Resource: Understanding What Constitutes a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) App

When it comes to Windows 10 and apps for the Windows Store, Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps are a common area of discussion.

However, there is a lot of confusion about what constitutes a UWP app for Windows 10 and recently Daniel Rubino from Windows Central provided one of the best ever breakdowns on this subject I have ever read.

The Windows Store started back with the release of Windows 8 and has continued to mature over the last five years. The naming standards for these apps have also gone through an identity crisis as they have been called various names such as Modern, Store, Windows, and Metro apps.

In his tome about what makes up a UWP app, Rubino goes into details about the various Microsoft development tools and APIs that can be used to build UWP apps, why the universal part of the name does not necessarily mean an app will run on all platforms that support Windows 10 and the Windows Store, and how apps that are brought into the Windows Store from the various bridges Microsoft has released over the last few years are still UWP apps.

He wraps up explaining that ultimately Microsoft's goal is to see all apps in the Windows Store, which are all technically UWP apps already, eventually be universally accessible across all devices that use the Store. However, he also acknowledges that journey is just really beginning.

After five years of effort there is still a long way to go to this centralized and universal nirvana.

Resources to learn more about UWP:

-- Intro to the Universal Windows Platform

-- UWP Documentation Portal

-- UWP Community Toolkit

-- UWP Bridges

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