or upgrading to the latest Windows version, making the Windows ecosystem fragmented
No, this did not made the Window ecosystem "fragmented" in the sense that Android is. Windows always had excellent backwards and forward compatibility, which meant you could develop for XP and still run on Vista and vice versa. You just couldn't take advantage of the latest and greatest APIs, but most apps used the classic APIs anyway --you still had access to the whole of the OS and hardware across all Windows versions, even with a custom built C API or MFC.
On Android devices you are cutoff from using tons of features if you can't deploy to the latest versions. And you have to walk a very fine line to make it compatible with all versions/form factors, and mostly cut corners.
For the same reason, Android fragmentation is a non-issue.
A, the classic "lalalala, fingers in the ears" argument.
Android too offers excellent forward compatibility! It is easy, as API changes are generally additive. I challenge you to find a few different apps written for, say, Android 1.6 that don't run on 4.0. I am sure some examples exist, but they are rare. In fact, I would even argue that Windows apps fail more often to be forward compatible than Android apps, because of the sheer complexity of the Windows software stack compared to Android.
As to backward compatibility, just like on Windows, it is the developers' responsibility to ensure he refrains from using APIs that are too recent. For example, if you write a Windows Direct3D 10 game, it won't run on XP because this API is only available on Vista and up. Same thing for Android: select the right API level when developing your app! http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/api-levels.html How is Windows better/different than Android in this respect?
I speak from experience. I have developed on both Windows and Android, contrary to most people in this thread.
No, this did not made the Window ecosystem "fragmented" in the sense that Android is. Windows always had excellent backwards and forward compatibility, which meant you could develop for XP and still run on Vista and vice versa. You just couldn't take advantage of the latest and greatest APIs, but most apps used the classic APIs anyway --you still had access to the whole of the OS and hardware across all Windows versions, even with a custom built C API or MFC.
On Android devices you are cutoff from using tons of features if you can't deploy to the latest versions. And you have to walk a very fine line to make it compatible with all versions/form factors, and mostly cut corners.
For the same reason, Android fragmentation is a non-issue.
A, the classic "lalalala, fingers in the ears" argument.