
Microsoft’s Universal Windows Platform app dream is dead and buried - doener
https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/30/18645609/microsofts-universal-windows-app-dead-microsoft-store-windows-store
======
pjmlp
Nope,

WinUI roadmap

[https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-ui-
xaml/blob/master/d...](https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-ui-
xaml/blob/master/docs/roadmap.md)

React Native for Windows rewrite on top of WinUI

[https://github.com/microsoft/react-native-
windows](https://github.com/microsoft/react-native-windows)

Announcement done during last month's BUILD.

UWP is live and well as Win32's successor.

------
ducttape12
One of the big problems was UWP's cross-platform approach was too narrow. The
problem isn't writing across all Microsoft platforms, the problem is writing
across all platforms, such as iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, etc. Platforms like
Ionic solve those problems; UWP does not.

Not to mention how it was basically a more restricted WPF (which already is an
over-engineered, confusing mess)

~~~
solarkraft
Agreed. There _is_ Uno [0], which tries to bring UWP to other platforms. I
think MS would be smart to apply the Xamarin move on them.

[0]: [https://platform.uno/](https://platform.uno/)

~~~
WorldMaker
I think Microsoft would argue that Xamarin and Xamarin.Forms are already
respectably competitive on that front. Particularly because they see the focus
on Native controls plus XAML as being kin to the React Native approach (Native
controls plus JSX).

From a design standpoint they have been working to merge their Fabric design
system (started by the Office team and originally focused on web, then React,
but now with a bunch of Fabric UI Native controls especially for React Native
and Xamarin) with their UWP design work (Fluent Design System 2.0 and the
WinUI controls library). That merger in progress is working to sell Fluent
Design as a cross-platform design system that feels native on each platform
(adapting to be more Material Design-like on Android, and more Apple-design
like on iOS), but also coherent (and brandable) across platforms (since many
users use multiple platforms each day).

It's an interesting strategy, and maybe even a great idea to have a cross-
platform design system focusing particularly on stuff that matters
(accessibility is huge focus area for Fluent Design), and with Office
seemingly all in on this strategy it may even have weight to it. It's also
something that potentially complements the Xamarin and React Native approach
well, of adapting to native components and feel as much as possible, but
trying to leverage as much high level similarity as possible as well.

~~~
WorldMaker
Which also is to point out that UWP is sort of expanding into cross-platform
almost directly with the increased communication/sharing between the WinUI
controls library team and the Fabric UI teams. Which also seems to underscore
how wrong the article is here in that UWP isn't dead, it's just evolving,
including going more cross-platform, getting better at running on more
versions of Windows (instead of being tied to specific versions of Windows,
new changes are increasingly moving to NuGet package updates, especially with
the upcoming WinUI 3.0 moving almost the full UWP rendering stack into Open
Source C++ libraries rather than baked into Windows), and working in many more
scenarios (plug UWP/WinUI controls into an old WinForms app or an old MFC app
with no problems, mix and match to your ancient app's needs).

