One thing not mentioned is that Microsoft software had already acquired the same stench as GM cars of the 80s: buggy and unreliable. It may actually be true that WinCE was "[a] solid and stable embedded OS code base", but for people like me, who had had their fill of installation hell, boot hell, systems that would never shut down cleanly, and BSODs, the prospect of carrying around all that trouble in our pockets was just laughable. (Remember all the jokes about the name, "wince"?)
The first comment on Medium is from Steven Sinofsky, who closes a few thoughtful paragraphs with a link to his own take: <a href="https://medium.com/@stevesi/it-is-worth-recognizing-that-microsoft-tried-to-recreate-the-pc-ecosystem-with-mobile-e114a1958c18" rel="nofollow">https://medium.com/@stevesi/it-is-worth-recognizing-that-mic...</a><p>(Found via <a href="http://mspoweruser.com/windows-mobile-autopsy-holds-warning-windows-10-mobile/" rel="nofollow">http://mspoweruser.com/windows-mobile-autopsy-holds-warning-...</a> , which discussed extracts.)