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This is great. Finally a non hacky way to run mobile apps on a desktop. This is less about competing with Apple’s universal binaries, and more about increasing

This is great. Finally a non hacky way to run mobile apps on a desktop. This is less about competing with Apple’s universal binaries, and more about increasing Windows’s versatility. You can already run Linux on Windows. Now you can run Android. No need to mess around with Archon, Nox, Genymotion anymore. Got a weather app you like? An audiobook player? Done. Hopefully this means more interoperability with Microsoft’s own Android apps, so buying a phone like the Surface Duo and using the Your Phone feature actually does something.

turtlebits 5y ago
I used BlueStacks for a while, while IME was never hacky. That said, there was/is little motivation for me to run mobile apps on desktop. This definitely lowers the barrier to entry, thought I have little faith in how Microsoft will present it. Been burned too many times by them on poor UX/DX (WSL, F#)
- throwamon 5y ago
  What's wrong with WSL and F#?
  - adamdusty 5y ago
    Not sure what that guy is talking about, but some people are frustrated that WSL2 is basically a linux VM, and F# has been little more than an experimental playground for .net features. I don't care about either project, but these are the complaints I hear the most.
projectsforlife 5y ago
Absolutely. Way less janky than Mac's implementation of running iOS apps. While you can use mobile apps on your Windows laptop using native touch controls, on your Mac laptop you have to use that weird trackpad-driven interface. Which would you prefer? https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Mac-mini-M1-Touch-Alternatives.png https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Mac-m...
- 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
  Where’s the screenshot of what user input looks like for Android on Windows? I’d love to compare those side by side to make a judgement of which looks more janky.
  - durovo 5y ago
    I believe what they are saying (hoping for?) is that since there are many Windows compatible laptops with touchscreens (unlike macbooks), Android app experience on them might be better.
    - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
      Ah, perhaps. I’m excited to see that Apple is unifying their hardware architectures across their various form factors of computing devices. That’ll be interesting in the future.
      - zeusk 5y ago
        Microsoft had unified their software architecture across various form factors. So xbox, (phones?), tablets, laptops, desktops, servers ran the same Windows essentially with different shells. Windows also supports multiple hardware architectures - we just need the external ecosystem to thrive as well. We see it in graphics with nvidia and amd but compute/cpu progress limped through most of 2012-2018?.
        9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
        Software architecture is great, but unified hardware architecture is where it is at. Windows for ARM is still in preview, I believe.
        zeusk 5y ago
        > Windows for ARM is still in preview, I believe. Surface Pro X running on ARM was released to public 2 years ago. We had x86onARM translation since 2018 I believe.

turtlebits 5y ago

I used BlueStacks for a while, while IME was never hacky. That said, there was/is little motivation for me to run mobile apps on desktop. This definitely lowers the barrier to entry, thought I have little faith in how Microsoft will present it. Been burned too many times by them on poor UX/DX (WSL, F#)

throwamon 5y ago
What's wrong with WSL and F#?
- adamdusty 5y ago
  Not sure what that guy is talking about, but some people are frustrated that WSL2 is basically a linux VM, and F# has been little more than an experimental playground for .net features. I don't care about either project, but these are the complaints I hear the most.

projectsforlife 5y ago

Absolutely. Way less janky than Mac's implementation of running iOS apps. While you can use mobile apps on your Windows laptop using native touch controls, on your Mac laptop you have to use that weird trackpad-driven interface. Which would you prefer? https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Mac-mini-M1-Touch-Alternatives.png https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Mac-m...

9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
Where’s the screenshot of what user input looks like for Android on Windows? I’d love to compare those side by side to make a judgement of which looks more janky.
- durovo 5y ago
  I believe what they are saying (hoping for?) is that since there are many Windows compatible laptops with touchscreens (unlike macbooks), Android app experience on them might be better.
  - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
    Ah, perhaps. I’m excited to see that Apple is unifying their hardware architectures across their various form factors of computing devices. That’ll be interesting in the future.
    - zeusk 5y ago
      Microsoft had unified their software architecture across various form factors. So xbox, (phones?), tablets, laptops, desktops, servers ran the same Windows essentially with different shells. Windows also supports multiple hardware architectures - we just need the external ecosystem to thrive as well. We see it in graphics with nvidia and amd but compute/cpu progress limped through most of 2012-2018?.
      - 9wzYQbTYsAIc 5y ago
        Software architecture is great, but unified hardware architecture is where it is at. Windows for ARM is still in preview, I believe.
        zeusk 5y ago
        > Windows for ARM is still in preview, I believe. Surface Pro X running on ARM was released to public 2 years ago. We had x86onARM translation since 2018 I believe.