The Microsoft Build 2017 Recap: What To Expect When You’re Expecting Windows
by Brett Howse on May 19, 2017 8:00 AM ESTWindows Store and UWP Updates
The Windows Store has never really gained the traction that Microsoft was hoping for, despite Windows 10 now on over 500 million devices. With Windows 10 S, which only allows Store installs (but can be upgraded to Windows 10 Pro for full app compatibility) Microsoft is hoping they can drive some more applications to the store. They’ve announced a lot of tools over the last couple of years to make it as easy as possible to get developers to move to the store, and there are significant advantages to both users and developers for having a system where they app is easily found, downloaded, and updated, but despite this it’s still been a challenge to drive developers to lock into UWP.
Part of that is that the sales pitch for UWP was to get apps to be available across different device types, and with the low usage share of Windows in the smartphone world, that was going to be a difficult sell. UWP needed to be aimed more at the desktop earlier, but regardless, a developer could target all of the Windows install base of over 1 billion machines by building a Win32 app, or just target Windows 10 installs with a UWP store app.
Possibly the biggest saving grace for Microsoft’s Store efforts got announced at Build last year, with Project Centennial, which was later branded the Desktop App Converter. This simple tool allows most apps to be quickly repackaged into a Store app, with few, or no, changes required to the app. This doesn’t make it a UWP app of course, but it does allow it to be put in the Store, updated through the Store, and includes the sandboxed security model of Store apps. It’s been a nice addition to the Windows arsenal, and Microsoft had seen some great desktop apps like Adobe Photoshop Elements come to the Store through this bridge.
At Build, Microsoft announced some other big apps coming through the Desktop Bridge. iTunes is coming to the Windows Store, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. The best part for Windows users who do use iTunes is that the app can’t do anything to your system, and if you install it, it’s all gone with none of the normal remnants lingering throughout the file system and registry. Autodesk is also bringing Stingray to the store, and SAP Digital Boardroom is also on its way. SAP is a big player in business, so for Microsoft to get Windows 10 S into the enterprise, these types of apps need to make their way into the store.
UWP also got some love at the conference, so even though the Desktop Bridge is going to be the carrot to get apps into the store, UWP needs to continue to improve in order to tempt developers to leverage its advantages. .NET Standard 2.0 for UWP was announced at Build, and XAML Standard will be available later on this year to help with cross-platform capabilities. With Microsoft’s purchase of Xamarin, it makes a lot of sense for them to try and leverage that purchase into further expanding UWP. .NET Standard is adding more than 20,0000 APIs to UWP, including the most requested APIs such as Reflection and SqlClient are coming with the Fall Creators Update.
The Store needs to continue to improve, and it does appear that Microsoft is getting some buy-in with some bigger companies, which is important. The Desktop Bridge for Windows continues to be a strong tool to remove some of the barriers to bringing an existing app into the new world without having to re-write the app from the ground up. It’ll be interesting to see how they progress between now and the Fall Creators Update.
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mkozakewich - Tuesday, May 23, 2017 - link
Office is a completely different product and they've coded all the controls from scratch. It's really terrible and barely functions.Bullwinkle J Moose - Friday, May 19, 2017 - link
"How about the ability to NOT install certain updates."------------------------------------------------------------------------
That is not allowed as that would give the END USER control over their own security and future
I am posting this comment with WINDOWS XP-SP2 without ANY Microsoft security updates!
I am not worried about Wannacry or any other malware destroying this box or the software it contains because I understand the security issues and have secured this system from malware and Spyware created by Microsoft as well as the NSA and other criminals
In addition, Microsoft appears to be using malware in Spyware Platform 10 that was originally created by myself and others not related to Microsoft
Hiding my proprietary technology in Microsoft DRM is not allowed under my license or contract agreements and makes Microsoft Licenses NULL AND VOID!
Therefore, I will continue to use END USER supplied security instead of being locked into a backdoored system that cannot be secured by design
I haven't had a bluescreen of death on XP in over 10 years now and can easily mitigate the security problems created by Microsoft and the Tech Laws that were created to control everything by a few scumbags at our expense
This is a Control Issue!
Deal with it
versesuvius - Friday, May 19, 2017 - link
Microsoft Windows 10 is probably the only piece of software "built" by one of the richest companies in the world that has about 1,000,000,000 testers around the world, testing it in all sorts of scenarios and under all kinds of imaginable conditions. It is a wonder why it is still such a lousy piece of software.Meteor2 - Saturday, May 20, 2017 - link
Is it though? Really? I have no problem with Windows 10, nor does anyone I know.Macpoedel - Saturday, May 20, 2017 - link
Can't tell if you're being sarcastic here... English isn't my native language, so I could be missing the point of your post.If end user control of security is such a big concern for you, why stick with Windows XP and not just run a Linux distro which seems to be exactly what you want. Sticking to an old OS because you want to stay in control doesn't make sense when there are plenty of modern alternatives where you're still in control, they're just not Windows.
Or is that what you're referring to in a convoluted way?
nonameo - Friday, May 19, 2017 - link
LOL. I see this book all over the place in thrift stores. One of the most common books.mominusa - Saturday, May 20, 2017 - link
Well, one thing you can count on is that they will break something with each update and never bother to correct what the update broke. Another thing you can count on is that you will lose more privacy and control over the OS. For instance, I had the "lose wifi on wake from sleep" bug initially, but had gotten rid of it with the known workaround to disable the wifi power saving option in device manager. Of course, MS could have fixed that with any one of their many updates, but never did. Well, since the anniversary edition update, it is back, and the workaround no longer solves it. Thanks microsoft. Worse yet, it is apparently a known issue that MS is aware of, but they wont bother to fix it this time either. At least I managed to disable the extremely annoying Cortana before the last update made that much more difficult. Words cannot describe how much I hate Win 10. I only leave it on my computer because I game occasionally and also share it with my wife, who would not be comfortable with linux. For my personal laptop that no one else uses, I have changed over to linux for almost everything.RichardHeartonYouTube - Saturday, May 20, 2017 - link
MS is going to appstore your ass. They are going to walled garden you until they're making the same money on you that apple is. Fuck freedom. Fuck running what software you like. MS will embrace, extend, extinguish your asses. You will bow to microsofts will, for they deserve $50 on every new laptop purchased forever, because, well, they're just that fucking worthy. Seriously, have you seen how much better Word and Excel have gotten over the last 15 years? Bow the fuck down!Meteor2 - Saturday, May 20, 2017 - link
Do you still live in 1997?mkozakewich - Tuesday, May 23, 2017 - link
He said 15 years! So 2002.