Could all your Windows 8 apps soon work on your Windows Phone 8 mobile, and vice versa? They could well do, if a job advert from Microsoft is anything to go by.
The ad sees Microsoft recruiting a software development engineer to help make it easier to develop across both platforms, WMPowerUser reports. The ad has since been taken down, but look at this, here's a Google cache of it. There's no beating the Internet, Microsoft, you must know that by now.
"Do you wish the code you write for Windows Store apps would just work on the Windows Phone and vice versa?" the advert reads. The person hired will "help our team bring together the Windows Store and Phone development platforms" and "solve the technical challenges of bringing a platform built for desktops and tablets to the phone form factor."
Sounds to me like a unified app store could be on the way.
Given that desktops and mobiles have vastly different screen sizes and resolutions, not to mention capabilities, it'll be quite a challenge producing apps that work across the two platforms. Though many of Windows 8 apps already work seamlessly across desktops and tablets, so this could just be an extension of that.
So far, Windows 8 hasn't set the world alight. One study says it has just 2 per cent market share, compared to Windows 7's 44.48 per cent. Microsoft says it's sold 60 million copies of the OS, which sounds impressive, though an unofficial report claims sales are well below Microsoft's internal projections.
A couple of Microsoft's partners aren't too chuffed either. Acer claims the Redmond-based company doesn't stand a chance against Apple, while Fujitsu blames a slump in PC sales on the "weak" OS.
Microsoft recently bumped up the price of Windows 8 Pro to £190.
What do you think of Windows 8? Would you like apps to work across your desktop and mobile? Let me know in the comments, or on Facebook.
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anonymous 10 February, 2013 17:14
Wouldn't it be a unified Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 site? Windows Phone 7 apps are not compatible and Windows PC's run on Intel processers requiring recompilation. The Metro interface is actually really good at scaling, it is the Windows desktop applications that don't scale well. If the manufacturer created two XAML interfaces, plus two sets of graphics and built one single app, they could definitely make it work. Another issue would be a common API, with functions which apply on one device, but not the other simulated, or just do nothing, or something more relevant.
Damien2701 10 February, 2013 23:32
Windows phone 8 needs more apps. This might help, i just wish microsoft had more sense when it comes to making an OS then leaving customers like RT and WP7. Treat em mean keep em keen
anonymous 11 February, 2013 14:51
Actually Windows Store apps run on both Windows 8 and Windows RT - any app submitted to the store is automatically compiled to be compatible with both Arm and X86 architecture. So if the story is accurate they would run on all Win 8 desktops/notebooks too.
Most WP7 apps run on WP8 too...a few don't or at least need a little tweaking and WP7 cannot support the increased functionality of WP8 so an app written for WP8 may not function fully or at all on WP7 if it embraces functionality only available on WP8.