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If Microsoft ever deprecates Win32, they won't sneak it overnight. Anyone can integrate UWP into their store today if they want, and they would have plenty of t

by ewzimm 10y ago

If Microsoft ever deprecates Win32, they won't sneak it overnight. Anyone can integrate UWP into their store today if they want, and they would have plenty of time to do it. This is a company that still supports Windows XP from 2001 with special contracts. It seems strange to compare this theoretical point in the future where Win32 is deprecated with who supports it right now. It's a good point that it's important to have platforms that no one company controls, but this fear of UWP seems unjustified when it's open to anyone.

nkassis 10y ago
They may not ever deprecate W32 apis (I bet they won't) but they also don't need to support it for new development. Hypothetically if DX13 required using UWP and given they want all xbox games to also work on windows, they I believe are doing this through UWP so devs are going to use it for cross platform games etc... Then you get to a point where you can use w32 but are at a serious disadvantage.
squeaky-clean 10y ago
We're comparing it to this theoretical point in the future because that's literally what the article says. > "The risk here is that, if Microsoft convinces everybody to use UWP, then they phase out Win32 apps. If they can succeed in doing that then it’s a small leap to forcing all apps and games to be distributed through the Windows Store. Once we reach that point, the PC has become a closed platform. It won’t be that one day they flip a switch that will break your Steam library – what they’re trying to do is a series of sneaky manoeuvres. They make it more and more inconvenient to use the old apps, and, simultaneously, they try to become the only source for the new ones."
- ewzimm 10y ago
  What I'm responding to is "if one day Microsoft decides to phase out... right now the only official way..." If they ever decide to phase it out, it won't matter what support UWP had mid-2016, it will matter what support it has when the phase out happens. Also, it's officially sanctioned right now to sideload downloaded programs not installed from the Microsoft store. Microsoft has publicly promised never to close the platform, and they aren't so powerful that they can afford to go against their development community like that. There's nothing at all indicating that Microsoft is going to shut out competing app stores and sideloading. The only evidence is that some people feel that Microsoft wants to do that.

by ewzimm 10y ago

nkassis 10y ago

They may not ever deprecate W32 apis (I bet they won't) but they also don't need to support it for new development. Hypothetically if DX13 required using UWP and given they want all xbox games to also work on windows, they I believe are doing this through UWP so devs are going to use it for cross platform games etc... Then you get to a point where you can use w32 but are at a serious disadvantage.

squeaky-clean 10y ago

We're comparing it to this theoretical point in the future because that's literally what the article says. > "The risk here is that, if Microsoft convinces everybody to use UWP, then they phase out Win32 apps. If they can succeed in doing that then it’s a small leap to forcing all apps and games to be distributed through the Windows Store. Once we reach that point, the PC has become a closed platform. It won’t be that one day they flip a switch that will break your Steam library – what they’re trying to do is a series of sneaky manoeuvres. They make it more and more inconvenient to use the old apps, and, simultaneously, they try to become the only source for the new ones."

ewzimm 10y ago
What I'm responding to is "if one day Microsoft decides to phase out... right now the only official way..." If they ever decide to phase it out, it won't matter what support UWP had mid-2016, it will matter what support it has when the phase out happens. Also, it's officially sanctioned right now to sideload downloaded programs not installed from the Microsoft store. Microsoft has publicly promised never to close the platform, and they aren't so powerful that they can afford to go against their development community like that. There's nothing at all indicating that Microsoft is going to shut out competing app stores and sideloading. The only evidence is that some people feel that Microsoft wants to do that.