Official details about Microsoft"s supposed work on making Windows 10 "modern" and more modular in nature have been scant, but a flurry of documents and insider reports over the last year have given us some idea about where the company plans to take its OS, and how those plans might relate to the fabled Andromeda.
The latest leak in that regard comes from Aggiornamenti Lumia, which claims it has come across the very first apps designed with Windows Core OS in mind, and that they have already been submitted to the Microsoft Store.
The report provides a quick rundown of the five different platforms an app can currently be made for:
- Windows.Desktop: The application can only be installed on PCs and tablets
- Windows.Mobile: The application can be installed only on Windows 10 Mobile (Windows.Mobile is to be considered nowadays obsolete and practically unused)
- Windows.Team: The application can be installed only on Surface Hub
- Windows.Xbox: The application can only be installed on an Xbox console
As documentation attached to the report shows, Microsoft is now adding a new platform for app developers to target, called Windows.Core, that will target devices running Core OS.
Lumia Updates (the site"s name translated to English) further purports that Microsoft has already updated the Dev Center to allow a select group of developers to flight Windows Core applications, suggesting Core OS-powered devices like Andromeda may be bound for release sooner rather than later.
Based on a rough translation of the content, it would also seem that app development on Windows will be bifurcated as a result. Developers could choose to either pursue the new Windows.Core platform that allows them the possibility of leaving behind older versions of Windows and focus exclusively on the new tools provided by Core OS or continue to develop their apps for the Windows.Universal platform that would allow their app to run on any Windows 10-powered device as expected.
This would include devices running Core OS, which may lead one to wonder what specific benefits the Windows.Core platform might provide to developers in order to tempt them away from the universality of Windows.Universal.
Source: Aggiornamenti Lumia