Microsoft’s UWP initiative has been met with a lot of resistance, with high profile developers criticizing a perceived locking down of Windows. A lot of pressure has been placed on Microsoft, explicitly and implicitly, to share their vision for exactly what UWP is meant to be, so developers at least have some idea of where it is all going. And at GDC, Microsoft did just that.
Microsoft announced that they are working on a lot of problems with UWP- so, for instance, the lack of options with UWP apps, such as the inability to disable V-Sync or the ability to support G-Sync and freesync, are all problems that their developers are working on. Microsoft hopes to introduce and implement these features later this year.
Microsoft also stated that UWP will end up supporting all manner of devices- from Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs to tablets and smartphones, HoloLens, the Internet of Things devices. They acknowledged that the development, distribution, and updating procedures for applications on this full range of devices can differ, and they pledged to ensure that specific functionality for each kind of software was in place.
Microsoft do have their work cut out for them- this presentation definitely made UWP look better, yes, but a lot of concerns still went unaddressed. Let us hope Microsoft addresses those at its BUILD conference.
