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My big takeaway from this is that Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) will become more like first-class apps on Windows. Installing a PWA on Windows will make it show

by judah 7y ago

My big takeaway from this is that Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) will become more like first-class apps on Windows. Installing a PWA on Windows will make it show up as its own process in Task Manager, listed in start menu and taskbar, listed as its own entry in Add/Remove programs, etc. This is made possible in part by this Hosted App Model.

ComputerGuru 7y ago
Absolutely. With frontend logic powered by C#/.NET courtesy of Blazor.
- mycall 7y ago
  Are you suggesting XAML/C# to WebAssembly/PWA to Desktop app? Why not just XAML/C#/Desktop App?
  - ComputerGuru 7y ago
    Not suggesting using it myself, merely saying this is where Microsoft is going with it. They don’t have a cross-platform XAML render. They’re trying to abstract away the OS in .NET Core, and XAML no longer fits the bill.
    - pjmlp 7y ago
      Sure it does, Xamarin alongside React Native and PWAs are the official SDKs for Surface Duo. Also WinUI, is the only Windows UI toolkit that is actually being developed, instead of getting only bug fixes like the other ones.
      - ComputerGuru 7y ago
        Xamarin is mobile and macOS only.
        pjmlp 7y ago
        Yeah, then what I have here on Windows 10 is a mirage. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/xamarin-forms/platform/windows/ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/xamarin-forms/platf...
  - tasogare 7y ago
    PWA are multiplatforms while C# still hasn't a first party multiplatform GUI toolkit. Which is shame, because the dev experience in XAML+C# is really good, and Silverlight out of Browser was exactly that.
    - pjmlp 7y ago
      Xamarin.
      - tasogare 7y ago
        No. Xamarin focuses on mobile apps, not desktop. Also, you have to chose between Forms which is ugly everywhere, and Native which require a non trivial understanding of each underlying platform.
        pjmlp 7y ago
        WinUI and UWP seem like desktop to me, plus there are plenty of other ones, https://github.com/xamarin/Xamarin.Forms/wiki/Platform-Support https://github.com/xamarin/Xamarin.Forms/wiki/Platform-Suppo... Just like with Qt, Flutter, wxWidgets, Gtk+, Swing and JavaFX, Forms is only ugly when one cannot bother having designers on the team.
    - moonchild 7y ago
      Avalonia? (https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia)
      - tasogare 7y ago
        Avalonia is not first party (Microsoft). It’s also still in development and not production ready.
pjmlp 7y ago
They were already with Edge. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/progressive-web-apps-edgehtml/get-started https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/progressive-... This is like the evolution after migrating to Chrome. Also Google does the same with PWAs on Android and ChromeOS. If they are signed and distributed via the store, you can access OS APIs from the browser directly. https://developers.google.com/web/android/trusted-web-activity https://developers.google.com/web/android/trusted-web-activi...

by judah 7y ago

ComputerGuru 7y ago

Absolutely. With frontend logic powered by C#/.NET courtesy of Blazor.

mycall 7y ago
Are you suggesting XAML/C# to WebAssembly/PWA to Desktop app? Why not just XAML/C#/Desktop App?
- ComputerGuru 7y ago
  Not suggesting using it myself, merely saying this is where Microsoft is going with it. They don’t have a cross-platform XAML render. They’re trying to abstract away the OS in .NET Core, and XAML no longer fits the bill.
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    Sure it does, Xamarin alongside React Native and PWAs are the official SDKs for Surface Duo. Also WinUI, is the only Windows UI toolkit that is actually being developed, instead of getting only bug fixes like the other ones.
    - ComputerGuru 7y ago
      Xamarin is mobile and macOS only.
      - pjmlp 7y ago
        Yeah, then what I have here on Windows 10 is a mirage. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/xamarin-forms/platform/windows/ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/xamarin-forms/platf...
- tasogare 7y ago
  PWA are multiplatforms while C# still hasn't a first party multiplatform GUI toolkit. Which is shame, because the dev experience in XAML+C# is really good, and Silverlight out of Browser was exactly that.
  - pjmlp 7y ago
    Xamarin.
    - tasogare 7y ago
      No. Xamarin focuses on mobile apps, not desktop. Also, you have to chose between Forms which is ugly everywhere, and Native which require a non trivial understanding of each underlying platform.
      - pjmlp 7y ago
        WinUI and UWP seem like desktop to me, plus there are plenty of other ones, https://github.com/xamarin/Xamarin.Forms/wiki/Platform-Support https://github.com/xamarin/Xamarin.Forms/wiki/Platform-Suppo... Just like with Qt, Flutter, wxWidgets, Gtk+, Swing and JavaFX, Forms is only ugly when one cannot bother having designers on the team.
  - moonchild 7y ago
    Avalonia? (https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia)
    - tasogare 7y ago
      Avalonia is not first party (Microsoft). It’s also still in development and not production ready.

pjmlp 7y ago

They were already with Edge. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/progressive-web-apps-edgehtml/get-started https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/progressive-... This is like the evolution after migrating to Chrome. Also Google does the same with PWAs on Android and ChromeOS. If they are signed and distributed via the store, you can access OS APIs from the browser directly. https://developers.google.com/web/android/trusted-web-activity https://developers.google.com/web/android/trusted-web-activi...