Microsoft Is Delivering New Tools To Make it Easier To Build And Port Apps to UWP

Microsoft is doing everything it can to get developers to build UWP (Universal Windows Platform) apps and one initiative the company has been pushing is its porting tools that the company calls ‘bridges’. At its build conference today, they have announced more features and tools to entice developers to build UWP apps that should make the process to bring existing code into the UWP framework, even easier.

Focusing on web, Win32 and .Net developers, the company is announcing new tools that will make building applications for this framework, even easier.

• Web developer: Bash support will be coming in the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
• Win32 and .Net: A Centennial desktop app converter that will make it easier to extend and distribute these apps in the Windows store.
• .Net: Assistance with sharing share more of their code x-platform with the integration of Xamarin into Visual Studio.

These additional tools, Microsoft hopes, will speed up the process at which developers bring their older applications into the modern UWP framework. While Microsoft has not stated a public goal for its store, like it has with 1 billion Windows 10 installs, the company is aggressively trying to grow the number of quality applications it offers.

It is worth pointing out that the company uses the store as a revenue generator for Windows 10. If more developers are selling higher quality apps in the Windows store, Microsoft receives a cut of the revenue which can help back-fill the void left behind when they made Windows 10 upgrades free.