Microsoft confirms "the Astoria bridge is not ready yet"

We have heard many rumours, but now Microsoft has confirmed in an official statement that they not ready yet to offer the Astoria Bridge to Windows 10 Mobile developers.

Speaking to Re/code a spokesman said:

“The Astoria bridge is not ready yet, but other tools offer great options for developers,” adding that the tools for Web and iOS developers are ready, with another option coming soon to allow older Windows programs to run on phones and tablets. Microsoft said. “We’re committed to offering developers many options to bring their apps to the Windows Platform.”

While some have claimed this move will have little impact on Windows 10 Mobile users it would in fact remove a major feature which would have kept power users on the platform, as with some help of developers they would likely have had access to much of the wide universe of Android applications with or without the cooperation of the original developer. The excitement around this feature has been palpable amongst our readers on this site during the summer, though the feature was not welcomed by all, particular Windows Phone developers who foresaw an invasion of poor quality poorly ported spam Android apps to the Windows Store pushing out native developers.

As it is now the solutions offered either require significant work recompiling and often recoding iOS apps, or repackaging websites as web apps. Of the two we have already seen much more of the later than the former.

I do not find it credible that concerns by Microsoft about piracy would have caused this issue, and it appears much more likely that Microsoft has not achieved its performance and compatibility targets by ship date. Encouragingly Microsoft did say “not ready yet“, suggesting we may still see these very important tools at a later date.

Will the absence of access to Android apps on Windows 10 Mobile cause our readers to reconsider their upgrade plans? Let us know below.

[source link=”http://recode.net/2015/11/15/microsoft-fails-to-deliver-tool-for-bringing-android-apps-to-windows/”]Re/code[/source]