Windows 10 and Universal Apps

[TechmeIN64]

All the time I hear about the unification of the code base of Windows 10 on desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, and xbox. With this conversation universal apps are always mentioned. So my question is this, and I hope that it has a simple answer: how is this so different from Windows and WP 8.1? They already have a shared kernel, and universal apps can be made on the OSes. Are ALL apps made for Windows 10 universal, without any special effort made by the dev, or is it basically the same (or slightly easier) than on 8.1? I ask this because even with the possibility of universal apps available to devs, it does not seem like that many are fully taking advantage of it. Will there now be no more work needed to make an app universal?

TL;DR Are ALL apps made for Window 10 and Windows 10 for phones universal, meaning they will be available on both platforms?

 

[rodan01]

You're right, the unification is mostly done. The last two things are a unified app store and more consistency between the phone and tablet UI.

So, Windows 10 is essentially marketing without substance.

 

[nmercy]

I think you're seeing a combination of low market share, app development lag time, and the unknown.

The low market share has 2 components, first being in relation to other operating systems which means WP will be last to get updated. Second being that WP 8.1 just last month jumped to over half of the WP market share. In addition to that, all WP8 apps work on WP8.1 so unless you need a specific feature there is little to no incentive to jump your app to WP8.1 from 8.0 as you would now have to upkeep a WP8 version, a WP8.1 version, and (if you go universal) a Windows 8.1 version... and possibly a Windows 8 version.

Next is the App development lag. It takes time to convert a W8 app or a WP8 app to a universal app... especially if you were focused on one or the other as you probably didn't separate out the logic from the views in terms of a separate project and just made it work for the version you were building for. I would also venture to say, purely speculative, that most of the developers on the app store are hobbyist developers meaning they are fitting it in their spare time, which also creates a lag in development time.

Finally there is the unknown... for example, we know that W/WP 8 apps work on all the upgraded versions, but we don't know if 10 will be a free upgrade or even if all devices will upgrade. I know it's been said that all WP8 devices can be upgraded to 10, but does that mean it will actually happen? We all know there was some arm twisting to get HTC 8x/8xt upgraded to 8.1 update through the developer preview, but will they be willing to do that for 10... and the carriers are even less likely to get an update to 10 out because they want you to buy a new phone since the first 8 phones are now 2 years old meaning contracts are up. By the time 10 rolls out for phones, they will be close to 3 years old.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[KhawarNadeem]

Well, to make WP8/W8 apps, you need Windows 8 Pro 64-bit on a PC.

To make WP8.1/W8.1 apps, you need a Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit on a PC (which some people never upgrade to despite it being free, which annoys the hell out of me).

To make W10 apps, you'll probably need Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. And if it's not a free update, who in their right mind would upgrade just to build apps for a platform that already has a bad reputation of having a small userbase?

At this point, MS should make it so that the upcoming Visual Studio 2015 offers W10 development on previous versions of Windows too (especially if the upgrade isn't free). That might help a lot.