Field Ballistics failed certification testing

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This afternoon I received an email from Microsoft telling me my new phone app failed the certification testing.

There were two errors. In the first case I didn’t have a clue I was violating the policy. In the second case I was careless. Both are easily fixed.

Test failure 1:

Test: Content that is offensive in any country/region to which your app is targeted is not allowed. Content may be considered offensive in certain countries/regions because of local laws or cultural norms. Examples of potentially offensive content in certain countries/regions include, but are not limited to, the following:

Group 1: China
Prohibited Sexual Content
Disputed territory or region references
Providing or enabling access to content or services that are illegal under applicable local law

Comments: Result: Fail
Your application uses the Bing Maps Silverlight Control for Windows Phone. Bing Maps is not supported for Group 1 countries at this time. You may resubmit your application and deselect the Group 1 countries.

Test failure 2:

Test: Screenshots must only contain app graphics, and must not include any emulator chrome, frame rate counters or debug information.

Comments: The application screenshots contain frame rate counters and debug information.

Three out of the eight screenshots had the frame rate counters and debug information in them. I knew better and just wasn’t paying close enough attention in my rush to get the app submitted.

It will take 30 minutes or so to fix it and resubmit. I’ll get to that sometime tonight after visiting my son and his family.

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5 thoughts on “Field Ballistics failed certification testing”

    • That is not correct. Bing Maps is allowed in Windows Phone apps. Bing Maps is not allowed in China. I just had to eliminate China from the list of companies my app may be distributed in. So I requested it be distributed in 190 countries instead of 191. I’m giving up a country with over 1 billion people in it.

      The proper solution is for Microsoft to detect the app is being sold in China and to give them a P.C. version of the map data.

      I’ve resubmitted the app with the requested changes.

  2. Microsoft has a relationship with China that they don’t want to jeopardize. If that means that Bing Maps doesn’t show maps exactly as China thinks they should be drawn… then Bing Maps goes under the bus.

    I remember going through a tortuous process in the early 2000s to get Linux into the USAF’s list of acceptable operating systems. One of the objections was that it was open source, and unfriendly nations could see the source code, and oooo, who knows what they could do? I responded with a recent news story about Microsoft providing access to their source code to China in exchange for market access. China can see the source code to Windows, says I, but you can’t, Mr Windows-Is-Better, so who has the advantage in that regard?

    • Microsoft has a relationship with China that they don’t want to jeopardize. If that means that Bing Maps doesn’t show maps exactly as China thinks they should be drawn… then Bing Maps goes under the bus.

      Bing IS Microsoft, though, which makes that explanation a little strange. If Microsoft is kowtowing to China, why didn’t they change their map software? If they aren’t, why aren’t they allowing Bing Maps to be used in Windows Aps?

      I’m not sure what the answer is, but it does smell somewhat like incompetence on someone’s part…

    • “China can see the source code to Windows, says I, but you can’t, Mr Windows-Is-Better, so who has the advantage in that regard?”

      Heh. But, but, obscurity is security!!!1!

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