Microsoft Developing Unified UI Framework On OneCore To Enable Apps That Works Well Across Phones, Tablets, PCs, And The Xbox

Microsoft vision of one Windows for all devices started few years back. First, they started their work on unifying the core of the OS and it became evident from the release of Windows Phone 8. Windows Phone 8 is based on the same NT core on which Windows 8 is built. It enabled OEMs to write one driver for both their phones and other devices running Windows. With the release of Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft enabled Universal apps that shares most of the underlying APIs in all the devices. With the upcoming Windows9/Threshold  release, Microsoft is looking to further unify the development process. They are building a new UI framework at the core of the “One Microsoft” OS. This will enable developers to create UI that works well across all of our devices: phones, tablets, PCs, and the Xbox.

A recent job posting revealed that Microsoft is expanding the capabilities of our platform to increase developer productivity – getting more apps to market, faster and dramatically enhancing the performance of our framework to enable the creation of complex and fluid UI. Internally, Microsoft is referring this common core across all these devices as OneCore.

As far as user facing features are concerned, Windows 9/Threshold will include thefollowing new features.

• Windows Threshold Desktop will have modern and more flat design than current Windows 7/Windows 8 design.
• Icons in the task bar are interactive, described as ‘mini Live Tiles’ by their source. Microsoft is toying with glance-and-go style functionality for the taskbar too. Read about it more here.
• Cortana is coming to Windows 9/Threshold. It can be accessed from the Taskbar.
• Modern apps will run inside classic Windows like how ModrenMix works.

Source: Microsoft via: @h0X0d