Microsoft has confirmed that it intends to support iOS and Android apps in its Windows 10 operating system. This comes after Microsoft rolled out Project Islandwood and Project Astoria. The confirmation of the existence of the two projects affirms the rumours that Microsoft has been seeking to create a compatible windows-based platform that would enable Android apps to run smoothly in Windows. Both projects would ensure that Windows 10 provides developers with a platform to create a single app which can run on a PC, mobile phone, console, hybrid and tablets.
For Project Islandwood, Microsoft has created a middle-ware layer which incorporates the unique Objective C tool chain thus providing a set of compatible APIs which would support the running of iOS apps in Windows operating system. The objective of Project Islandwood is to enable iOS developers to build and recompile their iOS apps for Windows. Several third party software are presently using some of the tools developed in Project Islandwood; for instance, the Candy Crush Saga developed by King’s for Windows-based phones. According to King’s, they only had to alter a short segment of their code in order to successfully port their software to Windows-based phones.
The principal objective of Project Astoria is to ensure that Android Apps can run smoothly and efficiently in Windows – and especially in Windows Mobile. Windows Mobile is the operating system which runs in sub-8-inch tablets as well as Windows-supported mobile phones. Windows mobile has an in-built Android runtime layer which ensures that Android apps can run on the system unchanged. The project aims to ensure that old APKs are compatible with their corresponding APIs, as well as the Windows-based operating system. However, Microsoft has confirmed that Astoria would not guarantee that all GMS-based and AOSP-based APIs will run on Windows. Even so, Project Astoria would provide a set of convenient integration points which would ensure that Android developers can configure their apps to run on Windows.
