Microsoft seems to be pushing developers away from UWP Windows apps

Microsoft recently updated guides for developers regarding Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. The company is now showing developers how they can migrate their UWP apps to the newer Windows App SDK, hinting at a shift away from the traditional Windows-first app types that have been around in the Microsoft Store in Windows since as late as 2015. With the new documentation, Microsoft makes it clear why developers might want to use the Windows App SDK over the UWP. There are several benefits including improved compatibility, faster updates, and new elements of design, as well as an ease of consumption coming with the Windows UI 3 and WebView2 libraries. It also complements existing platforms with a common set of APIs and tools. Essentially, the guide is necessary because of coding changes, and the fact that UWP won’t be getting any of these new features. In fact, Windows developer Rafael Rivera mentioned that this could mean that UWP developer tools will only be getting bug, reliability, and other security fixes going forward. To be clear, this doesn’t mean that Microsoft is forcing developers to move away from the UWP. Rather, it seems to be a slow fading away. The FAQs in the documentation mention that if a developer is happy with the UWP, there’s no need to migrate the project type, as the “underlying WinUI 2.x code and the Windows SDK will continue to support UWP project types.” This move makes sense for Microsoft. Windows 11 supports three kinds of apps, including UWP apps, Progressive Web Apps, and Win32 desktop apps. The Windows App SDK helps in porting old apps to these new standards.  There’s also the fact that apps designed for HoloLens headsets, as well as Xbox consoles, are still based on the UWP format. So, UWP could still be around for legacy reasons. Similar to what Apple did in the transition to Apple silicon, this new documentation is about supporting developers and pushing them to the latest and greatest offered by Microsoft. The switch in code also isn’t something that average people might notice, as apps should still feel and look the same regardless. This is more of a developer change. There is always going to be a big divide between macOS and Windows. Much of it has to do with the functional disparities that are deeply ingrained at an OS-level. Or if you dive into the heated community debates, you will see it broadly as a battle between seamlessness and flexibility.  Gaming remains the guiding star for Windows adherents. A handful of highly specialized niche industry tools also remain locked to the Microsoft platform. On the other hand, macOS fans swear by the fluid software, plenty of firepower options in the M-series silicon era, and fantastic hardware.  As AI strides on, it inevitably finds its way onto our personal devices, with tech giants announcing new features that rely on accessing our private information and media to serve us better. While some might find this useful, others are bound to find it creepy, and one such feature is Microsoft’s controversial AI Recall, which takes screenshots of everything you do on a Copilot+ PC so it’s easier to trace back your steps and find something specific later. After being announced last year, and then witnessing a few delays, Recall is finally rolling out to a broader group of Windows 11. Microsoft recently announced Recall is coming to Windows 11 with the latest Release channel update with build 26100.3902 (KB5055627). The feature’s availability in the Windows 11 Release Preview channel, which succeeds the Beta channel in the Windows Insider program, means it is in the initial phases of being available to a wider audience of folks who own Copilot+ PC. This category of PCs currently includes a whole wide range of laptops with specialized hardware in the form of a neural processing unit (NPU) dedicatedly for running AI tasks, though we might see desktops joining the club soon. Windows 11 and 10 users have reported a mysterious ‘inetpub’ folder after installing Microsoft’s April 2025 updates, as Bleeping Computer reports. Although the folder is typically associated with the Internet Information Services (IIS) web server, it’s now appearing on systems without it installed. Microsoft has confirmed that the behavior is intentional but has not fully explained why. The unexpected folder is empty, and you can find it in the root of the C: drive even if you don’t have IIS installed. If you had IIS installed (web server platform by Microsoft), it would use the inetpub folder to save logs, website content, and server-related files. So, it’s weird you have one without the other after installing Windows 11 KB5055523 update or Windows 10 KB5055518. The SYSTEM account owns the new inetpub folder, meaning an elevated process made it.