 2033; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Sunan Ibn Maajah, 1664).
The Muslim woman who has fallen prey to a rapist will be rewarded for bearing this calamity with patience, if she seeks reward with Allaah for the harm that has befallen her. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “No stress or exhaustion befalls the Muslim, nor worry or distress, even a thorn which pricks him, but Allaah will expiate for his sins because of that.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari and Muslim).
2. Young Muslim men should hasten to marry women such as these who have been tormented, so as to reduce their suffering and console them, to compensate them for the loss of the most precious thing that they possess, which is their virginity.
3. With regard to their having abortions – the basic principle concerning abortion is that it is haraam and is not allowed from the moment of conception when it becomes a new being and is “placed in a place of safety” [cf. al-Mursalaat 77:21], i.e., the womb, even if this being is the result of a haraam relationship such as zinaa. In the case of the Ghaamidi woman who had confessed to zina and thus the punishment of stoning became obligatory, the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told her to go away until after she had given birth, then after she had given birth, he told her to go away until the child was weaned.
4. There are some fuqahaa’ who think that it is permissible to have an abortion within the first forty days of pregnancy. Some of them even permit it until before the soul is breathed into the embryo. The stronger the excuse, the clearer the reason for the concession is, and if that is within the first forty days it is, this means that the concession is more appropriate.
5. Undoubtedly the rape of a Muslim woman by an evil enemy is a strong reason for the Muslim woman and for her family to have an abortion. For she will hate this foetus, the result of this iniquitous attack, and she will want to get rid of it. So this concession is to be given because of necessity, especially in the first days of the pregnancy.
6. Nevertheless, there is nothing wrong with a Muslim woman who has suffered this disaster keeping the foetus without being forced to get rid of it. If it is decreed that it should remain in her womb for the usual term and she gives birth to it, then it will be a Muslim child, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Every newborn is born in a state of fitrah (the natural state of man, i.e., Islam).” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari). The fitrah is the religion of Tawheed, i.e., Islam. It has been stated in fiqh that if the parents have different religions, the child should follow the parent who has the best religion. This is in cases where the father is known, but what about the child who has no father? He is a Muslim child, no doubt, and the Muslim society is obliged to take care of his upbringing, to spend on him and to bring him up well. They should not leave the burden to his poor, suffering mother.
One of the basic principles of Islam is to relieve distress and hardship, so if a Muslim girl who is keen to remain chaste is exposed to bestial aggression and fears the effect that this may have on her reputation or her honour, or fears that she may be an outcast or that she may be subjected to harm such as being killed, or she fears that she may suffer psychological or nervous diseases, or that her sanity may be affected, or that shame may be brought upon her family for a matter in which she is not guilty of any sin, or that the child will not find any place of safety, then I say: that if this is the case, there is nothing wrong with her aborting the foetus before the soul is breathed into it, especially when it has become easy for a woman to find out if she is pregnant or not, with the advance of medical means of detecting pregnancy in the first week. The earlier the abortion is carried out, the more appropriate this concession is. And Allaah knows best. May Allah keep guiding us all and protect us from such satanic influences on abortion. Aameen.
Question: We live here in the west and we have some non-Muslim friends who discuss Islam with us. They are very interested in science and theories about the universe, and they have a question: Is there any mention of the dinosaurs in Islam? Is this proven in the saheeh Sunnah? How should we answer them, whether the answer is yes or no?
Answer:
Praise be to Allah. In al-Mawsoo‘ah al-‘Arabiyyah al-‘Aalamiyyah it says: The dinosaurs of the Jurassic period (138-205 million years ago) include the tallest known dinosaur, namely the diplodocus, which reached a height of 27 m, as well as other dinosaurs such as the plated or armoured stegosaurus, the allosaurus, and the camptosaurus. The dinosaurs were reptiles that lived millions of years ago. The word dinosaur is derived from two Greek words meaning “terrible lizard”. However the dinosaurs were not really lizards, although the size of some of them was terrifying; the largest dinosaur was the biggest animal that ever lived on dry land, with a weight that was many times that of a fully grown elephant. There are a very few types of whales that grow to a size bigger than these dinosaurs. The first dinosaurs appeared on earth 220 million years ago. These creatures dominated dry land for approximately 150 million years and lived on most continents on earth and in various environments, such as swamps and flat plains. They became extinct suddenly 63 million years ago. End quote.
There is nothing in the texts of the Qur’aan or Sunnah to confirm or deny the existence of these creatures. In the Holy Qur’aan there are some verses which some scholars have understood to mean that there were creatures that existed on earth before Adam (peace be upon him), such as the verse in which Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels: ‘Verily, I am going to place (mankind) generations after generations on earth.’ They said: ‘Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, - while we glorify You with praises and thanks (Exalted be You above all that they associate with You as partners) and sanctify You.’ He (Allah) said: ‘I know that which you do not know’” [al-Baqarah 2:30] . Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The words of the angels “Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood? ” make it very likely that they were successors to some creatures who came before them and that there were creatures on earth before that who shed blood and spread mischief. So the angels asked their Lord, may He be glorified and exalted: “Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood ” as was done by those who came before them? End quote from Tafseer al-Qur’aan al-Kareem , 1/30
The dinosaurs may have been among those creatures. It is not strange that there were creatures of this great size. It is proven in the saheeh Sunnah that Adam (peace be upon him)was sixty cubits tall, as was narrated by al-Bukhaari (3326) and Muslim (2841) from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah created Adam sixty cubits tall, then He said: Go and greet those angels and listen to how they greet you, for that will be your greeting and the greeting of your descendants. So he went and said, As-salaamu ‘alaykum (peace be upon you) and they said: Al-salaam ‘alayka wa rahmat Allaah (peace be upon you and the mercy of Allaah. So they added (the words) wa rahmat Allah. Everyone who enters Paradise will be in the form of Adam. Mankind continued to diminish in size until now.” It also says in the Sunnah that when the earth’s blessing is restored to it at the end of time, one pomegranate at that time will be sufficient for a group of people, and they will seek shade beneath its skin, as was narrated by Muslim (2937) from an-Nawwaas ibn Sam‘aan (may Allah be pleased with him): the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said, when speaking of the descent of ‘Eesa (peace be upon him) and Allah’s destruction of Ya’jooj and Ma’jooj: “Then Allaah will send rain which will not be kept out by any house of clay or hair; it will wash the earth and leave it like a mirror. Then it will be said to the earth: Bring forth your fruits and restore your blessing. On that day a group of people will eat from a pomegranate and shelter beneath its skin. Milk will be blessed until a milch-camel will be sufficient for a crowd of people, and a milch-cow will be sufficient for a tribe of people, and a milch-sheep will be sufficient for a family of people.”
To sum up: Islam does not deny that these creatures existed or that they were of this great size, but the fact remains that when they speak of their lifespans and the details of their forms and lives, this is the field of science and speculation combined. The Muslim should not be preoccupied with that and he should not waste time discussing it or believe that it is a matter that has any impact on his religious commitment or belief, because he knows that the Qur’aan and Sunnah were revealed to guide people and show them the right way; their focus is not history, geography, earth science or biology, although they indicate many facts that have to do with these fields. There are some kinds of animals that are not mentioned in Qur’aan and Sunnah at all, even though they existed at the time the Qur’aan was revealed.
Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha yesterday disclosed that South African President, Jacob Zuma, will from today pay a two-day visit to the state.Briefing journalists at Government House, Owerri, the state capital, Okorocha said Zuma, among other official engagements, would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Rochas Okorocha Foundation and Zuma Foundation.
Also, the visitor would be expected to assess the planned over 20,000 hectare, Egbema Industrial Park estimated to cost over N2 billion and the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport.
He said the pact would enable the duo work in partnership to move the interests of the humanitarian bodies together.“The South African President, Jacob Zuma will pay a two-day visit to Imo on Friday. We are working on a partnership at the Egbema Industrial Park, management of Imo International Cargo Airport and South African Airline. “My interest is to see that the airport takes off to help lift our exports, jointly work on education and sign an MoU between the Rochas Okorocha Foundation and Zuma Foundation,” Okorocha said.
student of University of Lagos (UNILAG) posted his ordain on social media of a scenario of which he was attacked by suspected ritualists who claimed to be lecturers of the UNILAG.
The Lagos State University (LASU) is to admit 3,500 students for the 2017/2018 academic session.
The university’s Head of Centre for Information, Press and Public Relations, Mr Adekoya Martins, made this known in a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday.
Martins said that 36,500 candidates applied for admission in LASU for the academic session. He described as false, purported information on some social media platforms that LASU was set to admit 5,500 out of 36,500 candidates.
“The university management wishes to state unequivocally that such information is false, baseless and unfounded. “Consequently, members of the university community and the general public are advised to disregard such information,” he said. In a bid to ensure transparency and merit-driven admission process, LASU recently launched an application to automate subsequent admissions in line with a directive from the National Universities Commission (NUC). The application will cut out undue interference from individuals in the admission process
Senator Ademola Adeleke from Osun West Senatorial District has presented of a sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Million (N250,000,000) to sixty six undergraduates from the ten local governments in his District.
Addressing students, parents and party faithful at the occasion in Ede, Osun state on Wednesday, Adeleke said the scholarship scheme was a fulfilment of one of his campaign promises, pledging to continue to serve the interest of the generality of Nigerians, irrespective of party affiliations.
He said the scheme is in continuation of his late elder Brother, Senator Isiaka Adeleke’s legacies and urged the 66 beneficiaries to make judicious uuse of the opportunity of the scheme.
It will be recalled that Senator Ademola Adeleke was elected as a replacement for the his elder Brother who died in April 23rd this year.
Senator Adeleke appealed to PDP members in Osun to close ranks and work together for a common goal as the 2018 governorship election draws closer.
“This is the greatest challenge that all well meaning members of the PDP in the state should saddle themselves with, by closing ranks with a view to presenting a credible and sellable candidate that will effortlessly win the governorship election and take over the Bola Ige House, Abere.
“Let us, as a party avoid rancour, mudslinging, pull him down syndrome and other vices, that may endanger, God forbid, our chances of winning the 2018 governorship election.”
Adeleke therefore urged the beneficiaries of the scheme to make judicious use of the opportunity given to them by taking their studies serious.
Makarfi commends Adeleke, apologies to Nigerians
The National Caretaker Committee Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ahmed Makarfi commended the efforts of Senator Adeleke for the promise kept and urged other lawmakers elected on the platform of PDP to emulate the Senator.
He maintained that PDP is the only veritable alternative to rescue the country from its present hard time, stressing that PDP will fulfill every promise made to Nigerians by striving to redeem its image.
“With the PDP. We are going to have good governance under rain under shine. No doubt we had our problems but we will not run away from it.
“Nigeria has suffered enough and God will emancipate Nigerians by returning the PDP to power both at the Federal and at the state levels.”
Makarfi again apologised to Nigerians for the previous misrule and corruption of his party members that led to its defeat in 2015 election but promised that they have learnt their lessons.
”When you don’t accept that you erred, there is no way you can correct the mistakes for the benefit of the people. In PDP, we erred and we accepted it.
“For us in PDP, we had our flaws and we did not fail to admit them. I have apologised for our wrongdoings. I am using this medium to apologise again. We are sincerely sorry for all our failures,” he said.
Markarfi urged members of the PDP, who had defected to return to the party, just as he appealed to those, who were yet to join the party to do so to rescue Nigeria from the ruling All Progressives Congress.
If you have been around the news, you will recall that the Kaduna State government of Nigeria decided to administer a test to ascertain the competence level of teachers in the state. About more than 20, 000 of the teachers flopped in the test and that has raised several concerns from the public.
While we are not sure how the test was marked, articles emerging online revealed that the test questions were as cheap as anything but the teachers stilled failed.
A teacher from Kaduna decided to react to the reasons why they failed the primary four test given to them by the Kaduna state government.
If this post was written by a teacher. then I think it is high time the government makes the test more serious.
I can't know if this was written in English or French. Here is a translation to what the teacher wrote in Hausa language
"A fool is not a mad man, and if the speaker is a fool, then the listener is not supposed to be a fool. God will punish them."
This past weekend, Microsoft made official what was already known for years: the Windows Phone mobile operating system isdead. There’ll be no further development, no miraculousWindows 10 Mobilerevivals, and no further attempts to compete with the overwhelming duopoly of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. The new Microsoft, led by Satya Nadella, prefers collaboration over competition — or at least that’s the choice the company tells itself it has made in abandoning its thwarted mobile OS venture.
But the overall failure of Windows Phone masks a series of smaller successes and advances, which Microsoft and its hardware partners have never received enough credit for. At its outset in 2010, Windows Phone was the boldest and most original reimagining of what a smartphone can be after Apple’s iPhone introduction three years prior. Unlike Android, Windows Phone was not a re-creation of the iOS icon grid; also unlike Android, Windows Phone ran fast and fluid on very basic hardware.
Given how few opportunities we’re likely to have to talk about Windows Phone in the future, I thought I’d take a look back at some of my highlights from covering Microsoft’s ill-fated mobile operating system over the years.
October 2010: A radically different phone OS
It was almost exactly seven years ago, on October 11th, 2010, that noted tech geek Stephen Fry stood in front of a captive audience in London and declared himself thrilled to be endorsing the new Windows Phone OS. A longtime iPhone enthusiast, Fry was just giddy with the little “moments of delight” that the refreshingly new Windows Phone provided him. He had good reason to be enthusiastic: the original Windows Phone of those days was radically different and in many ways ahead of its time.
The chromeless, distilled interface of WP7 was a million miles away from the skeuomorphism dominating Apple’s phones and Samsung’s copycat efforts. Where an iPhone served you static icons, a Windows Phone offered tiles with live information on them: a calendar surfacing your next appointments, a messaging app presenting snippets of texts, a phone app with your last missed call, and so on. When you look at subsequent “hub” pages on Android — things like HTC’s BlinkFeed or the Google Now cards with contextually relevant information and news — know that at least some of their inspiration came from what Microsoft did with Windows Phone. Or, at least, what Microsoft envisioned. I think the biggest misstep from Microsoft was in its failure to follow through on its bold vision and novel design sensibility; Windows Phone was compromised and watered down in significant ways after initial feedback deemed it too unfamiliar and alien to mobile users.
It’s easy to now forget just how fast and responsive Windows Phone felt relative to anything Android could come up with. Microsoft’s on-screen keyboard was also vastly superior. And if you wanted to talk about the most elegant system for providing notifications or useful information on the lock screen, you had to talk about Microsoft’s solution. In some of the most important and pervasive ways, Windows Phone was the iPhone’s equal — primarily because Microsoft adopted an Apple-like approach of tightly controlling the user experience across all devices and manufacturers. It was closed-shop, walled-garden software production, and it paid off with a great degree of polish and refinement.
November 2011: Industrial design revolution
The contributions of the Windows Phone ecosystem to the wider field of smartphone design have never been properly recognized. The platform launched with some gorgeous and truly unique phones like the Samsung Omnia 7 with a 4-inch OLED display, Dell Venue Pro with a slide-out keyboard, and HTC 7 Surroundwith a big integrated speaker and kickstand. But it was the following year, when HTC introduced the Windows Phone 8X and 8S and Nokia launched the Lumia 800, that we really saw Windows Phone push out in front in the industrial design stakes.
I reviewed those phones, and they were among the most handsome and innovative designs of their time. Nokia was plagiarizing itself by exploiting the lovely pillow-shaped Nokia N9 design, but that didn’t matter: the fact was that for that one moment in late 2011, Windows Phone had some of the finest hardware around. (The contemporary iPhone, the 4S, was nice, but it was a reiteration of a year-old design and it had a smaller screen.)
Microsoft was able to launch Windows Phone 7 with a battery of differentiated designs from every aspiring global phone maker, and a year later it followed up with the best designs from Nokia and HTC. Nokia staked its entire future on Windows Phone, and HTC invested heavily in making the Windows Phone 8X and 8S — which Microsoft designated “Signature Windows Phone” devices — as good and as pretty as they were. This was a pivotal moment for the mobile OS as a whole, because the eventual failure of these phones to dent the iPhone and Android’s market dominance is what led to a spiraling loss of faith among Microsoft’s hardware partners and the eventual dissolution of Nokia as a phone maker.
July 2013: Phone cameras take a step forward
Windows Phone disturbed our preconceptions about good user interfaces when it launched. The OS then gave us some of the nicest phone hardware we’d seen. And before its star started to fade, it managed to move the needle on camera technology, too, courtesy of the Lumia 1020 and its iconic round camera bump. The Lumia 1020 was a more mainstream version of the hardcore Nokia 808 PureView running Symbian. Both phones had 41-megapixel camera sensors, and both marked significant advances in mobile imaging. The 808 is still such a good camera that I can dig it out of a drawer and use it as a reliable point-and-shoot that would be shamed by no modern smartphone. The subsequent Lumia 1020 splits the difference by not being quite as good at the imaging stuff, but having a vastly superior and more modern operating system.
Windows Phone had a variety of issues undermining its chances of popular success, but the essential hardware aspects of good design, great imaging, and reliable battery life were rarely in question.
August 2013: The YouTube blockade
If you’re wondering why none of Microsoft’s many strenuous Windows Phone efforts ultimately paid off, the key answer lies in the platform’s chronic failure to attract third-party app developers. Every time Nokia launched a new Windows Phone, it had to dodge and duck the question of when there’ll be an Instagram app for the OS. Even as Microsoft was beating Google at providing a smoother and slicker first-party app experience, Google was winning handily in having the more essential apps and the more enthusiastic third-party ecosystem. In an alternate universe, where Microsoft’s Bing was superior to Google search, and where Hotmail had retained its popularity and Internet Explorer had remained the dominant web browser, there’s a chance we could all be talking about Android’s demise right now.
Perhaps the biggest missing app for Microsoft was YouTube, and that was no accident. There’s a long history of hostilities between Google and Microsoft over YouTube’s presence on Windows Phone, but ultimately I think Google just didn’t want to give WP the chance to become a legitimate Android rival. Most internet use is now mobile, and YouTube occupies a huge chunk of our time while we’re on our phones, so any platform that’s missing a proper YouTube app is at a massive disadvantage. Call it simplistic, but I suspect similar reasons lie behind Google’s decision to yank YouTube off the Amazon Echo Show: it’s another example of a direct competitor to a Google product (Google Home, in that case) being hamstrung by the absence of a YouTube app.
April 2014: Taking over Nokia
By 2014, Windows Phone had pretty much exhausted its supply of good news and was morphing into a learning exercise for both Microsoft and the wider mobile industry. Having alienated HTC and Samsung early on by seeming to favor Nokia, Microsoft bit the bullet and just acquired the storied Finnish phone manufacturer. What followed were a series of rebranding and repositioning efforts and the first Microsoft logos embossed on modern-era smartphones. But Microsoft couldn’t alter the trajectory that had been set by its insurmountable app deficit and it just kept trying to appeal on the basis of the traditional Nokia strengths of imaging and design. What ended up happening was that Android vendors like Samsung finally woke up to the importance of those factors, and eventually they just outdid the former Nokia at its own game.
One of the crucial issues that Microsoft had before its Nokia takeover was a conflict over what should be prioritized. Microsoft had the iPhone in its sights, whereas Nokia was keen to drag the power- and resource-efficient Windows Phone down to lower price points. Nokia was trying to capitalize on its head start of having brand equity in the rapidly developing markets of India and the rest of the Asian subcontinent, while Microsoft was thinking of ways to position itself against its oldest rival. The frustration on both sides bubbled over into public disclosures about the pace of progress, which is predictable considering the two companies were advancing toward different goals.
The Microsoft lesson for companies like Google, which just acquired HTC’s smartphone team, is multidimensional. Firstly, adopting the Apple-like approach of tight control over the user experience really did pay off in making Windows Phone feel consistently smooth and cohesive. But secondly, if a software vendor is going to piss off its hardware partners, it might as well go all the way instead of tip-toeing around the matter. Microsoft wanted to have Nokia as its de facto in-house Windows Phone design operation, but it still wanted Samsung and HTC pouring money into devising their own devices. It was greedy, and it didn’t pan out. Microsoft could have saved itself many headaches by buying Nokia much earlier and setting a single, unified strategy for where Windows Phone was going to go. Defeating both iOS at the high end and Android at the low end was always an unreasonably ambitious objective.
August 2015: The 2.5 percent
So what’s happened in the three years since Microsoft bought Nokia? Well, in 2015 the smartphone market was confirmed to be a total iPhone / Android duopoly, with Gartner reporting 96.8 percent of all phones sold having one or the other OS. Microsoft claimed 2.5 percent of the market then, and it’s only been going down since. Tom Warren, The Verge’s most resolute Windows Phone stalwart, raised the white flag at the end of 2014. The fact that Windows Phone endured as long as it has is mostly a matter of Microsoft’s deep resources to support its zombie corpse.
But even as we look back on this entire venture as an unsuccessful attempt to offer an alternative to Apple and Google, we shouldn’t lose sight of the positive legacy it has left behind. The mobile industry would have been much poorer without the considerable resources Microsoft and its partners poured into building a third viable ecosystem. There are many lessons for others to benefit from and many hardware innovations to be inspired by. Windows Phone should be remembered as one of the best failures the tech industry has produced.
Monkeypox has been causing panic across Nigeria since the first suspected case of the viral disease was reported in Bayelsa State last week.
It has since spread to six other states. These are Rivers, Ekiti, Akwa-Ibom, Lagos, Ogun and Cross River
The Executive Officer of the National Centre for Disease Control, Chikwe Ihekweazu, confirmed that 31 cases had been recorded in the seven states.
Following reports of the spread of the disease, the House of Representatives on Tuesday summoned the Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, to appear before it to explain measures being taken to curb the spread.
In the absence of specific form of treatment or vaccine, PREMIUM TIMES has compiled some of the things people need to know to prevent the spread of the disease.
Monkeypox can be transmitted through contact with body fluids or respiratory droplet of an infected animal, and being bitten by an animal infected by the disease.
Seven Tips
1. Avoid contact with squirrels, rats and monkeys, especially animals that are sick or found dead.
2. Practice good hygiene, always wash hands with soap and water after contact with animals or when caring for sick human relatives or soiled beddings.
3. Avoid contact with respiratory droplet of an infected animals or humans, i.e holding animals close to the face.
Note: There is very little information that allows one to exclude any animal from contracting monkeypox. Therefore, it should be presumed that any mammal including common household pets, could be infected if exposed to the disease.
4. Avoid contact with persons infected with the disease or suspected of the disease.
5. Handle materials used by or to treat infected persons with care- e.g bedding clothes, and any other contaminated material
6. Cook all meat very thoroughly, especially bush meat
7. If you are a farmer, call in expert in suspected cases of animal illness and wear gloves when examining them.
