We’re starting to hear a little more about the Universal App Platform (UAP). From Mary Jo Foley at ZDNET, we understand the following:
The new universal app platform (UAP) that Microsoft is building with Windows 10 will sit on top of the Windows core. The UAP is a superset of WinRT, the Windows 8 and Windows RT runtime, according to tweets from Matt Lacey (@mrlacey), who runs the Windows Apps London developer group.
"The migration path to Windows 10 UAP apps is from ‘universal’ 8.1 apps," Lacey tweeted. There are some "additional conversion steps" needed, ranging from referencing extension development kits, to moving Charms bar interactions. (Here’s a list of six steps provided by Microsoft.)
Developers will be able to target different versions — either a range or individual — of the UAP, not the underlying version of Windows, according to Lacey. The UAP "is a versioned collection of versioned contracts," he explained.
Universal apps don’t mean apps that look and work exactly the same across all device types. Microsoft is building "extension SDKs (software development kits) that will allow developers to build platform/device-specific elements while still building on top of a single binary, according to tweets from the event.
The Adaptive User Interface in universal apps will adapt to the device, tweeted freelance tech journalist Tim Anderson (@timanderson). This Adaptive UX is a set of adaptive controls that support mouse, keyboard and touch, and "look a bit different from Metro," Anderson said.
Also, Paul Krill at InfoWorld quotes one Microsoft spokesperson as noting the following:
Customers now prefer mobile experiences, [Kevin] Gallo noted. "Just a year ago, the experiences customers sought on Windows phones were different from tablet, which were different again from laptops and PCs and different from the game console. This has changed — rapidly." Windows 10 is intended provide a new path for the "mobile experience," accommodating multiple screen sizes, but interaction models must be flexible as well, covering touch, mouse, keyboard, game controller, or pen, Gallo said.
Windows 10 will make it easy to build a Windows app that packages a website for publishing to the store. "Once installed, your website can update and call Universal APIs from JavaScript, creating a more engaging user experience," according to Gallo.
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