Microsoft Corp. is reaching out to software
developers who have ignored Windows in a sign that the company is pulling out
all the stops to keep its flagship product relevant. At an event for developers
in San Francisco, Microsoft executive Terry Myerson said Wednesday
that the company would make it easy for developers to modify their Android and
Apple mobile apps to run on Windows smartphones, PCs, tablets or Xbox consoles.
Adapting those apps for Windows would be relatively simple and fast.
The move represents a watershed moment for Microsoft. The
company’s embrace of coders who shunned Windows in favor of Android and Apple Inc. systems
would have been heretical at the company in prior years. It is among the
clearest indications yet that Microsoft is willing to take drastic steps to
adjust to an increasingly mobile, multiplatform world.
The focus on Windows 10 highlights a contradiction in
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s strategy: He has pledged that Microsoft
no longer would put Windows first, yet he is relying on Windows 10 to get
people hooked on Microsoft for life. The impact of this bet on the company’s
finances and strategic prospects are uncertain.
By accommodating Android and Apple’s iOS, the dominant
mobile operating systems, Microsoft risks letting developers continue to treat
Windows as an afterthought, particularly on smartphones, where the company
has scant market share. Mr. Myerson said in a recent interview that he believes
the benefits far outweigh the potential harm to Microsoft.
Mr. Myerson described the technology to adapt Android and
iOS apps to Windows as “on-ramps” or “bridges” to Microsoft. He said the new
version of Windows, expected to arrive this summer, would prove compelling
enough that developers would tailor their software to take advantage of
Windows-specific features, such as the Cortana digital assistant.
A broad and deep selection of apps, including the most
popular titles, is crucial to convincing consumers to buy Windows devices,
particularly smartphones where Windows versions of apps like Snapchat and Uber
are either unavailable or inferior to their Android or iOS counterparts. It
isn’t clear, however, how many developers will tweak their apps to run on
Windows, or whether software built for other systems can be adapted seamlessly
to Windows.
Microsoft’s pitch to developers strengthens Windows 10’s
role as a central plank in the company’s effort to become the computing heart
of people’s personal and professional lives, a position it hasn't occupied for
years. Windows 10 will be the common software guts of PCs as well as every
conceivable computing device from tiny sensors to wall-size video monitors.
Today, the roughly 1.5 billion Windows users are scattered
across editions that may be over a decade old. The nearly five-year-old Windows
7 powers half of desktop computers, and Windows XP, which came out 13 years
ago, powers another 17%, according to research firm NetApplications.
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