Microsoft today announced the availability of the Desktop App Converter through the Windows Store. The move is in an effort to get more developers to port their .NET and Win32 apps to the Store.
The Desktop App Converter uses technology that was formerly known as Project Centennial, and is now known as the Desktop Bridge. One of four bridges announced by Microsoft at Build 2015 - among Projects Westminster, Islandwood, and the now-defunct Astoria - it was designed to package apps that were made for x86 devices (.NET or Win32) as UWP packages, which would only run on x86 machines (sorry Windows phone fans).
The company also announced a number of desktop apps that will be coming to the Windows Store within the next few days. These include Evernote, Arduino IDE, Double Twist, PhotoScape, MAGIX Movie Edit Pro, Virtual Robotics Kit, Relab, SQL Pro, Voya Media, Predicted Desire and korAccount.
It"s worth noting that you"ll need the Anniversary Update (build 14393 or better) to run any apps that were created with the Desktop Bridge, including the App Converter itself. The full rollout of the AU won"t be done until November, so if you don"t have it yet and you want it, here"s how to get it.
You can download the Desktop App Converter from the Windows Store right here.