Desktop Bridge now has 1,000 apps, 6,999,000 to go

When Microsoft gave up on the UWP dream the Desktop Bridge sprung into prominence as the way to bring the advantages of a managed app store to Windows 10 without developers having to re-code their apps.

Released to developers in September 2016, at a Build 2017 session today Microsoft announced that the tool has so far brought 1000 Win32 apps to the store.

This is of course only a tiny fraction of the estimated 7 million Win32 apps in existence, but Microsoft says 2/3 of those apps can be converted to Store apps without any changes at all, especially if they do not require elevated permissions.

Microsoft is hoping developers will embrace the service in sufficient numbers to support their new operating system, Windows 10 S, promising users that apps managed by the store will mean their PCs will never slow down, start up rapidly and offer great security and battery life.