This might be an exciting news to some but definitely not to everyone but if you don’t mind, Microsoft is reportedly working on incorporating Android applications to Windows 10 operating system. And if you’re very aware, Windows 10 is the biggest and most popular operating system used in PC around the world and Android on the other hand is the largest smartphone operating system which mean this kind of collaboration is a good news.
While this wouldn’t be the first time that Microsoft will be attempting such, the first trial was way back in the year 2015 when it was codenamed Project Astoria. Back then, Android apps were supported on Windows 10 Mobile but just three years later by 2018, the project was canceled.
But this time around, we hope it become successful as the project is codenamed “Project Latte” and it’s meant to incorporate the Android apps to the Windows 10 platform as early as 2021.
The report was published by Windows Central which stated that the new project will most likely be powered by Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). With this, software developers will be able to make applications that works on Windows easily without really changing their original code base or worst making just a little tweak instead of building a full-blown software targeted essentially towards the Windows 10 platform.
The apps will be packaged as MSIX, Windows app package format before they are submitted to the Microsoft Store. The success of this project will change the Windows app store as it will be loaded in no time with applications from the Android platform as well making the store better than ever.
One thing that might give users a bit of a concern is how applications would look on a Windows 10 PC considering the difference in orientation between an Android smartphone and a computer. But one theory I have is that since developers are generally encouraged to make different orientations of their application so that when an Android device’s orientation changes, it can adapt to the new user interface’s dimension, the same might just be applicable with the Windows 10 PC.
And do not forget that majority of Android devices have a high resolution display usually 1080P as the minimum so that will come into play with the Windows PC apps with an Android codebase. The application basically get to adapt itself to the larger display.
Other noteworthy mentions includes the fact that the Project Latte may not support the Google Play Service because Google doesn’t allow the Play Services to be installed on devices which aren’t powered by the Android OS or Chrome OS so that might just mean that developers get to use the Windows App store? Who knows!
If Microsoft succeeds with Project Latte, it will make Windows a platform with support for several types of app packages including PWA, UWP, Win32, and Linux. It should also make devices powered by Windows 10 on Arm more alluring to consumers.
The announcement about the project is expected to be announced by the fall of 2021 and could be released as part of the Windows 10 2021 update. This is definitely one of the incorporation companies are making which will in turn save users ton of time and help developers maintain a single codebase for their software products.
