You've misunderstood. Win32 isn't 32-bit architecture. Win32 is the non UWP windows API.

Photoshop, Visual Studio, Chrome.. you name it. Pretty much ALL executables fall into this category. Unless it's a UWP app.

Almost all modern games will fall into this category.

EDIT: To further explain, You still use Win32 for 64-bit processes. It's just a stupid name.

Opps. Yah I messed up the naming, I meant exes, but just started typing 64 vs 32 which really is only a memory thing, if you simplify it.

Converting a Win32 exe using UWP Desktop Bridge is stupid easy though. Older exe with a lot of legacy dependencies may be more difficult or lack of source code. In which case they need a virtualization to run those legacy app.

So even though all games/apps fall into this category most companies could have a UWP build ready very quickly.

You do not understand how said "bridge" works...

It just wraps the app, but underneath still calls those same win32 APIs. If you remove the APIs, "bridged" apps won't work. Hence why TFA mentions that not all win32 API can be removed and it isn't clear which will be.

So "bridging" your win32 app will not somehow make it immune to win32 api going away.

Well, the name made fine sense when it was introduced... Maybe it serves as a good warning to not include such things as dates and hardware versions in names at all.

Most DOS games were broken long ago just from clock speed changes. Many of them relied on things like spin loops for timing. Any person playing DOS games now is using DOSBox.

Thing is, in order to make this kind of cut over, you have to offer something in the new thing that the old thing doesn't have. In order for this to happen, Polaris will probably have to be much faster or MS will have to intentionally cripple regular Windows 10, if only by not supporting it with the same updates.

Polaris could also introduce new APIs (DX13, HoloLens 2.0, etc.) that will only work in the UWP layer and be inaccessible from Win32.

The more likely scenario is that nobody will end up using those APIs, especially if there are alternatives like Vulkan that work on older Windows versions.

I remember when everyone was supposed to go GNU/Linux because DX 10 was Vista only while OpenGL was everywhere, so yeah, right.

That would kill HoloLens and DX13.

Not if Microsoft buys Valve!

What are the stats on even DX12 penetration?

I still encounter a fair numver of new games that are built on DX9, not even DX11.

Exactly this. If one hand taketh away...the other better give something equally awesome.

Brb gonna go play more overwatch.

"...enterprises and DOSGaming." The only two legitimate uses for computers. Only slightly kidding.