UWP Development: Is It Worth It?

[Prometheus2021]

Now that Windows Mobile is officially dead. Is it worth for developers to try an get into the UWP ecosystem?

 

[ITMedCEO]

Unfortunately, UWP is dead too.

 

[Muessig]

Unfortunately, UWP is dead too.

Completely disagree.

 

[HeyCori]

There's still

Windows desktop/tablet
Windows VR
Xbox

So there are still ways to take advantage of UWP.

 

[tgp]

There's still

Windows desktop/tablet
Windows VR
Xbox

So there are still ways to take advantage of UWP.

I think the bigger issue is thinking about how many apps are useful across all device variations.

 

[markeboyle]

pwa, progressive web apps

 

[xandros9]

I wouldn’t get into it given a big chunk of its appeal has bit the dust and the apps aren’t really too popular in desktop Windows but that’s just me.

 

[esbe118]

I feel like the only people trumpeting PWAs are people who haven't actually made one. It's ridiculously hard to do things that are just there on native apps. And many things you just simply can't do.

 

[ITMedCEO]

Completely disagree.

It has only been 8 months... Still completely disagree? I am MCSE, I know some things.

 

[wpbestplayer]

It has only been 8 months... Still completely disagree? I am MCSE, I know some things.

I still disagree. I think it's worth it take the risk.
Check here: https://mspoweruser.com/developer-there-is-absolutely-no-adoption-for-the-windows-store/

Check the first 10 comments.

 

[ITMedCEO]

Still disagree?

 

[ochhanz]

Still disagree?

, yeah UWP still gets updates in VStudio and if you want to make Windows apps and programs UWP is great. The UWP build in libraries and XAML interface makes it relatively easy to create good looking and consistent interfaces. You also get advantages like good battery life (which is important with how popular laptops have become), privacy options (more clarity for users) and security (sandboxing, Store being a save download place etc).
The Store allows lots of features (trials, sales, automatic updates, steady update out rolls, test groups, specific target groups etc) that save you work and give you extra insight in bugs etc. And if you don't want it on the Store than you can side load UWP packages (debug builds are especially very easy to side load).
The only advantage I can think of non-UWP is that there are a few cases where you miss an older library of functions and that it is harder to upload/spread it through other stores (generally only a real problem for bigger companies cause they can attract more visitors than the MS Store).
That being said, I believe the UWP + Store is excellent to create and upload the app but you still often need to your own marketing.

 

[Akshay M]

Now that Windows Mobile is officially dead. Is it worth for developers to try an get into the UWP ecosystem?

I’m in two minds about this.

On one hand UWP is very good, I used it to make a desktop application called Tazmo in the Windows Store. It’s a powerful toolkit, runs fast, looks nice.

On the other hand it’s Windows 10 only, that will limit your market a bit. Also, realistically, you can really only distribute your app in the Windows Store. You can ask users to sideload it, but it’s not really a professional proposition to ask users to do that.

So UWP is a great toolkit for making desktop applications, but it’s limited in what OS it will run on and limited in how you can distribute your applications.

UWP is great, but so is WPF and WPF does not have the restrictions that UWP does.

WPF is much more commonly used in business than UWP.

I think you’d be better off learning WPF than UWP at this stage. In a few years, that might change, in fact I think it will. Satya Nadella isn’t an *****, I think it’s he is well aware that companies will not touch UWP for LOB applications until they sort out the distribution issues.

The good news is that WPF and UWP are very similar, they both use XAML, and you tend to use C# for both. If you learn WPF, you’ll adapt to UWP easy enough.

 

[Prometheus2021]

I’m in two minds about this.

On one hand UWP is very good, I used it to make a desktop application called Tazmo in the Windows Store. It’s a powerful toolkit, runs fast, looks nice.

On the other hand it’s Windows 10 only, that will limit your market a bit. Also, realistically, you can really only distribute your app in the Windows Store. You can ask users to sideload it, but it’s not really a professional proposition to ask users to do that.

So UWP is a great toolkit for making desktop applications, but it’s limited in what OS it will run on and limited in how you can distribute your applications.

UWP is great, but so is WPF and WPF does not have the restrictions that UWP does.

WPF is much more commonly used in business than UWP.

I think you’d be better off learning WPF than UWP at this stage. In a few years, that might change, in fact I think it will. Satya Nadella isn’t an *****, I think it’s he is well aware that companies will not touch UWP for LOB applications until they sort out the distribution issues.

The good news is that WPF and UWP are very similar, they both use XAML, and you tend to use C# for both. If you learn WPF, you’ll adapt to UWP easy enough.

Quiet a lot to read but thank you. I'll look into WPF, since I want to learn and in a year or so put out something decent in the MS store, hopefully by then UWP has gain some momentum.