Will Astoria and other Windows Bridges save Windows 10 Mobile?

Allen Rhodes

New member
Feb 9, 2014
639
0
0
Visit site
Astoria was never going to be the savior of the "app gap". Name a single android app you cant live without? Exactly. Islandwood is the answer to the "app gap". Yes there is an app gap, no need to take this thread down that road. As long as we keep hearing about Islandwood produced apps, we are on the right track.
 

a5cent

New member
Nov 3, 2011
6,622
0
0
Visit site
Up until now it was hard to find anybody on WCentral even mentioning Islandwood.



It was all about the inferior, and for the UWP potentially deadly (and therefore dangerous for the entire W10 ecosystem), Astoria. I'm glad we've finally turned that corner.
 

elindalyne

New member
Aug 1, 2015
352
0
0
Visit site
Islandwood wasn't really mentioned because there were working examples of Astoria. While Islandwood is the much better project, it's kind of hard to get excited about something that still seems to be vaporware.

Yes, there are examples of Islandwood (CandyCrush), but it's a lot more difficult to compile Objective C code to WinObjC than it was to run the Android emulation.

For me personally, there are no apps I can't live without on W10M so the bridge platforms for me are more getting other people into the platform so the few apps that would be great to have actually come to the platform I love.
 

a5cent

New member
Nov 3, 2011
6,622
0
0
Visit site
Islandwood wasn't really mentioned because there were working examples of Astoria. While Islandwood is the much better project, it's kind of hard to get excited about something that still seems to be vaporware.

Yes, there are examples of Islandwood (CandyCrush), but it's a lot more difficult to compile Objective C code to WinObjC than it was to run the Android emulation.

Non developers typically care squat about how difficult a porting/programing task is, and considering there are already Islandwood ported apps in the store, I'd say Astoria is far more deserving of being called vaporware than Islandwood.

IMHO there is more too it than that.

AFAIK you are the first person on WCentral beside myself to say that Islandwood is the better technology and more important project. A week ago such a statement would have been mostly ignored and sometimes viewed as a little bit crazy. Anyway, whatever that was I'm glad it's over.

In regard to the technical points raised:

I never bought the idea that Astoria is so much simpler to use. The idea that recompilation is such an issue is like saying a cook would find a dish complicated because it requires a frying pan (big deal not). We also seem to keep ignoring that for an Android app to not just run, but to run CORRECTLY, developers also need to get out their compilers (i.e. to deal with Google Play issues). The real fun starts when an Astoria ported app doesn't display the desired runtime characteristics (as a result of partly running on an emulation layer), or not integrating well with WP's security model. When that happens, Astoria is instantly far more complicated than Islandwood.

The issue with Islandwood has nothing to do with the necessity to recompile. It's the fact that iOS apps must be slightly modified. For example, it's very common that developers would have to hide the software back button in the ported iOS app, and hook up the same functionality to WP's hardware back button.

For me the biggest question is why they are dropping Astoria now. It was obviously going to torpedo UWP (Astoria ported apps aren't universal) and therefore represented a threat to the entire W10 ecosystem. It should have been killed long ago.
 

theefman

Active member
Nov 14, 2008
3,979
5
38
Visit site
Up until now it was hard to find anybody on WCentral even mentioning Islandwood.



It was all about the inferior, and for the UWP potentially deadly (and therefore dangerous for the entire W10 ecosystem), Astoria. I'm glad we've finally turned that corner.

Probably because people were anticipating being able to just grab android apk's and running whatever app they wanted. Islandwood would be my choice too from an app quality standpoint at the very least.
 

Spectrum90

New member
Oct 11, 2014
409
0
0
Visit site
This is really bad news. Astoria would have provided many easy ports, specially for smaller apps.

IslandWood require a lot more work. Most developers won't bother with it.
 

elindalyne

New member
Aug 1, 2015
352
0
0
Visit site
This is really bad news. Astoria would have provided many easy ports, specially for smaller apps.

IslandWood require a lot more work. Most developers won't bother with it.

I disagree there... They're not just targeting phones with Islandwood, they're targeting all Windows 10 devices.
 

Spectrum90

New member
Oct 11, 2014
409
0
0
Visit site
I disagree there... They're not just targeting phones with Islandwood, they're targeting all Windows 10 devices.
You mean a bigger user base could attract developers?

That has been discussed many times. People don't use apps on the PC and Windows tablet sales are low. This could change but It takes time, maybe years.

With Astoria Microsoft was taking responsibility of doing most of the work of porting apps and developers needed to do a little or zero work. Astoria was an easy path to port apps to WP, without Astoria things are a lot more difficult.
 
Last edited:

Kevin Rush

New member
Aug 11, 2010
1,039
0
0
Visit site
I wish there was something we (I) could do to vastly speed up the delivery of fully functioning Islandwood with a proactive program of incentives for developers to participate and maintain the apps that we want. A kickstarter type program? It would have to be "hard to turn down". Do something, and fast. I would invest. Ideas?

Best wishes.
 

a5cent

New member
Nov 3, 2011
6,622
0
0
Visit site
Probably because people were anticipating being able to just grab android apk's and running whatever app they wanted. Islandwood would be my choice too from an app quality standpoint at the very least.

Now that you mention it, I feel stupid for not having thought of that myself. I'd bet you're right. I never thought of it because that's not how it will actually work, but I'm sure that's what many were expecting.
 
Last edited:

Asskickulater

New member
Sep 20, 2013
572
0
0
Visit site
Up until now it was hard to find anybody on WCentral even mentioning Islandwood.



It was all about the inferior, and for the UWP potentially deadly (and therefore dangerous for the entire W10 ecosystem), Astoria. I'm glad we've finally turned that corner.

That more because we had a leaked version of Astoria that gave us the chance to toy with it, islandwood is beautiful, but its not really anything we can buzz about currently.
 

a5cent

New member
Nov 3, 2011
6,622
0
0
Visit site
That more because we had a leaked version of Astoria that gave us the chance to toy with it, islandwood is beautiful, but its not really anything we can buzz about currently.

That sounds reasonable until you realize that Astoria was the far more popular topic long before anything Astoria related ever leaked. That difference in popularity has existed since the project's announcements. It's not a recent development.
 

Asskickulater

New member
Sep 20, 2013
572
0
0
Visit site
huh.. didn't notice much on it 'til it leaked aside from anouncements, which I thought was porting not emulating at the time so... in this case then, I say for me it was the fact that I was able to mess with it, I look forward much more to islandwood though, IOS apps generally are 1st class.
 

DEATH INC

New member
Aug 11, 2015
58
0
0
Visit site
Yeah for a truly unified OS across platforms you need apps that run natively across the entire spectrum, not patchy emulation than might not even work right given many apps on android are tied to google services and do not work properly without them.
 

Cruachan 11

New member
Aug 24, 2015
137
0
0
Visit site
There was more buzz about Astoria because Android APKs could be sideloaded and run "natively" under W10M, rather than Islandwood which requires recompilation and therefore access to the source code.

It seems that Astoria was causing lots of the performance degredation that has been seen, and there are also rumours of there being a massive risk of litigation from Google with the way Astoria was implemented - remember the Windows 98 era native Java Virtual Machine that had to removed? To this day Windows 98 is not available from MSDN due to this issue.
 

Arunabha Goswami

New member
May 11, 2015
151
0
0
Visit site
Now that Astoria's out of the picture (for now, at least), expect to see a lot of posts explaining why it was the worst thing ever and W10 is much better without it and Islandwood is the real savior.
 

Harrie-S

Retired Ambassador
Sep 26, 2014
5,378
0
0
Visit site
I "understand" that people want android apps but what I still do not understand, even if Astoria was still "alive" is how it would "work". For example an applocker. In windows this can "not be done" due to OS restrictions. So how would it be possible for Astoria to get this done.
So even if Astoria was alive and kicking a "lot" of "needed" app could not be "ported" anyhow due to OS restrictions.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
322,916
Messages
2,242,890
Members
428,004
Latest member
hetb