How to port to Windows

After more than a year of rumors, Microsoft finally announced at the BUILD 2015 conference two days ago that it would allow Windows phones or devices to run Android applications in the future. This move seems to be equivalent to Microsoft's public statement that the developers of its own platform are not strong enough, and it sounds like a blasphemy to Microsoft fans.

However, what Microsoft has done is a bit incredible. In addition to Android, Windows can also run iOS applications to a certain extent. However, Microsoft did not release too many details. Most of the live demonstrations were about the Android platform, and the results showed that its actual operation effect was much better than BlackBerry, which natively supports Android applications.

Perhaps for this reason, Microsoft took the lead in releasing a promotional video to lure developers, telling them that it is very simple to bring Android applications to Windows, and it can be done in just a few simple steps.

For a long time, the common practice for developers to develop applications or games for mobile platforms is to choose Windows Phone only after iOS or Android is released. This is because developers believe that choosing the latest mobile platform is the most worthwhile and more conducive to making money, and they may even consider giving up support for a mobile operating system with a market share of less than 3%.

Developers can now sign up for Project Astoria

The good news for developers is that Microsoft has released a development tool kit for porting Android apps to Windows. Developers can get the Beta version by registering for Project Astoria. This tool can speed up the porting of their apps to Windows 10. Microsoft also gave a brief demonstration during the BUILD 2015 conference.

Microsoft said that they are still improving the Project Astoria tool to ensure a faster porting process, and the public version will be released this fall. Since Microsoft positions the ported Android application as a universal application, it can be directly run on Windows 10 devices such as PCs and laptops in addition to Windows phones.