Don’t hold your breath on Android apps coming to Windows

First, Microsoft wanted to make it easy for developers to port their Android apps over to Windows. Then, that project was put on the back burner. You can probably guess what the next step for that is.

Yep, Project Astoria, Microsoft’s bold initiative to speed up porting apps over to their ecosystem, is officially dead. They recently announced their “Bridge” to help get iOS apps ported over natively to Windows 10, and the company has decided that having two programs like that is ultimately unnecessary. Plus, Microsoft acquired Xamarin just the other day, which is designed to help get apps running natively on a ton of platforms. That plays right into Microsoft’s strategy of making it easier to develop for Windows devices without having to put in much extra effort from making an Android or iOS app, and considering how little market share Windows Phone has been able to garner, that’s really the company’s only option at this point.

Microsoft still has Bridges for doing things like setting up iOS apps on Windows, porting legacy apps to newer versions of Windows, and a few other nifty tricks for developers.

Even without having a huge app ecosystem, Microsoft is betting big on getting their services on as many platforms as possible. The company’s Android and iOS apps are all pretty fantastic, and Microsoft has recently made some huge purchases for existing apps, including Wunderlist, Sunrise, and SwiftKey. Throw in the dominant Microsoft Office suite and Microsoft Outlook, and whether or not you’re using Windows as an operating system, there’s a good chance you might be using a component of Windows as a service.

source: Windows Blog

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