Microsoft has posted a new video showing how simple it should be to port current Android apps to work on Windows 10, and even incorporate links to Microsoft services and features.
The "bridge" between Android and Windows 10 for app developers was announced on Wednesday during Build 2015 under the code name Project Astoria. The video shows how developers can upload their Android app to the Windows Dev Center so it can automatically check it and see how much of its code can be reused, and how much needs to be changed so it can work on Windows 10.
Microsoft claims that altering just one line of code on an Android app will allow it to switch from using Google Maps to Bing Maps. A few more lines of code are needed to enable support for live tiles for the Windows 10 start screen
Microsoft is currently allowing developers to sign up for a Project Astoria beta testing program but the final public version won't be available until this fall. You can check out the full video at Microsoft's Channel 9 site
Source: Channel 9
Reader comments
Microsoft shows how easy it will be to port Android apps to Windows 10 in new video
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Can I get windows 10 on my Lumia 630
Thanks for the good news
This ia a revolution. Now android and iOS developers can easily create Windows 10 apps without doing the hard work. They just need to modify some of the code of their Android / iOS app to run the app in windows 10 .This new revlution is called "Project Astoria". People you can now view here How To Port Android Apps To Microsoft Windows 10
Maybe we can finally get an n64 emulator!
Would this mean that windows phone might get snapchat?
SnaPussyChat have no reason anymore to porting the app to w10, except if snapchat co (gay) doesnt like microsoft.
Many people on IOS would move to WP if there were more apps and the same with android users who are fed up with using outdated OSes on their budget phones with no features. Lumia phones are top quality on a tight budget and once the phone system has more apps by 1st party companies the market share will increase.
I left Apple and went back to MS as I was sick of expensive hardware being renedered useless through firmware updates that crippled features and stopped things working. A nasty ploy to force people to shell out hundreds of pounds on the latest gadget whilst their old product still has plenty of life in it, albeit on a lower OS. We are not all wealthy bankers and business owners with huge bank balances.
Android is laggy and budget phones are dreadful quality and slow and clunky. I prefer my Lumia 925 over my Galaxy Note 2 every day of the week. I am a heavy user and a geek. But I really do not like the other main OSes.
I think this new project will revolutionise Windows Phone and improve its market share exponentially within 3 years.
So does this actually mean we will be getting android and IOS apps/games or not? I'm confused with this still..
C# >>> Lag Java
Oh, they understand the problem. But once again, they force a very microsoftish solution on devs, opening no continuous integration/migration toolchain, but a new editor. Git will sorta remedy this deficiency through its workflow. Still, just cannot ignore a billion devices. And having a migrated Dalvik code repository still is a LOT less work than to hire C# or C++ devs and keep a completely different app working. As it stands, only Apple is in a position where such an effort is made.
Finally windows 10 will kick the ass of those bully androiders... :D:D:D
I'm an Android developer. Can I publish my apps on WIndows for free?
Yeah
I wish MS wud snatch the throne from Android and iOS later.
For a relatively new developer who has the knowledge of Android apps development, which would be the better option:
1. Develop android app, then port to WP (obviously excluding iOS for the time being, cos I don't code in Objective-C)
2. Develop WP app then port to both android and iOS using Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.iOS?
Note: The android is still under develpment, and I could as well start from scratch if I'm to go with option 2.
Please advice
If you don't mind, try a small project first and see which approach comes easier to you overall. You can base your strategy on the most favorable outcome in terms of ease of development and management.
yes but then the apps are going to look like androids, right? well we dont want that :(
No, they've already said they will have a windows look/feel to them
technically if a dev don't want to create app for wp can i use his app codes and convert it for wp?? ofcourse it will be illegal but wp will have the app :D
Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
Looks and works good! Looking forward for release of this technology
Aaaight! @Android developers: this is a no brainer and a piece of cake. Start converting your apps to Win10! Go! Start crackin'! No excuses this time.
I know how to code for Android and recently I got a free Windows Developer Account from DreamSpark. So I thought about learning C# and then getting into windows phone development but seeing this making me so happy and excited. Now I can only focus on Android and develop Android app and then easily port it to Windows Phone :) Thank You Microsoft!
They should also have an interop for changing the fonts to Segoe. Android fonts don't look that great on Windows.
I'm pretty sure this would be possible
Well that boosts the chances of The World Ends with You on Windows Phone. So I am happy.
we were ignored everywhere since last 2 -3 years.now its our time to fight back...
Link video please..
Now google will suffer worse
Awesome awesome
It's really cool.....ew hopes for windows :)
If Windows10 all platforms is good and don't get the negative reaction that Windows 8 did (essentially due to the lack of a Start menu) this could really boost sales of Windows ecosystem on phones and tablets tremendously . If you can beat em join em . Honestly apps apart still things missing on WP8.1 . Why can't I for example upload every email attachment , no matter which format , on SkyDrive from my phone?
Build is coming to end. When they will gonna unveil new features about windows 10 for phones ?
I wonder if I could take any apk, run it through that, and then "create" my own WP app.
No you can't.
This is good and all, but its still not going to change anything. Devs dont want to waste ANY time AT ALL on WP. Yeah, its great there's an easy port, but its not a slam dunk. Work will still need to be done and lets not even mention support for bugs. If Devs didn't follow up and support WP apps before, what could possibly change their mind and make them spend time to follow up and support their apps now. (im talking about bug fixes, etc.)
Speak for yourself man.
I know two Android and iOS devs that are already signed up for preview of the tools. Who doesn't want to make more money??? If it only takes them a day or two to make a port and potentially reach millions of brand new users, it's a no brainer - heck even if they make only a thousand bucks or two, it's still a sweet deal.
Every developer wants his work seen by as many human beings as possible, now it just got a whole lot easier!
Wow, this should finally close "the gap" that some people still complain about.
Best of luck developers, and stop being lazy!
Arevolution to windows phone would be Nine,the outlook mail manager of email that android have.
The app is unbeatable in managing folders attach etc . Microsoft should buy and port then to windows phone. Really 100 years in front of email messaging in windows phone.
Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
So true Flavio
I understand it seems easy to do, the problem is the will of some developers to bring their apps, a lot still seem reluctant to do so
Then they probably don't need the potential profit
Man, I like her. She's got classic charm about her as well as her very professional delivery of tech news. Glad she's on the team.
I can't wait!!!
ITS HAPPENING!!!
Now all devs need to do is make use of it. Snap chat, you're up...
I despise that company so much, it's not even funny..
We'll see how many developers take advantage of this.
Sad really ! No more official WP apps just a bunch if ports and hand me downs. And in reality this is all Microsoft has against the competition! waiting for IOS and android to make official apps on there platforms and then for Microsoft to scavenge what's left.....awesome
If you have a better plan kindly share it with us!
Nope ! This is ms fault not mine ! They can deal with 3% , losing $ on there phones, app devs jumping ship regardless of this win 10 etc . Us on WP will never again have native windows app ! Just a bunch of port overs with android and IOS ads popping up . So now we still wait for IOS and android to get an app then wait for them (hopefully) to port it over to windows. Its the same as now sure its a little easier but.....i guess we'll see.
Not saying it's your fault, but frankly MS has done everything humanly and almost superhumanly possible for developers to support WP. You can imagine the sheer amount of effort that has gone into this project. At this point I really can't ask for more
Who cares if the app is native or not as long as it works fine on my Lumia?
Ports will only take you so far. There's nothing stopping you from being a native developer. Native developers have access to all parts of the OS and can optimize their code better and debug faster (presumably). Even if you port, there's no magical checkbox to just compile and run it. Some of the code still needs to be cleanedup and adapted for Windows. So its a win-win. There cannot be a better strategy than this, honestly.
Maybe Pocket Informant will be ported to W10P
This is awesome, seems that the kind of similar work they've done in Nokia X proved to be a useful experience. Kudos Microsoft!
Really it's easy!!
If they can get the top 100 apps ready to go for the official launch of Windows 10 and release a killer flagship, I can see people buying into the OS. I just hope they don't botch it.
+820
Now Snapchat will have no reason not to... oh who am I kidding?!
Awesome! Also, Snapchat can go to hell. :P
MS needs to get some A class projects on board to show that this is real and relevant (banks, snap chat, MLB at Bat, etc.). Close the high profile app gap.
Welp, came around a bit too late for me, just ordered my Galaxy S6..
At least WP can look forward to not being perpetually stuck in the past.
I feel sorry for you.
If you've been smart, you would have waited until Build anyway..
Yeah, I waited five years..
HTC HD
HTC Titan
Nokia Lumia 920
Nokia Lumia 825
....
I think I have put in my fair share of waiting.
You can always get another Windows phone eventually with lots and lots of apps :-)
You could have waited a little longer up to after Build. Especially after years of 'waiting'. That's what I meant.
I've been sitting on my upgrade for 6 months, waiting to hear any news about a high flagship phone for WP10..Nothing, I'm done waiting. I'm also not going to get stuck with a phone that came out in 2013 for 2 years.
2016 will be the year that everything is going to change for WP.
You CAN'T quote me on that!
Someone needs to port NHL Gamecenter, pronto
Amazing just Amazing!!!
Apparently Rudy Hyun disagrees. Not sure if it's sour grapes or that he's worried about 1st party apps coming. http://www.winbeta.org/news/top-windows-phone-developer-rudy-huyn-weighs...
and he doesn't know other developers and if it will be really effective as Microsoft makes it seem... only RTM and few months after that can tell that. how Developers will take or not advantage of this. if they can reuse the code, why wouldn't they do it? Microsoft never said it these tools will do all the work, but Microsoft tells developers who most of their code can be used to be able to bring their apps to Windows.
So I think Rudy is just talking crap here. yes he is good, and he is important to Windows Phone ecosystem (or was?) but he doesn't know the future. and "these converters" as he call it, aren't exactly one click button and ready solution but a way to help developers to reuse their code and don't have to rewrite everything from scratch, because some developers think it's hard and time consuming and they have to hire other people or something.
I agree with you. The average developer knows what to do with these tools and will be very efficient about it. There is a general 'understanding' among developers - MS has designed these tools from dev to dev. It's very similar (and probably much simpler) to porting a successful chip design from an older process to a newer one - chip designers generally know what to look out for, we do it all the time :-)
Any dev that wants to make some more money will absolutely jump on this - nothing to lose, everything to gain!
Hmmm, after reading Rudy's post earlier, I was a little confused, did ms make this more than it is??? Now seeing this article I left wondering if Rudy is playing down the achievement ms has made?
Mindblowing stuff
If developers don't take advantage of this, they're just flat out lazy.
I'm thinking those that don't take advantage of this really don't like Microsoft and are intent on contributing to their perceived failure. I really hope there aren't leaders at major companies in this boat.
The biggest advantage for us Windows Phone users will be the universality of apps. It was easy or justifiable to ignore WP because of low market share before. Because those apps are now shared with the PC/tablet, which has a much larger marketshare, it'll be much harder to justify ignoring (unless they make the case that no one uses apps on a PC). Those that still hold out will be an interesting bunch to observe and listen to the excuses.
MS-centric dev here... I think this move could be a death knell for Windows Phone as a development platform. It sounds great in the short term, where the barrier of entry on making WP apps is now very low, but there is now not a reason to learn native XAML programming. You can write an Android app and be done with it, at least in theory. No reason to make it native. Just write a Material Design app and go. Why learn something new? Now all new major apps will be directly ported from Android (or iOS), not native WP apps and they won't look like native apps. It will be the same design nonsense Android has been grappling with where no two apps work the same way. Also, MS can't have a compatibility layer that is always just as good or better than the thing it's emulating. MS will always be a step behind, particularly after a new version of Android is released and Google's not going to make things easy on them to do so.
I have a lot of respect for the tech behind this and their similar iOS project, but it feels like a desperation move. I mean if you get the exact same apps (assuming that devs bother doing the minimal changes and submitting to the MS store) as Android with WP, why not just go with an Android Phone in the first place?
Because I have a windows desktop/tablet/2in1 and don't want to pay for an app twice?
Is there a similar tool that converts your native Window XAML program into Android code?
The OS. It's that easy. All things being equal, app availability, updates, etc. which OS or company do wish to use/own/support. I like tiles so I'm tied to MS until my taste change and I have a iPad mini if I need an app that bad. Google and Android can kick rocks. This move by MS is desperate, but its the right move, we could have been shown the Thurott scenario and that would have blown up the inter webs with negativity and been more if a dooms day than this. BUILD coverage has been very mostly positive do this could work!
Perhaps MS can make it as was to port a Windows app to Android and iOS? :D
There are already tools for that. However, at least in the mobile world, most apps are currently either iOS or Android.
I was gonna comment the exact same thing.
Doesn't matter, because the main commenter doesn't like competition.
This is why Microsoft just has to find a new reason to convince users why Windows is the better choice over Android, and not just "we have the same apps now." They need to make Windows more innovative over android, or at least advertise it in a manner that shows what it can do better than Android. The ability to buy one app for every device owned is already a huge start, they just need to market this strongly as well as other features, whether it be multitasking, continuum, new devices, etc.
Any better alternatives? At this point, MS must take whatever they can get, they have no other choice. Inaction is death!
I find all these windows phone comments miss the point. This whole discussion is not about Android or iOS apps on a Windows PHONE, but on a Windows DEVICE. Think Tablets and laptops. Phones are being transformed by Continum into hard drives you can use independent of peripherals or with peripherals. The phones will come along and yeah, the will finally get apps by default. But Developer Bob will not be writing apps for the Windows Phone market. Windows 10 for Phones will run the apps Developer Bob creates for the Windows 10 system.
EXACTLY. This is what people haven't been understanding. It's a plus for us cause we get the app on our phones even when the developer didn't really care about phones in the first place.
yeh, unfortunatly devs don't care about windows and windows phone because there arn't users ... but users don't bay a tablet or a windoes phone because there arnt't applications; that's a circle without exit ... in the first time devs will bring their apps on windows phone and there will be more users ... in a second time they are going to optimise the applications
Couldn't agree more. Technically the name "Windows Phone" doesn't exist anymore, its just Windows 10, which also happens to run on smartphones. People don't get that, and they're always referring to Windows 10 on desktops/tablets and windows 10 on phones as two different operating systems. They're the SAME exact OS. So if the marketshare of Windows 10 on desktops increases, so does the one for phones if you are regarding the operating system market share and not the device.
I feel better about Windows and Microsoft every day now.
So i could download the .apk from an app from android and transfer it??
Nope
Please explain yourself! Like they show in the Video, they were just dropping the .apk, like lobbie wrote.
The APK you download from the Play Store is encrypted. If you develop an app and build it locally it is not. And I don't think that the Microsoft Tool in the video can work with an encrypted APK.
That's what I was wondering. Having my own personal snapchat would be cool.
In the video, they just drag and drop an *.apk into Visual Studio. Could that be all to convert the app to a universal Windows app? Without the UI changes that is...?
first of all I want to apologise for my English
no, you couldn't ... the devs don't use the same apk and put in into the windows store ... first they'll have to bring the apk in visual studio and after the tool is going to adapt it for windows ... the nexst steep is to compile the app for windows functions
in the video, they are draging an drop an APK to see the compatibilty... nothing more. then the developer will just change the code necessary to run, not the APK itself. microsft would be sued in 3 seconds if they did that.
but one positve thing it's by dropping the APK, it's that anyone can know if developers are just BSing us or not about difficulties in porting the app. what if an app doesn't need more than a line of code to be changed like in the video and the developer still doesn't want to bring it to Windows? well, we would know and understand they are just against Microsoft and WIndows Phone community and nothing can be done.
I really don't think a significant number of devs don't want to make more money - even if it's only a few hundred or a thousand bucks more. Really think about it - they are in business simple. Maybe a few with some longstanding 'beef' but definitely not the new generation of kids that hardly know what windows 95 or 98 is. And the old guys are giving way to the new. I don't think this is a factor. In the end, people want to make more profit.
Just a few lines of code? Man, instagram and snap chat is gonna get it now >:(
So, "What are you waiting for?" #WP #LazyDevs
Now we have an excuse to go NUCLEAR on them. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & everything else for that matter.
Did you Notice that there are 4 Tiles in the Windows Phone?
Hopefully this not only springboards devs to porting over their coding but while they're at it with adding a line or two and tweaking a lil here and there for such things as the live tile, they find more things to tweak to make it even more Windows centric. I understand though that its more a means of quickly porting over code, not necessarily having the devs spend more time on it.
This is promising. Developers come :)
Did you notice the new start screen? It looks fantastic :)
EDIT: image: http://i.imgur.com/7fwIUzp.png
Now my pre-Windows 10 start screen feels ugly...
I know, right? The new one looks much more premium and modern.
This will kill the WP store, why they are doing this, if devs don't care about WP they won't even if it's"easy" to port android apps to wp
Why would it kill the store? If they do release it: More apps and if they don't: No apps.
So it's either a win or the status quo remains.
He's right though.... the store is going to be littered with awful Android and Apple re-brands and will look like they have nothing to do with the Windows OS. All of the Windows beauty will be lost.
How would you even know how the app store is going to look? Do you think that the apps will be straight copies with no respect for WP UI?
Of course not. That would be stupid and illogical. The store probably won't become a stew made from WP, IOS and Android styles.
Why wouldn't it? Your response to my suggestion has just as much merit as the suggestion originally.
All stores are already littered with crap. This at least creates a situation of choice for the user. Which we do not have now.
So many comments, but I will only make one: When there are more apps to choose from, there will be more competition to those apps. So, user will have more choice based on the reviews of those app. If the reviews are bad, then the user will have the choice to move to another app.
I don't get why this is a bad thing...
Exactly basically supply and demand. People are demanding for this specific app or game and watch the horde of similar applications come to cater to those similar applications that might as well be ten times better than the "original" application. Look at the Flappy Bird inspired games, Infiniminer inspired games like Minecraft and other like games like Survivalcraft, Block Earth, Edwin World Builder, Discovery+, Terraria is its 2D like aspect which launched games based on that.
Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
You're wrong. This is an amazing move. Developers must be stunned that Microsoft sat down and made all these codes compatible with Visual Studio.. They just have to develop one app for 2 platforms now, or 2 apps for 3.. Do you even realize the possibility of an app being available to 1 billion devices? HYPED!
You are right on point!
Put a shirt on, Max.
Good advice. He was clearly not thinking straight due to hypothermia.
This isn't about windows phone. Its about windows 10. Phones are just a small part of the ecosystem that many devs will not care about.
Exactly. Devs know that Windows Phone doesn't have enough market share to even give them a penny, but Windows 10 as a whole is a HUGE opportunity for them to gain profit from a vast majority of users, especially across PC and tablet. Windows Phone is just an added bonus for us end users, and who knows, one day it'll most likely increase in marketshare. I'd be satisfied if it only reaches 10% global marketshare. It beats people bitching And whining that it's "dead" just because its at 3%
What they said, and keep in mind that the port of the app means it can run on Windows 10, not just Windows 10 for phones. That is the advantage now. I can not wait to have a small windowed app running to stream SomaFM or Sirius.
Did you miss how they are still "windows apps"?... people like you are funny, making crap. like if we were going to run APK inside windows. it's REUSING the code. and it's a good thing. how many projects do you think are made that share codes to be used on Windows/linux/mac? or do you think developers like to make code from zero? changes have to be made anyway... but developers deserve to port their apps easily and nice.
so no, it won't kill anything. becuase we won't run APKs inside windows. and windows store will have more games and apps, regardless of where the code comes, from iOS, Android or they are build from zero.
At this point, we take what we can get. Let's even get the apps first, then we can talk about polishing them later on...
We have to forget about design. Thats the only way Windows will survive; Apps
This is MSFT's final bet. If this works the OS's will finally be competing on features and aesthetics and not on apps. One area that Microsoft might actually be able to trounce Google will be in updates. The coming year is going to be very interesting.
Not ready untill the Autumn, shame. But to be honest, I don't think 10 will arrive until the end of August, at the earliest.
Yeah, that was disappointing to read. I was hoping it would be out right now so that apps would be ready by the time Windows 10 launches this summer.
Does these mean Snapchat can release there app when Windows phone 10 comes out?????
Rudy huyn already offered them to make an app but they don't want it isn't a matter of effort or cost but they don't want to release
Rudy offering to make it for them was never a realistic proposition, as that would result in them contracting out their proprietary information and giving access to customers' data to an non-employee, I would think.
That said, Snapchat's CEO is clearly an anti-Microsoft nitwit and, even though Microsoft just made it ridiculously easy and cheap for companies to port their apps over, it's unlikely that egotistical idiots like those running Snapchat will do it. I'd much rather see Snapchat die out as the stupid fad that it is.
many companies contract 3rd party people for develping o design anything... why would that be a problem now? that's why a contracts and NDA exist... so people can always work without revealing their work to the world.
so your "never a realistic" is not true. it happens around the world, not only in developing an app, but graphic design, 3d design, visual effect, arquitectural design and anything you can imagine.
Just look at gametroopers studio. do you think it's any different to hire them to port games from iOS to WP than snapchat hiring rudy to do it? it's not like they got overkill 3 game from dust and decided to make a clone with it named the same.
so again, 3rd party can be used, but yes I agree Snapchat CEO is an idiot, and I am glad my friends don't use snapchat or have used it "couple times" and never used it again.
There is a huge difference between a company that has long been under the microscope of consumer privacy issues (i.e. Snapchat), whose app deals with sensitive information (customers' time-sensitive texts, photos, and videos, many of them sexual in nature) and companies like Game Troopers who port unobtrusive games over, or doing graphic design, etc. You're talking about giving a non-employee, NDA or not, full control over your platform and your customers' information. It was never going to happen. The Snapchat CEO is a definitely stupid, but even he isn't stupid enough to outsource development of his app, given the context described above.
You don't have to be a full time salary employee to be an employee. I am doing contract work as a developer for a bank right now. I have access to their main database systems. I think that qualifies as sensitive info (it's actually heavily regulated by federal laws). I signed an NDA and contract which makes me a contract employee.
It's probably also worth pointing out that Rudy had already built a working SnapChat app so I don't think he required much more information than he already had.
And there are plenty of contractors working for the federal government too who have access to sensitive data; they have to go through rigorous background checks. But these are different situations than Snapchat. Snapchat had long been under the microscope for privacy issues, deal with an entirely other type of 'sensitive data' than banks or federal contractors deal with, and had undergon several security risks due to third-party applications. Yes, Rudy built a working Snapchat app (one that is better than the official one), but there was no way they ever were going to bring on an foreign national, independent developer and give him full access to their code and customer information given the context above. It just wasn't going to happen, and it's different than other contracting situations.
They have always could. The problem is that they don't want to. If I'm not wrong,I think that the developer Rudy Hyun has offered to make one for them. It seems like they don't want Windows to have Snapchat
This doesn't mean that. Apps could always be released on WP. This just makes it easier.
They can release one now, nothing stops them. And yes, they can port their Android app too. IF they want to.
They won't douche CEO is anti-ms.
And I will be glad that we stay away from that asshole CEO of snapchat. We shouldn't care about him and his app who takes things personally saying who uses windows phone. Heck India is one of the big windows phone market with 17% share. These ppl often target India as we are large in population. Microsoft will be the 2nd largest now after Samsung. Micromax is going to loose its position soon.
Just Wait and watch Whether it helps ???? What do you think about it ::)
Come on developers... Its your turn now. All the very best :)
If they don't come now, it is purely out of spite. Like snap chat.
I hope they'll step ahead & give their 100% towards Windows platform too.
I do too!
Link
http://video.ch9.ms/ch9/d81c/bc5886b8-6d03-4601-a872-3c658b4ed81c/Projec...
Thanks bruh
Will porting work for video players?
Link to the video or nah?
This is just frickin awesome. If it really is that simple, I can't see why devs wouldn't take advantage of this. Increased revenue here they come!!
I think that would be the ultimate motivation, the temptation of possibly making several thousand extra dollars for maybe a day or two's extra work is just too good to pass up!
LOL, the demos always show how "simple" things like these are. But in reality, most of the time it's not. I'm not saying it's difficult either, but 99% of the time, it's a lot more than just one line of code to change.
Link??
Where's the link to the video?
Try following the web link...
Link of the video?
If you're using the app, swipe to "more" > View Links > external
.......
http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Inside-Windows-Platform/Project-Astoria-B...
Thanks bruh
Your welcome!
Am I the only one that finds myself hunting and guessing for links in articles in both versions of the WC app (WP and Win8.1), why are they hidden in odd places under odd names or amongst a long list of nondescript web addresses? Reading this article, I am literally guessing which if any of the various links go to the video which is the topic of the article. (Sorry - mini rant there, but sheesh - hypertext was invented in the 90's?
Don't worry, in future they'll hide it in hamburger in far left corner so it will be hard to reach and you won't even bother to open it.
I never knew that six inches or less was"hard to reach." Will they finally implement hypertext?
They try to have as many of the web links to their own pages as possible to maximize clicks and thus ad revenue.
Or to help people who want more info? Wtf, do know anything about how thus works. It's how Wikipedia is setup. Why make u search for more information on an app or topic when we already did? None of us get paid by ad clicks, so id appreciate if u stop pretending to know our motivation without ever even meeting us.
Here Dan.
*hands you some pepto bismol*
This will help when you cough up the guys head that you just bit off. ;)
In all seriousness, I'm sure his ignorance is a systemic societal failure in the educational system.. or maybe he's just an a** hole?..
Sidenote: Really enjoy your articles, Man. Keep up the good work.
"This ends our segment on A$$Kiss Corner... Now to our regularly scheduled Comments."
Excellent. This is just what Microsoft needs right now. Now as long as they don't botch the implementation...
More about devs taking advantage of this break
Well, as long as they let it be well known❗ Im worried it won't be pushed upon Android, and iOS, developers hard enough...
.........
First things first.... How does MS plan to reach out to all those developers❓
I think it would work by sheer word of mouth. Who doesn't want some extra cash for minimal work? Once a couple of devs try it and see significant increased cash flow, it enters a positive feedback loop, the key is that MS delivers the tools as expected, and I think they are right there!
That's the ideal scenario...
Social media is there friend. Find out which hashtags are most viewed and trafficked and place promoted tweets in using those hashtags. Also apply to be guest speakers at dev meetup events. The traveling BUILD show should help some too.
Right... They should go to Apples developers conference... Lol.
One would think/hope most development firms at least follow the tech world enough to see these headlines.
No... It's gonna take more than headlines.... MS has to actively continue to strategically seek out, and target, developers to use this new feature..
..........
Hoping, or assuming, someone will take notice is what got MS in this mess in the first place.
Maybe they could try and hold a conference for developers to recieve news about new Microsoft tools and such about development. They could even invite a ton of people to it. They just have to come up with a catchy name.... Build, that should work.
Are you serious❓ Really, that's as far as your thinking goes❓ You think all those iDroid developers give a flip about Build❓❓❓❓ LMFAO❗ Where have you been❓
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That's the problem, dude. Heck, if every developer paid attention, or attended, Build we wouldn't have any app gap... SMDH... Lol. MS has to do much more than Build, because if they didn't then the previous Build conferences would've fixed the app problem.... Lol.. MS has to get a lit if them to even consider paying attention, less known than expecting for them to attended Build...
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Build happens once a year... Developers need to be solicited to 60/24/7/365 days a year... Come on. This is W10 we're talking about.. It's time for some real results, not hoping people will notice.
I'll make this simple. You're not a developer, so you have absolutely no clue what you're talking about. Build isn't just about mobile OS and developing for that. There are thousands, possibly millions, of developers that were following the build conference. In fact, the owners of my company paid attention do it and we develop for our own OS, in our own languages. Why is that? Because developers follow the big name conferences, especially if it can give them tools to work with, or cause headaches for them. We don't wait around and suddenly stumble upon this stuff. So go run along and play with your trains and allow the people that code talk about what they know.
No, dude.. Build is not what I have in mind.... I got your point, but no that's not what I'm talking about...
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Now, that I don't care about your opinion anymore understand that, and give it up... You don't like my point of view's, and I'm fine with that.. But, you're free to ignore them all day long if you want to.. But, I don't talk to disturbed users like you... Ignoring you now... If you keep harassing me I will report you.
That's one side of it. It drives down the cost of making an app for sure and getting started with a presence in the Windows world but Microsoft will still need to work hard on driving the maintenance costs down for the apps and making it easy to update them. Otherwise, you'll see an app being released with an Android wrapper only for it to be never updated again.
Also concerning would be the lack of a need to design native Windows app. Purely from a financial stand point, companies could design one app and port it over to Windows and cut their costs in half. There's almost no incentive to design a native one. Unless the market share reaches a point where it would be financially viable for a company to do that.
Windows users care too much about design. We need to stop so developers will make apps
Step towards being no.1 OS in coming period ;)
How long before google make changes that week stop this happening...?
Google cannot do anything about a developer's source code. It is the dev's property, not Google's. How would one even justify denying developers increased revenue for their intellectual property?
This is awesome seriously, had no idea it was this sophisticated!
Seriously, yeah... Can't wait!
Looks super sophisticated. Especially the interop mapping and mapping API calls Google services to Microsoft services. Really pleasantly surprised.
Yes that describes the feeling. Pleasantly surprised.
Nor I. This is amazing. Now the devs just need to step up and try it out.
This is also the same thing Oracle tried to take them to court for with Java and it's API's. :)
Google threatens developers that if they create the app for other platforms, google MAY remove the already successfull app from google playstore. I saw it in some developers discussion forum. It's true. :(
Source? Otherwise it's just a he said she said situation. Not to mention the fact that what you're saying would eliminate a bunch of apps right away due to the large cross over library between iOS and Android and even BB. I highly doubt it's true, and I doubt even more that devs would put up with that.
Completely agree. I doublt this is true. Not to mention, if a developer's app has been in the Google PlayStore or Apple Store for 6 months to a year, it most probably has already been sold to about as many people as are going to purchase it. You may get another 10% to 15% additional sales, but that's about it. If a developer recodes his app for Windows 10(where it currently doesn't exist) the app is now in a market with 100% sales potential all over again. And before a Google fanboy pops in about Windows Phone sales, let me remind you I'm talking about Windows 10, NOT Windows Phone. An app created for Windows 10 will work on ALL Windows 10 devices (desktops, laptops, convertables, tablets, phablet, phones, xbox, Halolens, etc.) so the actual number of devices is FAR greater than just 3% phone sales. If Google threatens a developer to have their app removed from the Google PlayStore, no big deal. He'll make more money in the Windows 10 Store anyway!
I had to go through so many things to find this. But finally i found it. This was in a comment section about the so called 'app gap' of windows phone. I took a screenshot and tweeted this then.
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CA4h8b0W8AANoq8.jpg
Also, i came to know about few services who helps to dig out our own old tweets! Thank you. :)
Well the first discrepancy I see is that Spotify has an app on WP and they weren't removed from Android. Facebook is another, but there are multiple apps that are on both platforms. It's also a message saying "I heard from my boss" so it is in no way official. Sorry but I call complete BS on this or else you'd see some more official text about it.
Yea, that's what i've written in my first comment. They MAY remove. Nobody is sure. Even the person who commented says that they(google) MIGHT consider. So we don't know for sure. But with a campaign like 'Scroogled' against them by MS, even i would've done the same. :D
I don't know who started it, but i don't see google doing anything FOR WP in the near or distant future. And there is always chance that the MIGHT do things against it. :)
Why would they now? Blackberry can install .apk's from the device themselves, OTA. Dont even need to sideload.
true, but Android apps only work on Blackberry devices so long as they don't rely too much on Google Play Store/Services. At least Microsoft seems to have addressed this kind of shortcoming and re-targeted some of the Android API's to use Microsoft services in place of Google's. Of course there's still going to be shortcomings, but at least every Android app featured in the Microsoft store *will* work, and it will be the only means of getting access to Android apps. This is the difference between Blackberry's approach, where anyone can grab an APK from anywhere, but there's no guarantee it'll be 100% compatible. This is also the source of much of the frustration from Blackberry users who expect to be able to 'just run Android apps'. Blackberry didn't do enough to ensure that *only* apps with 100% compatibility would be accessible to users. This has led to a land of confusion. I'm glad I left that mess behind!
Before being able to install APKs directly or through a loader, BlackBerry also offered porting of Android apps with very little code changes and a button click, which would wrap the APK and allow it to run on BlackBerry's Android runtime. There were also lots of interoperability hooks to translate some API calls put in place but at the end of the day the biggest downfall like you said was the dependencyon Google Play Services, the result was that it claimed 98% of Android apps are supported but the 2% unsupported are the most critical ones. BB10.3 has improved Android compatibility vastly but still, Google Services are irreplaceable, although there are ways to solve that. And I think Microsoft is in the same spot, simply because the most critical apps require you to log into your Google account and I just don't see how substituting it with whatever Microsoft service is going to solve that. So I suspect Microsoft just left that part out.
However I am very curious to how they approached the ios porting part.
Did this guy say blackberry??
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