There's one glaring flaw in Microsoft's Windows 10 strategy

[steven36]

A huge part of Microsoft's strategy for Windows 10 hinges on what it calls "Universal Windows Apps."

The sales pitch for consumers is simple: If you buy an app from the Windows Store, it'll work exactly the same way on your phone, tablet, computer, and eventually, the Xbox One video game console — because it's literally the same program on every platform.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has highlighted Universal Windows Apps as a way out of the company's old-school lines of thinking that placed the PC at the center of the world. And he's vowed never to make that same mistake again.

Ultimately, Microsoft says it expects a billion active Windows 10 users, across the full spectrum of devices, within the next two or three years. Software developers wouldn't be able to resist building apps for such a huge market. For comparison, the Apple has sold about 700 million iPhones over an eight-year span.

There's just one big problem: Microsoft hasn't given developers any real reason to build Universal Windows Apps.
At least, not yet. And if they can't nail this, Windows will continue to fade into irrelevance.


Old PC apps work just fine
The first big problem is that old Windows apps work just fine on Windows PCs, so there's no reason for developers to rush to update them for Windows 10.
There are a few exceptions, like Twitter and Fitbit. Otherwise, the Windows Store is largely populated with the same group of apps, including a lot of half-baked misfits, as it was during the Windows 8 days.

To be fair, Windows 10 is still really new.
The first version, for users to upgrade their older PCs, just came out in July. Brand new PCs running Windows 10 are still scarce — the big wave is expected in the fall — and the enterprise (big business) and mobile versions of the software aren't here yet.

On the other hand, developers aren't exactly tripping over themselves to announce their support for Windows 10.

When I asked Slack, the hugely popular work chat app, if they planned a Windows 10 release, a spokesperson said only that the company was building a mobile app for Windows Phone 8.1 (the current, soon-to-be-replaced Microsoft mobile platform). That app will also work on the next Microsoft mobile platform, Windows 10 Mobile.
That's not a newfangled Universal App — it's just a regular mobile app that will run OK on Microsoft's next mobile platform, too.

In the meanwhile, Slack's existing Windows desktop app works on every version of Windows from 7 through 10, without Slack having to lift a finger.

It's a common sentiment. Thanks to Windows 10's support for legacy apps, it'll run any existing software without any changes to the code. And if it ain't broke, why fix it?

Nobody uses Windows on phones
The second problem is that very few people use Microsoft's mobile phones.

The big promise of Universal Apps is that developers who have built great Windows apps won't have to do much to get them to run on Microsoft's mobile platform.
But as mobile phones running Apple iOS and Google Android have conquered the world, many of the best and most innovative apps — think Snapchat, Instacart, Uber — were never designed to run on a computer at all. They rely on mainly-mobile features like location detection and the camera. They aren't, and never were, Windows apps.

As analyst Benedict Evans put it in a blog post: "You can't tempt developers to support Windows Phone by saying 'it's easy to deploy your desktop app to mobile' if there is no desktop app. So Windows is not a point of leverage for Microsoft in mobile."

From the other side, why would a developer who has created a great PC app spend any extra time creating an app that works on Microsoft's mobile platform?
Microsoft's mobile share is less than 3%, and the fact that the company has recently restructured its phone division and taken a massive write-off on its Nokia acquisition doesn't give developers a lot of hope that the company's going to make a big new push in mobile.

"Microsoft's recent de-emphasis on Windows phones has gutted the promise of Windows 10 Mobile, leaving the primary usefulness of Universal Applications — same app on desktop-laptop-tablet and phone -- in question," Directions on Microsoft analyst Rob Sanfilippo recently told InfoWorld.

Building real stuff for real PC users
Finally, as a developer, writing a Universal Windows App means giving up a certain degree of freedom, says Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock, which has long been making games and productivity tools for Windows.

Microsoft limits the API platform to build Universal Windows Apps, Wardell says, such that every app runs in what programmers call a "sandbox," meaning that it can't "touch" other apps.

This is very similar to how smartphone apps are built, Wardell says, but it makes it a lot harder to build super-serious productivity apps. The mobile/desktop divide is important to understand, Wardell says.

"Apple understands that Mac OS is a different beast than iOS," Wardell says.

Take, for example, Adobe Photoshop. Adobe actually offers some extremely lightweight versions of its apps in the Windows Store, originally built for Windows 8.

But they're more of a novelty than anything: They don't support many of the features that hardcore Photoshop rely on. And thanks to Microsoft's sandboxed development model, you can't do things like download and install third-party filters and plug-ins for it, the same way you can for the legacy Windows version.
The same goes for Excel macros, or browser extensions, or anything else you download to really extend a product on a Windows PC.

In the end, you get a mobile app running on your desktop without all of the features you probably wanted in the first place, Wardell says.
"I want to build real stuff, and I can't build real stuff on that API," Wardell says.

Downward spiral
Microsoft wants a billion Windows 10 users.

The most recent estimates from Gartner predict that the world will buy 933 million PCs over the next three years — including desktops, laptops, and premium "ultramobile" computers (think super-thin, super-portable).

So even if Microsoft just continues to dominate the traditional PC market, and all those PC buyers happily keep running their old Windows apps on their new computers, Microsoft will get its billion users.

Many of those billion users will happily go on to pay Microsoft the subscription fees for Office 365, Groove music, Xbox Live, and other services that don't depend on owning a Windows PC.

Universal Apps are simply a last ditch Hail Mary effort to make Microsoft relevant in mobile. Why not just give up this fight and move on? In fact, one part of Microsoft seems to be implicitly acknowledging with its rush of apps for iOS and Android, including its Office suite.

But over the long run, it means that developers will gradually find less and less reason to build for Microsoft's platforms at all. As iOS and Android apps get better and better, and iOS and Android tablets become closer and closer to replacing PCs, Windows will continue to lose relevance.

Source

[Sylence]

Great article, except there wasn't any word about security aspects, how Windows phones beat Iphones and Androids in terms of pricing, and how well Windows desktop and mobile can work together, sync data, run the same Universal/desktop apps/programs on tablets, laptops and mobiles.

[steven36]

Thing is they will never exist great apps in windows store like they are on phones no ways ...Only watered down versions of apps that you can install. I love seeing new software and testing it . But developers will keep moving toward phones. How many new apps do we see for windows now days most have been around since I was riding my dinosaur. :D

Edit: The software for windows is about the same as when I was on XP only thing that's really improved on windows is ability to watch HD videos and play games . But you dont even need a computer to do this really and all players have to do is update to the latest codecs . ;)

[Sylence]

Can you name a few apps that are mission critical or very practical In Android or IOS but aren't available for Windows mobile? there are some eye catching apps in Win10 store, most of them are new games.

[steven36]

Can you name a few apps that are mission critical or very practical In Android or IOS but aren't available for Windows mobile? there are some eye catching apps in Win10 store, most of them are new games.

That VLC app they have in the store dont even half work and in the 1st post it says its full of apps that they cant add features too no one wants to build apps for windows store because there sand boxed from the real computer you will never have great plugins or any thing like you can install ..do you even read what it said ? I can play games without a computer so hows that going to save them? Everyone is switching to phones and tablets and no one uses windows phones . Its sort like the Linux of phones . You can troll about it you want but still it dont make 3 billion plus people on the internet want to use it.

[Sylence]

Can you name a few apps that are mission critical or very practical In Android or IOS but aren't available for Windows mobile? there are some eye catching apps in Win10 store, most of them are new games.

Everyone is switching to phones and tablets and no one uses windows phones .

Windows phone is in phones and tablets :D

Yes Windows apps aren't even comparable to desktop apps but they're good for mobile phones and tablets and if your tablet is larger than 8" you have access to desktop apps too, so it's better than Android or IOS, they don't have any desktop.

[jbleck]

a very superficial way of looking at things here steven...

mobile = limited/lite version of something that's usually much bigger and/or complex

Can you name a few apps that are mission critical or very practical In Android or IOS but aren't available for Windows mobile? there are some eye catching apps in Win10 store, most of them are new games.

Everyone is switching to phones and tablets and no one uses windows phones .

everyone is not doing that... it's just that many people are moving away from their desktop from time to time (to eat, work, etc...) and they take with them some mobile device to compensate for the main toy... for many users this lite version is more then enough for their needs and even more users are mimicking mostly for the aesthetics. :P

---

and it is about control... the universal apps need to become more editable and accept add-ons... the greatest ones in classic windows are.

the sideloadind of apps is a big improvement... the egg begins to crack and it'll be loud from now on :)

the API will change according to the needs i'm sure...

[Sylence]

a very superficial way of looking at things here steven...

mobile = limited/lite version of something that's usually much bigger and/or complex

Can you name a few apps that are mission critical or very practical In Android or IOS but aren't available for Windows mobile? there are some eye catching apps in Win10 store, most of them are new games.

Everyone is switching to phones and tablets and no one uses windows phones .

everyone is not doing that... it's just that many people are moving away from their desktop from time to time (to eat, work, etc...) and they take with them some mobile device to compensate for the main toy... for many users this lite version is more then enough for their needs and even more users are mimicking mostly for the aesthetics. :P

---

and it is about control... the universal apps need to become more editable and accept add-ons... the greatest ones in classic windows are.

the sideloadind of apps is a big improvement... the egg begins to crack and it'll be loud from now on :)

the API will change according to the needs i'm sure...

I totally agree with your first statement xD

Sideloading is good providing that you have a legitimate way of getting APPX files of apps, using fiddler to download the APPX file is not easy for everyone.

[steven36]

a very superficial way of looking at things here steven...

mobile = limited/lite version of something that's usually much bigger and/or complex

Can you name a few apps that are mission critical or very practical In Android or IOS but aren't available for Windows mobile? there are some eye catching apps in Win10 store, most of them are new games.

Everyone is switching to phones and tablets and no one uses windows phones .

everyone is not doing that... it's just that many people are moving away from their desktop from time to time (to eat, work, etc...) and they take with them some mobile device to compensate for the main toy... for many users this lite version is more then enough for their needs and even more users are mimicking mostly for the aesthetics. :P

---

and it is about control... the universal apps need to become more editable and accept add-ons... the greatest ones in classic windows are.

the sideloadind of apps is a big improvement... the egg begins to crack and it'll be loud from now on :)

the API will change according to the needs i'm sure...

If im on a corrupter my desktops or the laptop I want full apps . Not a half and app you take VLC example

Known issues Audio

Audio may not work after playing some videos/songs. Steve Lhomme is trying to fix this and the fix should be available in the next update

Video

Hardware decoding doesn’t work; we’re still working on it, it’s experimental.

http://blog.thomasnigro.fr/2015/08/07/vlc-1-5-on-the-road-to-windows-10/

This app dont even require plugins to play videos but it want even work for DXVA and the audio may stop why would i want install that its never going work like and installed player or even a portable version because its sandboxed . So you're telling me people are going pay loads of money for half working apps like photoshop etc on there computer from windows store? I think not. :P

When it comes to anything about windows phones 1st off Microsoft has to sell them if no one is buying them no one needs there gadgets and 2nd off I sure dont want or need them on my computer i been on windows since 2001 and never needed them so I sure do not need phone apps from Microsoft on my pc . :lol:

you think if M$ would have made Win10 were it just would worked for store apps and not real apps that any one would installed it much? Everyone would still be on Win7 and Win 8.1 if they done that. :rolleyes:

[straycat19]

15 years ago almost everyone at work had a Blackberry and we were pushing them to buy phones with Windows Mobile because it was easier to support and didn't require a special server. Then iOS and Android came along and Blackberry and Windows Mobile became a thing of the past. Easy to use, no special server needed, and none of the usage problems that were encountered with Windows Mobile such as the need for constant resets, crashes, lost data, etc. My android devices, since the early days, have allowed me to access my PC desktop remotely and work with it much as if I were sitting in front of it and also sharing files. All this Windows hype is exactly that...hype. I don't use Windows phones or tablets and only use windows on a PC because I get it free. Linux has always been the goto operating system from the days I setup a 75 PC Beowulf Cluster in my office to the linux print servers I setup in departments that handled print jobs from multiple users, and the public access kiosks that were secure, all using recycled PCs that were considered too old to be useful running windows.

[steven36]

15 years ago almost everyone at work had a Blackberry and we were pushing them to buy phones with Windows Mobile because it was easier to support and didn't require a special server. Then iOS and Android came along and Blackberry and Windows Mobile became a thing of the past. Easy to use, no special server needed, and none of the usage problems that were encountered with Windows Mobile such as the need for constant resets, crashes, lost data, etc. My android devices, since the early days, have allowed me to access my PC desktop remotely and work with it much as if I were sitting in front of it and also sharing files. All this Windows hype is exactly that...hype. I don't use Windows phones or tablets and only use windows on a PC because I get it free. Linux has always been the goto operating system from the days I setup a 75 PC Beowulf Cluster in my office to the linux print servers I setup in departments that handled print jobs from multiple users, and the public access kiosks that were secure, all using recycled PCs that were considered too old to be useful running windows.

This is very true, and most people never buy windows per say , ether they buy computers with windows all ready on them in you're case you're work gives you windows or ether they pirate them . Only Windows I ever bought came in my pcs except one time I bought XP new used it once to repair a computer and I sold that copy because because I had a warranty they replaced the stolen CD when my house got broke into years ago , the rest Microsoft gave me for free windows 7 key and my friend gave me a retail key and Windows 10 was free. The only reason Microsoft will get there billion users is that they gave it away free .

And only 45% of the market witch is the business sector will one day switch over is because they need new computers . Since most people who use computers use windows .Since Microsoft holds the monopoly and they don't plan to make Windows 11 . People will have no choice but to upgrade to it one day if they stay with windows .

Windows 10 is sort like those lenovo and compaq they use to make ..They sold them really cheap and pre loaded spyware on them so really you was not getting as chep as you thought you was .

Why would anyone buy something like windows 10 that's pre loaded with spyware? when the people who got it for free are not even happy with it there's topics and tools all over this site, And all over wwww to try to prevent it, Did you know Microsoft cheats on there statistics? Whenever PC manufactures puts a copy of windows on a PC they consider it sold regardless if anyone actually buys it and uses it. :lol:

[TheRuan]

Can you name a few apps that are mission critical or very practical In Android or IOS but aren't available for Windows mobile? there are some eye catching apps in Win10 store, most of them are new games.

Extremely critical app > Torrenting App

In my opinion there is just one very little thing that Micro$oft didn't understand, and until they do the store will always be one more crap, most of their users(99.999999%) are PC users and almost all the apps we want won't work in the store API as said above.

What I want?

Clear as water, I want to be able to install 7zip, MediaMonkey, K-Lite Codec Pack, uTorrent and one more hundred apps from inside the store and not have to ever again worry about updating or saving app settings.

When they allow such a thing to happen then, and ONLY then, Micro$oft store will start to grow and flow.

[pushkargogte]

working crack for utorrent 3.4.5 beta?