We’ve seen another, this time much clearer, indication that Windows 10X will support Win32 apps – meaning normal Windows 10 apps – so in other words, the OS won’t be limited to just running certain applications (like only apps from the Microsoft Store, for example).
This comes courtesy of a Microsoft job listing on LinkedIn, as spotted by Windows Latest. The job in question is a principal software engineering lead with the Containers team within the Azure Core OS Kernel team.
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At one point, it mentions: “These technologies form the basis for Store-delivered Win32 applications, Windows Server Containers, Windows Defender Application Guard, Windows Sandbox, and Win32 application support for Windows 10X on dual-screen devices like Surface Neo.”
So there it is – right at the end, we have a crystal clear and specific mention that Win32 application support will be provided for Windows 10X via containers.
Happy coexistence
A previous leak hinted that Windows 10X would offer the ‘coexistence’ of both PWA (Progressive Web App) and Win32 versions of Microsoft Office, so this certainly seems to back that up.
Although of course we should remember that this is far from official confirmation from Microsoft that Windows 10X will indeed come with support for full-fat Windows 10 desktop applications.
There’s always the possibility that someone has got something wrong in writing the job listing, or that particular bit of text is copied and pasted from a now outdated document pertaining to the OS – who knows. The point is that we shouldn’t take it for granted until we hear from Microsoft itself.
However, it certainly seems that the plan is for Windows 10X to support Win32 apps as well as UWP applications. And indeed this makes sense given that we’ve also heard a rumor (citing leaked Microsoft documentation) that Windows 10X isn’t exclusively for dual-screen devices, and will come to traditional laptop form factors in the future.
