Microsoft kills Android bridge project for Windows 10 to focus iOS instead

But with Xamarin, developers who use the C# programming language can build an app for one OS and then port it to other OSes. The system enables developers to easily share common app code across their iOS, Android and Windows apps while still delivering fully native experiences for each of the platforms.

By moving to acquire the cross-platform mobile app development company Xamarin – a deal announced today – Microsoft aims to boost its appeal to developers of all kinds, whether they’re building for Windows, Android or iOS.

“I think this is a great outcome for Xamarin, which has attracted good funding and built a strong customer base and business”, Hilwa told us.

By providing a platform by which to do this, Xamarin “effectively makes Microsoft a serious player in cross platform software development”, Hilwa said.

Furthermore, it also appears that they are developing ways to esnure that other third party apps are able to achieve the same thing.

Mathew’s developers already use Xamarin occasionally but plan to use it frequently once Microsoft integrates it with Visual Studio, because they rely on that toolkit for many of their apps.

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Microsoft and Xamarin have been partners since 2013.

“It’s not something people choose to develop for”, he added.

When you download a game through the Windows 10 app store, it does not give you a traditional.exe file, instead the game will look something like this in your file directory: C:/Windows/explorer.exe shell:AppsFolder/39C668CD.RiseoftheTombRaider_r7bfsmp40f67j!App. According to user reports, Microsoft’s Windows 10 App format lacks support for SLI and CrossFire, Fullscreen/Windowed display modes and apparently switching off V-Sync just can’t be done. With Astoria, Java-written apps would have worked on Windows 10 with minimal adjustment. “Not many. [Microsoft needs] to build a huge, popular platform that developers get in on and fight to develop for”.

The solution for this is the acquisition of Xamarin, which is an app development company.

Al Hilwa, program director for application development software research at IDC, agreed that the acquisition brings strong benefits to both companies.