The argument doesn't seem that cogent. The strategy described is what they already tried to do with the Surface RT, a failure which the article briefly mentions

The argument doesn't seem that cogent. The strategy described is what they already tried to do with the Surface RT, a failure which the article briefly mentions and moves on. Nonetheless, there's a truth here about UWP. Applications today are all HTML websites. They should be containerized native applications, navigated spontaneously like the web, but running native code protected by the privilege declarations system familiar to phone apps. In fact, the "web of apps" is long overdue, but it's been held back by two major players: Apple, whose Appstore discouraged inter-connected-ness by encouraging a micropayment model, while also promoting platform exclusivity; and Google, who pumps billions of dollars into browsers and other web tech propping up the antiquated HTML-based web. A new system is overdue. UWP is not that system though, it's a straight-up copycat of Apple's app store ecosystem, nothing more.