[tasdev]

The comments on this post really make me wonder how many people have actually written a UWP app or tried using the API?

I have experience across a heap of stacks... Cocoa, Cocoa Touch, Android, Win32/WinForms/WPF, Web, Xamarin Forms etc... I love UWP. It was pretty ordinary in the first few releases but it has matured well, has great documentation and the UI framework is developed in the open on GitHub.

I am by no means suggesting you could write something like Autocad or Photoshop in UWP; perhaps you could with a rethink of the UI. But UWP is an excellent choice for probably 70-90% of desktop applications, including enterprise LOB that are just forms over data or integrating with an online service of some kind.

If you're drawing your own conclusions based on what you read from others writing (who are likely doing the same) - actually try the framework, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Finally, I think Thurrott has lost the plot. He has been waging this war against UWP for many years now - to the point of a crusade - I just ignore any statement he makes on this.

[userbinator]

actually try the framework, you might be pleasantly surprised

Enough people have used UWP apps and been repulsed enough by the experience to not want to inflict the same upon the users of apps they themselves write.

But UWP is an excellent choice for probably 70-90% of desktop applications

No. It's a massive failure even for something as simple as the Windows calculator, which is one of the apps that MS rewrote so you can actually compare the Win32 and UWP versions.

[Paraesthetic]

I concur, It has been a very easy and fast platform for me, and it seems like not a lot of developers have caught on to the fact that UWP is great for the end consumer, its snappy and can be updated without having to load the application or an update application first. But hey, developers don't like it so I guess thats forced Microsoft's hand.

[crispinb]

> UWP is great for the end consumer

It it? I've never developed windows GUI apps, so can't comment on a technical level. But from a consumer perspective all the UWP apps I've tried, including those shipped by Microsoft with Windows 10, are awful. I think Windows 10 Mail could be the worst GUI application ever written. I used Windows 10 for most of the last year, and it got to the point where the Windows Store became my primary filter for apps - ie. if an app was available there, I'd cross it off my list of candidates.

[jackbrookes]

> I think Windows 10 Mail could be the worst GUI application ever written

What makes you say this? I'm a heavy desktop user and find Windows 10 Mail to be the fastest and simplest way to interact with mail. It works perfectly with attachments, and calendar invitations, etc

[crispinb]

It's a year or so since I used it, so I don't remember all the details. But off the top of my head: crashy, terrible IMAP implementation, mails often stuck in outbox, very incomplete keyboard shortcuts, links opened in Edge rather than default browser. I'm sure there was as lot more, but anyway I found it unusable.

[donmcronald]

I wouldn’t be pleased if I had to use a LOB app without sub-pixel anti-aliasing.