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Microsoft Garage has been busy lately, releasing apps for discovering your dog’s breed, waking up in a whole new way, reading the news, or managing your contacts. The side-project studio at Microsoft regularly releases apps built by those employees, offering workers a chance to try something new, and Microsoft to gain some traction for fun and forward thinking apps.
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The problem is, or at least as far as well known independent developer and “*true* Windows Phone addict” Rudy Huyn sees it, is that many or most of these apps have been released for iOS or Android, leaving Windows phone users wanting. Huyn took to Twitter to voice his displeasure:
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Msft garage should have a strong rule: Ship first on W10, if you target iOS, use Islandwood, if you target android: search a other Win dev
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— Rudy Huyn (@RudyHuyn) February 11, 2016
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In a rather lengthy comment stream (click through the embedded tweet to read) in reaction to the post, Huyn notes that Microsoft Garage apps are owned by Microsoft, and so even though the employees are working “on their own time”, they still should be subjected to Microsoft’s rules.
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Microsoft has been increasingly platform agnostic when it comes to apps, working to get Microsoft products where the users are, instead of shoring up Windows’ mobile efforts at all costs. Still, Hun has a point, the Microsoft Garage projects could and probably should be a showcase for developing cross platform apps for Windows 10 using Islandwood (for iOS apps), or just doing the extra work necessary to port to or from Android.
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Should Microsoft do more to promote its own apps on its own platform, or is getting apps in front of the most eyeballs possible more important?
\n\nFurther reading: Apps, Microsoft Garage, Rudy Huyn, Windows 10