Source: https://pixabay.com/get/e5400fee5db558a62421/1439911083/microsoft-80658_1280.png?direct
Windows has come a long way since the dark ages surrounding 2012. Back then, the Windows OS was highly differentiated on separate devices. Going from a tablet OS to a computer the uniformity was just not there, especially for developers. Finally, Windows has introduced a universal Windows Platform with Windows 10 that allows for developers to create apps on a huge breadth of devices with this new OS.
The new Universal Windows Platform
This is referred to by Microsoft as a “single API surface” which is a guaranteed API that is the same on all devices. Microsoft does state that the developing process is the same from Windows 8, it has just been repackaged and re-imagined. No longer do you need to target a specific version of an OS when developing an app, now you can offer it for all of Windows 10, and simply make it available on the devices families that you want.
What the developers will experience?
Windows states that their changes will make the developing experience more simple, unified, and integrated. This is accomplished through Visual Studio being more integrated and advanced than ever before. This program makes developer’s lives easier with many new features and tools like Blend for Visual Studio that covers all of XAML.
Microsoft is also proud to say that all Visual Studio users will have access to .NET native. They state that this is a “Next generation” compiler in the cloud. This creates a .NET bootstrapper to your pre-compiled code, which optimizes your compiling in various ways like making your apps startup 50% faster and require 14% less average memory usage from end users.
Monetization
Along with the new UWP integration, the Windows stores are also being reworked. Now, Microsoft has created something called “One Store” which combines all the previously separated stores into one.
Microsoft does state that the one best way to make money through your apps are advertisements, of course. They actually recommend using video advertisements over banner ads, even using a video viewing as a reward incentive in the game itself.
They state that only about 10% of people make their money from app purchases, a hefty 40% make it from advertising, and somewhere around 50% make it from in-app purchases. One example is the millions that Call of Duty makes from in-app purchases or what they like to refer as “DLC’s” which stands for downloadable content.
With all these new changes resulting from Windows 10, Microsoft has been shooting for an empowered developer experience across the board. Hopefully, with this new additions, developers all over the world will be able to attain this all-new “Windows” experience.