Android Apps on Windows 10? WP Developer Proposes a Different Plan

[RoadWarrior]

Windows 10 will pack quite a lot of improvements in terms of features and performance, but one of the most exciting changes that it could bring is the possibility of running Android apps right on the desktop without additional tweaks.

Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans have suggested that Redmond is at least considering bringing Android apps on Windows 10 in an attempt to address the lack of apps and make its modern platform more powerful in the fight against Android and iOS.

But as far as Rudy Huyn, Windows Phone developer with several successful apps in the store, is concerned, bringing Android apps on Windows 10 would actually be a terrible move for Microsoft, as no one would then create software specifically for Windows.

“Why not bringing universal apps on Android?”

First and foremost, Huyn says that, by giving developers the possibility of developing only for Android and targeting several platforms with the same app, Microsoft would do more harm than good because building software for modern Windows would become a waste of time.

To prove his point, the Windows Phone developer points to two similar projects:

“OS/2 tried to run windows apps => died, BB10 tried to run android apps => died. BB10 is a good sample, the store is full of apps using android sdk, not BlackBerry sdk,” he wrote.

Instead of letting Android apps run on Windows Phone, it would be better to bring universal apps on Android and thus convince more developers to build for Windows and, at the same time, target several platforms.

And this is really doable, he says.

“Technically it’s clearly possible: – WinJS is open source and run without problem on Chrome/Webkit – Xamarin/Mono probes that it’s possible to have a native android apps with C#/fake XAML – VS2015 has already a Android emulator – next version of ASP.net will run natively and without SDK on MacOS X (why not do the same thing for apps?)” he posted in a larger message that you can find after the jump.

At this point, there’s no sign that Microsoft is indeed planning to go in that direction, but more details could be unveiled later this month, at the January 21 event focused on the consumer experience on Windows 10.