Bring your Windows desktop applications to the Windows Store with the Desktop App Converter

Screenshot of the Desktop App Converter in the Windows Store, 15 September 2016. Graphic: Microsoft

At long last. Now you can convert your Windows desktop applications (Win32, WPF, etc.) to install as proper Windows Store apps and participate as first-class citizens in the Store ecosystem. Once converted, you can update your applications to use UWP features, like speech recognition, Live Tiles, and Hello. Also, you can leverage your existing desktop installer technologies, too: InstallShield, WiX, and Advanced Installer have added support for Desktop Bridge.

Kevin Gallo, CVP of Windows Developer, posts:

A few months ago, during Build 2016, we announced the Desktop Bridge, enabling developers to bring their existing desktop apps and games over to the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) by converting their app or game with the Desktop App Converter and then enhancing and extending it with UWP functionality.

Today we’re pleased to announce that new apps including Evernote, Arduino IDE, doubleTwist, PhotoScape, MAGIX Movie Edit Pro, Virtual Robotics Kit, Relab, SQL Pro, Voya Media, Predicted Desire, and korAccount will become available in the Windows Store within the next few days for Windows 10 customers running the Anniversary Update.

Install from the Store: Desktop App Converter. See the Desktop App Converter documentation for details on upgrading your applications.

Now the Windows Store is available to all Windows devs – and don’t forget that these apps run on Xbox too!

Technorati Tags: Windows Store,WPF,XAML,Win32