Evidence Microsoft may be working to port the UWP runtime to Android

We have said repeatedly that there is no UWP developer story without porting UWP to Android. Till now there has been limited indication that Microsoft is working on this.

Now however a Github repository has popped up suggesting Microsoft may be looking at porting the WinRT to Java, the API also used by Android.

The now-deleted repository at github.com/microsoft/JavaWinRT did not contain much and was noticed by WalkingCat a few days ago.

https://twitter.com/h0x0d/status/1179927458012753925

Interestingly Microsoft has also created a Core Java Team at Microsoft.

Happy to share that, right after @s1p next week, I'll be moving on to work as a Product/Program Manager, together with engineers in the newly formed Core #Java team at #Microsoft led by @karianna.

Exciting times ahead!

Thank you for all the support @toddanglin @chanezon #DevRel

— Bruno Borges (@brunoborges) October 4, 2019

The team’s mission appears to be mainly server-based, to optimize Java runtimes and tools for Azure services, but the team also has other “internal customers.” Bruno denied that his team created the JavaWinRT repository, but found the project interesting.

Update: According to Windows developer Rafael Rivera the JavaWinRT projection would allow Java developers (presumably on Windows) to access UWP APIs.

https://twitter.com/WithinRafael/status/1181286143456792577

UWP had a measure of success during the days of Windows Phone, and with nearly 1 billion Windows 10 machines should, in theory, be an active developer platform.  Developer focus, however, remains on mobile, and without a mobile story, which would dramatically expand the addressable market for UWP developers, the platform will always remain part of the walking dead.

Via WindowsUnited