Windows 10: Microsoft wants to close the UWP and Win32 divide with Windows Apps

Brink · May 9, 2019

Is Microsoft's UWP going away? Is the Microsoft Store on its way out? Microsoft Corporate VP Kevin Gallo explains the latest twists in Microsoft's long and winding Windows developer platform strategy.

For months, many pundits, partners and customers have wondered aloud whether Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform (UWP) has a future. Officially, the story is UWP is alive and well. But the Win32 platform lives on and seems to be back on Microsoft's radar screen. So what's the real story?

I had a chance this week in Seattle to ask Kevin Gallo, Corporate Vice President of the Windows Developer Platform, for his take on what's going on with the Windows developer platform.

When Microsoft launched UWP in 2015, officials promised that the platform would provide apps with better performance and security because they'd be distributable and updatable from the Microsoft Store. Developers would be able to use a common set of programming interfaces across Windows 10, Windows Phone, HoloLens and more, officials said, when selling the UWP vision. The downside: UWP apps would work on Windows 10-based devices only. Developers would have to do work to get their apps to be UWP/Store-ready. And Win32 apps wouldn't get UWP features like touch and inking.

Arguably, Gallo told me, "we shouldn't have gone that way," meaning creating this schism. But Microsoft execs -- including Gallo -- continue to maintain that UWP is not dead.

Over the past year or so, Microsoft has been trying to undo some of the effects of what Gallo called the "massive divide" between Win32 and UWP by adding "modern desktop" elements to Win32 apps.

"By the time we are done, everything will just be called 'Windows apps,'" Gallo told me. "We're not quite there yet." But the ultimate idea is to make "every platform feature available to every developer."
Click to expand...

Read more:

Microsoft wants to close the UWP, Win32 divide with 'Windows Apps' | ZDNet

Microsoft Confirms UWP is Not the Future of Windows Apps - Thurrott.com

:)

Shihabyooo · May 9, 2019

Microsoft Adds Ability to Block Win32 Apps from Install on Windows 10

That's actually a certainty already. Microsoft wants to create a competing product against Chromebook. I'm sure this is one of the features that bring them closer to that.

UWP is "significantly slower" than Win32. Probably 10-30%. UWP is completely managed (memory pointers are forbidden) like .NET Framework is. They're very closely linked. UWP can be made to run on any processor architecture (ARM, x86, and AMD64 right now). I believe UWP has a path for emulating Win32 too (they demonstrated this in a Windows Phone 10 feature).
Click to expand...

Aren't pointers functions of the language? Or am I confusing pointers?

FordGT90Concept · May 9, 2019

Microsoft Adds Ability to Block Win32 Apps from Install on Windows 10

I wouldn´t be surprised if some manufacturers start shipping their PCs/laptops with Win 10 Cloud only.
Click to expand...

That's actually a certainty already. Microsoft wants to create a competing product against Chromebook. I'm sure this is one of the features that bring them closer to that.

For which API, UWP or Win32? Care to elaborate?
Click to expand...

UWP is "significantly slower" than Win32. Probably 10-30%. UWP is completely managed (memory pointers are forbidden) like .NET Framework is. They're very closely linked. UWP can be made to run on any processor architecture (ARM, x86, and AMD64 right now). I believe UWP has a path for emulating Win32 too (they demonstrated this in a Windows Phone 10 feature).

FordGT90Concept · May 9, 2019

Microsoft Adds Ability to Block Win32 Apps from Install on Windows 10

I think Microsoft is aiming more for a 60/40 ecosystem where the majority of users are on UWP, because that's all they need, and the rest are professionals and power users that sparingly use UWP. I don't think Microsoft expects to eliminate Win32 any time soon simply because the performance differences make it impractical. Case in point: compare the UWP versions of Office programs to the Win32 version of Office. The former is good when you're mobile, the latter is good when you're stationary. The capabilities of the latter far exceed the former.

Windows 10: Microsoft wants to close the UWP and Win32 divide with Windows Apps

Microsoft wants to close the UWP and Win32 divide with Windows Apps

Microsoft wants to close the UWP and Win32 divide with Windows Apps

Microsoft wants to close the UWP and Win32 divide with Windows Apps

Microsoft wants to close the UWP and Win32 divide with Windows Apps - Similar Threads - Microsoft wants close

Microsoft takes another step to bridge Win32-UWP divide on Windows 10

Microsoft explains what is Project Reunion to fix Win32 and UWP apps

Microsoft wants to unify UWP and Win32 with Project Reunion

Microsoft is unifying Win32 and Windows 10 UWP development

Differentiate UWP apps from win32/64 software.

Win32 apps in the Microsoft Store?

Win32 & UWP apps missing on start menu, taskbar and search on roaming profiles

Microsoft filling in divide between Win32 apps and new Windows APIs

WiFi Direct Windows10 UWP Win32

Users found this page by searching for:

are win32 apps the future