Let’s just say that Metro is long dead. Just the name, ever since the threat of a lawsuit from a German firm of the same name, “Metro” apps have since been rechristened as Windows Store Apps. However, after a similarly short amount of deliberation they’ve now come up with the term Universal Apps. It seems Universal Studios wasn’t that uptight to follow up with a lawsuit. Anyway, we know very little of what Microsoft has in store for developers with the new operating system. At the recent Windows 10 presentation, Microsoft ensured that APIs which are at the heart of Windows OS on small form factors, could easily be run in the native desktop environment.
The plan for Universal Apps
Hopefully, by the time you read this, the Connect() developer conference should already be underway and more light will have been shed on the developmental aspects of Windows 10. Universal apps mean that code written for Windows 8.1 can easily be shared with Windows Phone 8.1. Microsoft has been working on ensuring that the core files of each operating system on different platforms are easily compatible. We knew of this first when the .NET framework called Portable Class Library was unveiled. However, the library was mostly used for writing code for the phone and tablet form factors. Windows 10 is going to change that but you’ll still have to do some work on each platform individually, this has more to do with the user interface rather than the core files. So you’ll be programming with dual inputs in mind all the time, keeping in mind different input modes. More of this will be explained at the Connect() conference as mentioned earlier.
There are a few Universal apps already on the Windows app store. Tweetium and Paddock are two such programs which run on the desktop environment as well as on the Windows Phone environment. So programmers coding for the mobile platforms have to keep in mind the very limited amount of memory available on these devices. The luxury of more than 4GB of RAM (going upto a ridiculous 128TB) which is available on desktops, can no longer be taken for granted. As a result of this, it’s very likely that Desktop apps
will also become more efficient, which is a win-win situation all around. What if one doesn’t code for all environments? Well, your app will continue to run in a windowed mode and if you’re on a mobile platform, then there is always the Azure platform which can run those apps on a virtual machine and give you remote access. The Connect() conference is going to showcase only a little of what will be covered in greater detail at the Microsoft Build Developer Conference in April-May.
