While re-inventing itself is obviously a top agenda for Microsoft, it looks like the Redmond giant seriously needs to figure out its naming conventions. We already had that Windows 9 10 confusion, and now, its Microsoft’s apps platform which has just been renamed. Universal Apps are now Windows Apps.
In a session at Microsoft’s WinHEC developer event, eminent engineer at Microsoft Don Box revealed the company’s new naming for universal applications that run across PCs, phones, tablets, and the Xbox One. Box said,
Sometimes we say universal apps, but we call them Windows apps. Windows apps runs on all devices, Windows desktop app is PC only. Windows apps run everywhere.
While this will be a welcome move as it would help users do away with the confusion, it may still cause a bit of uncertainty to certain existing developers.
We all remember the virtual chaos which “Metro apps” (though that was never the official name) brought in along with them. While Metro was merely Microsoft’s design philosophy, the company itself failed to clear the air when it dropped the name “Metro” altogether after copyright issues.
Nevertheless, Windows Apps sounds better and more simplified as compared to “Universal Apps” or “Metro Apps” for that matter.
