14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is betting big on universal apps for Windows 10, and it turns out that more software developers are actually interested in this new approach, including big companies such as Adobe.
A tweet posted earlier today by Andrew Shorten, Director of Product Management at Adobe, reveals that the company is already preparing to jump on the universal app bandwagon with a Windows 10 version of the Experience Design CC application.
According to his post, there’s still “lots of work to do, but it’s real,” and he estimates that the universal app is “on track for a release later in 2016.” Offering a more specific release date is clearly impossible right now since the app is still in its early days, but at least we know it’s coming.
Since it’ll be a universal app, Adobe Experience Design CC will thus work not only on PCs powered by Windows 10 but also on phones running Windows 10 Mobile, with the same look and features everywhere.
Satya Nadella could be right
Earlier this year, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella said in a meeting with the board that he believed universal apps were the right choice for Windows 10, but warned that nothing could change overnight, and it takes time until developers discover the opportunities that this new concept is created.
“This is new. We’ve had different efforts in the past but we now have one store and one app platform. Give us time to keep focused on it,” he told shareholders.
“We are seeing, for example, for the first time on the core of Windows desktop, with 100-plus million users, active engagement, the fact that they can find these Windows applications in the store, some of the developers like Netflix are seeing more engagement for the Netflix app vs. the web. So that’s an early indicator of data that I think will entice more of these developers to build more of these applications.”
One of the ways to tackle the lack of apps on modern Windows was to develop bridges that would allow app makers to bring their projects created for iOS and Android to Windows 10 devices. This plan is going forward only partially, though, as Project Astoria, which was specifically aimed at Android apps, has since been discontinued, with Microsoft advancing only with other bridges, such as Project Islandwood and Centennial for iOS and Win32 apps, respectively.