Windows 10X promises to be a whole new beginning for Microsoft, building on all the wins and mistakes of the past decade. And thankfully, Win32 apps will be first class citizens in this upcoming OS.
Redmond understands that this type of software, these traditional desktop programs as we call them, are essential for many users.
For most users.
And this is why, when the company first announced Windows 10X, it made it clear that the operating system would run applications built for the Win32 platform in a container. Now, thanks to a leaked video we have an explanation of how containerized apps will work.
Microsoft plans to use a container similar to the Windows Subsystem for Linux, and every Win32 app will run on it. That is to say, almost every such application will be supported by the container, and most developers will not need to update their software.
A nightmare scenario that would have been!
The only thing is that these applications will not be able to make changes to system files or the registry, so some programs will have issue with that. What this means is that drivers could not manually installed through executable files.
The big takeaway is that Win32 apps will be easy to use on the new OS, though the software titan has removed a few things — the system tray, for example.
But on the whole, it looks like things are shaping up rather nicely on this front.
Not only does running classic software in this fashion would solve a lot of security and stability problems, it would also mean that people buying new Windows 10X hardware will have that peace of mind that their favorite applications are all supported.
Now, all we need are some performance numbers to really see how things run.
Soon.
