Re:Microsoft Makes It Easier to Bring Android and iOS Apps t...
by cwyers on Wednesday April 29, 2015 @03:03PM
(#9460856)
Apps get full access to Windows APIs. They don't get full access to Google Play APIs.
Re:Microsoft Makes It Easier to Bring Android and iOS Apps t...
by magicalist on Wednesday April 29, 2015 @07:38PM
(#9462547)
Except they are building the Play Services APIs on top of the Windows APIs.
> When we spoke to Microsoft about Astoria, the company would not tell us what proportion of the AOSP and GMS APIs would be supported, but it did confirm that it wouldn't be 100 percent; there will be APIs that Astoria does not provide, and accordingly, APKs that use those APIs will not run.
> On the flip side, Astoria will offer some integration points with Windows so that Android devs can, with minor alterations, support features like Cortana in their apps.
Also, it appears that it is indeed about allowing compiled binaries to run unmodified.
> Specifically, Windows Mobile (and yes, that's now officially the name for Windows on phones and sub-8 inch tablets) will include an Android runtime layer that'll let them run existing Android apps (both Java and C++) unmodified.... Astoria will in principle work with any old APK, without requiring the developer to do anything but publish the app in the store—as long as the APK sticks to the APIs that Astoria will provide.
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/04/29/mic...