Build 2015: Microsoft Visual Studio is the One Ring of developer tools

FInding a useful app on the Windows Store was sort of like finding water in the desert. It happens, sure, but not nearly often enough.

But Microsoft is on a mission to get 1 billion Windows devices in the hands of consumers, and in order to saturate that desert it's going to need a lot more water.

At the Build 2015 keynote this morning Executive Vice President of the Operating Systems Group Terry Myerson revealed the answer.

"The third technology I'm announcing today is that Windows Studio will let developers reuse all the Java and C++ code from an Android app to a phone app running Windows 10. An app that takes advantage of Android code but has extensions that will "really delight" the Windows users," Myerson said.

"Windows 10 is going to let you reuse your Web code, .NET and Win32 and Android and Java/C++ code to get apps into the Windows store."

For reference, there are around 1.3 million apps on the Google Play Store at the moment, while the comparatively barren Microsoft Windows Phone catalog sits at 300,000.

Drawing water from … an apple?

Android isn't the only apple of Window's eye. Myerson also announced that Xcode projects - the kind used to create iOS apps - will also be included in the Visual Studio update:

"Today we are announcing you will be able to compile the same Objective-C code that's being used in iOS within Visual Studio Code on Windows."

With both app stores at its disposal, Microsoft may no longer have an app problem on its hands.

• Read up on Window 10!

April 30, 2015 at 01:07AM
Nick Pino