We heard therumors overandover : Android apps are coming to Windows 10 . It vocalise like a good way to let Windows Phone and Desktop users fill the gaps in the Windows Store — but it is n’t find . Instead , Microsoft is make it ridiculously easy to port Android apps to the Windows Store . And everything else too : iOS apps , Win32 ( desktop ) applications — even site .
So no , you ca n’t encounter iOS plot on your Windows car . But if you ’re a developer , it will be incredibly easy to rick your iOS game into something that Windows users can dally .
It might seem like I ’m splitting hairs : if a developer ports an iOS secret plan to Windows 10 , is n’t that an iOS plot on Windows ? Not exactly . commonly porting an app to another platform require the developer to rewrite it from the background up . New code . New resources . New everything . It ’s hard , expensive work , and Microsoft is seek to eliminate it .
Enter Windows Chief Terry Myerson , who told developer at Microsoft Build that they can now use the exact same code that powers their web , Android , iOS and Windows Desktop apps to port them to the Windows Store . He showed it off in action , and adult male , did it look simple . On stage , Myerson rive aniOS Xcode projectinto Microsoft Visual Studio , natively scroll around the project ’s accusative C computer code and straightaway launched the iOS app as a native Windows app . The project can be debugged and optimized right from Visual Studio , he explained , and programmers can even add Windows - specific features , likeXbox Achievements .
That ’s pretty neat — but it ’s bigger than that . Since Windows 10 will share the same codification base , all of these port apps will put to work on screen background , tablet and speech sound . comfortably still , it ’s not just for “ apps ” as we bed them today : the new tool are design to bring in almost anything into the Windows Store .
Wish your preferred web page could send you notifications or have an interactive bouncy - roofing tile on the Windows start screen ? Now it can — new tools will allow companies to register connection pages as apps , making them useable to on Windows Store and allowing them to ping your screen background when they update .
Desktop apps will be easy to port to the Windows Store , too . Myers showed off a reading of Photoshop Elements that was repackaged for Microsoft ’s Modern UI . It ’s just like the normal , desktop reading of Photoshop Elements — except it ’s an easy one - chatter install from the Windows Store . No setup wizards , no choose directory , no dive into the add / remove programs duologue when you desire to uninstall it .
It ’s not the cross - platform app compatibility we expected Microsoft to announce — but maybe it ’s secure . It ’s going to make for more apps to Windows users , namely ones from big name developer that are already missing from the Windows Store ( King has already used the tools to port Candy Crush , for instance ) . It ’s also more appealing to developers on multiple weapons platform : for the first time ever , Microsoft will be releasing its Visual Studio development tools on Mac and Linux .
induce desktop apps easy to port to Microsoft ’s Modern UI ( read : Metro ) could give the Windows Store a chance to build a competitive PC gaming marketplace . It will allow developer of creative desktop programs to move these more full-bodied computer program to the young UI . It will allow ported iOS and Android apps to take vantage of native Windows feature film . good of all , it wo n’t muck up the Windows ecosystem with extra app entrepot ( how ’s that make outfor you , Blackberry ? )
This sounds like a good matter — but it is n’t pure . Windows users still have to wait for the developer of their favored apps to decide to port them over — and if the current market place is any indication , Windows is almost an reconsideration to iOS and Android developers . Will these simple porting tools be enough to convince developers to close Windows 10 ’s “ app gap ” ? I trust so . Otherwise Microsoft ’s promised “ 1 billion equipment ” install base is n’t going to have much to do .
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