Windows 10 can run reworked Android and iOS apps

After months of rumors, Microsoft is revealing its plans to get mobile apps on Windows 10 today. While the company has been investigating emulating Android apps, it has settled on a different solution, or set of solutions, that will allow developers to bring their existing code to Windows 10.

iOS and Android developers will be able to port their apps and games directly to Windows universal apps, and Microsoft is enabling this with two new software development kits. On the Android side, Microsoft is enabling developers to use Java and C++ code on Windows 10, and for iOS developers they’ll be able to take advantage of their existing Objective C code. "We want to enable developers to leverage their current code and current skills to start building those Windows applications in the Store, and to be able to extend those applications," explained Microsoft’s Terry Myerson during an interview with The Verge this morning.

Streaming Xbox One games to a Windows 10 PC is awesome

Ever since Microsoft announced its plans to bring Xbox One game streaming to Windows 10 back in January, I've been dying to try it. While the Xbox One dashboard has been updated to support the new feature, the Xbox one app for Windows 10 isn't quite ready yet. At its Build developers conference in San Francisco this week, Microsoft is demonstrating Xbox One game streaming to Windows 10 PCs to the public for the first time. I got a chance to try it, and it's as awesome as I had hoped.

It all starts with an Xbox One controller and the Xbox app for Windows 10. You can plug Xbox One controllers into Windows 10 PCs, and the Xbox app will automatically install the drivers and then you're ready to stream games. Titles will stream locally over a network, but you won't be able to go on vacation and access your game collection from a hotel. There are ways around that by setting up VPN connections at home, but for now it's designed to work over the local network, and the streaming is optimized for that experience.

Launching games is simple from the Xbox app for Windows 10, you just select the title you want to play and there's a new streaming option at the top. This isn't just streaming, though. You can even access the entire Xbox One dashboard, and launch apps like party, friends, achievements, and more. It all seemed to work without much lag in Microsoft's demo, but we'll have to take a look at it more closely in home environments to really judge it fully.

New Windows 10 will STAGGER to its feet

Build 2015 At the Build conference in San Francisco this week, Joe Belfiore – Microsoft's corporate veep for operating systems – talked The Register through the release of Windows 10: when it will arrive, how it will arrive, and why you should use it.

Belfiore was keen to squash dates leaked by hardware manufacturers – AMD's CEO suggested the OS will be out by the end of July, for example.

“We’ve said that Windows 10 will launch in the summer. Some of you have heard our partners working in the ecosystem speculate about a date, but we have not announced a date,” Belfiore said.

It turns out Microsoft has in mind not so much a release date (though there will be a moment when a release-ready build of Windows 10 is made available to PC makers), but rather a wave of launches.

“We are on track for the summer but you should have in mind this notion of Windows as a service,” he said.

“There are devices and features that will come not on the launch date but following it. Our main focus is to kick off with a great launch on the PC. Other devices, phone, HoloLens, Xbox, Surface Hub, will be staggered, probably not on the same date as the PC.

"In some cases, phone updates require us to go through mobile operator testing. The way to think about it is a launch wave that will start in the summer with the PC and then fill out over time as more devices come online."

“That is also true of features," he added. "There are some features that we’ve talked about that won’t be there on launch day. For example, extension support in the Edge browser won’t be there on launch date. The Win32 app support in the Store won’t be there on launch date. Some enterprise features will also come in the Fall.”

Why does Belfiore include Xbox in this list, given that Xbox One is already available? Users should perhaps expect a significant system update before it supports Microsoft’s new Universal App Platform (UAP).

Windows Phone is behind partly because Microsoft has a PC-first approach. “Our phone builds have been not as far along as our PC builds. In general our app work is happening first on the PC. We’re adapting the phone experiences later,” said Belfiore.Build 2015 At the Build conference in San Francisco this week, Joe Belfiore – Microsoft's corporate veep for operating systems – talked The Register through the release of Windows 10: when it will arrive, how it will arrive, and why you should use it.

Belfiore was keen to squash dates leaked by hardware manufacturers – AMD's CEO suggested the OS will be out by the end of July, for example.

“We’ve said that Windows 10 will launch in the summer. Some of you have heard our partners working in the ecosystem speculate about a date, but we have not announced a date,” Belfiore said.

It turns out Microsoft has in mind not so much a release date (though there will be a moment when a release-ready build of Windows 10 is made available to PC makers), but rather a wave of launches.

“We are on track for the summer but you should have in mind this notion of Windows as a service,” he said.

“There are devices and features that will come not on the launch date but following it. Our main focus is to kick off with a great launch on the PC. Other devices, phone, HoloLens, Xbox, Surface Hub, will be staggered, probably not on the same date as the PC.

"In some cases, phone updates require us to go through mobile operator testing. The way to think about it is a launch wave that will start in the summer with the PC and then fill out over time as more devices come online."

“That is also true of features," he added. "There are some features that we’ve talked about that won’t be there on launch day. For example, extension support in the Edge browser won’t be there on launch date. The Win32 app support in the Store won’t be there on launch date. Some enterprise features will also come in the Fall.”

Why does Belfiore include Xbox in this list, given that Xbox One is already available? Users should perhaps expect a significant system update before it supports Microsoft’s new Universal App Platform (UAP).

Windows Phone is behind partly because Microsoft has a PC-first approach. “Our phone builds have been not as far along as our PC builds. In general our app work is happening first on the PC. We’re adapting the phone experiences later,” said Belfiore.Build 2015 At the Build conference in San Francisco this week, Joe Belfiore – Microsoft's corporate veep for operating systems – talked The Register through the release of Windows 10: when it will arrive, how it will arrive, and why you should use it.

Belfiore was keen to squash dates leaked by hardware manufacturers – AMD's CEO suggested the OS will be out by the end of July, for example.

“We’ve said that Windows 10 will launch in the summer. Some of you have heard our partners working in the ecosystem speculate about a date, but we have not announced a date,” Belfiore said.

It turns out Microsoft has in mind not so much a release date (though there will be a moment when a release-ready build of Windows 10 is made available to PC makers), but rather a wave of launches.

“We are on track for the summer but you should have in mind this notion of Windows as a service,” he said.

“There are devices and features that will come not on the launch date but following it. Our main focus is to kick off with a great launch on the PC. Other devices, phone, HoloLens, Xbox, Surface Hub, will be staggered, probably not on the same date as the PC.

"In some cases, phone updates require us to go through mobile operator testing. The way to think about it is a launch wave that will start in the summer with the PC and then fill out over time as more devices come online."

“That is also true of features," he added. "There are some features that we’ve talked about that won’t be there on launch day. For example, extension support in the Edge browser won’t be there on launch date. The Win32 app support in the Store won’t be there on launch date. Some enterprise features will also come in the Fall.”

Why does Belfiore include Xbox in this list, given that Xbox One is already available? Users should perhaps expect a significant system update before it supports Microsoft’s new Universal App Platform (UAP).

Windows Phone is behind partly because Microsoft has a PC-first approach. “Our phone builds have been not as far along as our PC builds. In general our app work is happening first on the PC. We’re adapting the phone experiences later,” said Belfiore.Build 2015 At the Build conference in San Francisco this week, Joe Belfiore – Microsoft's corporate veep for operating systems – talked The Register through the release of Windows 10: when it will arrive, how it will arrive, and why you should use it.

Belfiore was keen to squash dates leaked by hardware manufacturers – AMD's CEO suggested the OS will be out by the end of July, for example.

“We’ve said that Windows 10 will launch in the summer. Some of you have heard our partners working in the ecosystem speculate about a date, but we have not announced a date,” Belfiore said.

It turns out Microsoft has in mind not so much a release date (though there will be a moment when a release-ready build of Windows 10 is made available to PC makers), but rather a wave of launches.

“We are on track for the summer but you should have in mind this notion of Windows as a service,” he said.

“There are devices and features that will come not on the launch date but following it. Our main focus is to kick off with a great launch on the PC. Other devices, phone, HoloLens, Xbox, Surface Hub, will be staggered, probably not on the same date as the PC.

"In some cases, phone updates require us to go through mobile operator testing. The way to think about it is a launch wave that will start in the summer with the PC and then fill out over time as more devices come online."

“That is also true of features," he added. "There are some features that we’ve talked about that won’t be there on launch day. For example, extension support in the Edge browser won’t be there on launch date. The Win32 app support in the Store won’t be there on launch date. Some enterprise features will also come in the Fall.”

Why does Belfiore include Xbox in this list, given that Xbox One is already available? Users should perhaps expect a significant system update before it supports Microsoft’s new Universal App Platform (UAP).

Windows Phone is behind partly because Microsoft has a PC-first approach. “Our phone builds have been not as far along as our PC builds. In general our app work is happening first on the PC. We’re adapting the phone experiences later,” said Belfiore.Build 2015 At the Build conference in San Francisco this week, Joe Belfiore – Microsoft's corporate veep for operating systems – talked The Register through the release of Windows 10: when it will arrive, how it will arrive, and why you should use it.

Belfiore was keen to squash dates leaked by hardware manufacturers – AMD's CEO suggested the OS will be out by the end of July, for example.

“We’ve said that Windows 10 will launch in the summer. Some of you have heard our partners working in the ecosystem speculate about a date, but we have not announced a date,” Belfiore said.

It turns out Microsoft has in mind not so much a release date (though there will be a moment when a release-ready build of Windows 10 is made available to PC makers), but rather a wave of launches.

“We are on track for the summer but you should have in mind this notion of Windows as a service,” he said.

“There are devices and features that will come not on the launch date but following it. Our main focus is to kick off with a great launch on the PC. Other devices, phone, HoloLens, Xbox, Surface Hub, will be staggered, probably not on the same date as the PC.

"In some cases, phone updates require us to go through mobile operator testing. The way to think about it is a launch wave that will start in the summer with the PC and then fill out over time as more devices come online."

“That is also true of features," he added. "There are some features that we’ve talked about that won’t be there on launch day. For example, extension support in the Edge browser won’t be there on launch date. The Win32 app support in the Store won’t be there on launch date. Some enterprise features will also come in the Fall.”

Why does Belfiore include Xbox in this list, given that Xbox One is already available? Users should perhaps expect a significant system update before it supports Microsoft’s new Universal App Platform (UAP).

Windows Phone is behind partly because Microsoft has a PC-first approach. “Our phone builds have been not as far along as our PC builds. In general our app work is happening first on the PC. We’re adapting the phone experiences later,” said Belfiore.Build 2015 At the Build conference in San Francisco this week, Joe Belfiore – Microsoft's corporate veep for operating systems – talked The Register through the release of Windows 10: when it will arrive, how it will arrive, and why you should use it.

Belfiore was keen to squash dates leaked by hardware manufacturers – AMD's CEO suggested the OS will be out by the end of July, for example.

“We’ve said that Windows 10 will launch in the summer. Some of you have heard our partners working in the ecosystem speculate about a date, but we have not announced a date,” Belfiore said.

It turns out Microsoft has in mind not so much a release date (though there will be a moment when a release-ready build of Windows 10 is made available to PC makers), but rather a wave of launches.

“We are on track for the summer but you should have in mind this notion of Windows as a service,” he said.

“There are devices and features that will come not on the launch date but following it. Our main focus is to kick off with a great launch on the PC. Other devices, phone, HoloLens, Xbox, Surface Hub, will be staggered, probably not on the same date as the PC.

"In some cases, phone updates require us to go through mobile operator testing. The way to think about it is a launch wave that will start in the summer with the PC and then fill out over time as more devices come online."

“That is also true of features," he added. "There are some features that we’ve talked about that won’t be there on launch day. For example, extension support in the Edge browser won’t be there on launch date. The Win32 app support in the Store won’t be there on launch date. Some enterprise features will also come in the Fall.”

Why does Belfiore include Xbox in this list, given that Xbox One is already available? Users should perhaps expect a significant system update before it supports Microsoft’s new Universal App Platform (UAP).

Windows Phone is behind partly because Microsoft has a PC-first approach. “Our phone builds have been not as far along as our PC builds. In general our app work is happening first on the PC. We’re adapting the phone experiences later,” said Belfiore.Build 2015 At the Build conference in San Francisco this week, Joe Belfiore – Microsoft's corporate veep for operating systems – talked The Register through the release of Windows 10: when it will arrive, how it will arrive, and why you should use it.

Belfiore was keen to squash dates leaked by hardware manufacturers – AMD's CEO suggested the OS will be out by the end of July, for example.

“We’ve said that Windows 10 will launch in the summer. Some of you have heard our partners working in the ecosystem speculate about a date, but we have not announced a date,” Belfiore said.

It turns out Microsoft has in mind not so much a release date (though there will be a moment when a release-ready build of Windows 10 is made available to PC makers), but rather a wave of launches.

“We are on track for the summer but you should have in mind this notion of Windows as a service,” he said.

“There are devices and features that will come not on the launch date but following it. Our main focus is to kick off with a great launch on the PC. Other devices, phone, HoloLens, Xbox, Surface Hub, will be staggered, probably not on the same date as the PC.

"In some cases, phone updates require us to go through mobile operator testing. The way to think about it is a launch wave that will start in the summer with the PC and then fill out over time as more devices come online."

“That is also true of features," he added. "There are some features that we’ve talked about that won’t be there on launch day. For example, extension support in the Edge browser won’t be there on launch date. The Win32 app support in the Store won’t be there on launch date. Some enterprise features will also come in the Fall.”

Why does Belfiore include Xbox in this list, given that Xbox One is already available? Users should perhaps expect a significant system update before it supports Microsoft’s new Universal App Platform (UAP).

Windows Phone is behind partly because Microsoft has a PC-first approach. “Our phone builds have been not as far along as our PC builds. In general our app work is happening first on the PC. We’re adapting the phone experiences later,” said Belfiore.