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Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

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Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#101

Post by 13of40 »

PreInternet01 wrote: post #18

So, this is the second time a "run your Android apps on Windows" initiative fizzles out: before WSA (which was Amazon-centric), there was a late-2020 "Your Phone" feature that (briefly) allowed Samsung apps on Windows desktops. Not sure if this means anything other than "phone apps run best on, well, a phone", especially since I can't think of anything from my phone that I would truly like on my desktop, other than i…

I was using the Google Photos map search via BlueStacks on my Windows machine briefly, but that's only because Google made the perplexing decision to not put that on desktop.

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#102

Post by shp0ngle »

sonicanatidae wrote: post #68
basch wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't tried it, but allegedly Outlook for Android runs better on Windows than the new Outlook for Windows. Which makes some sense, as one is a native app and one is a web app. https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/i-ac...

Outlook is hot garbage and has been for a lot time. Every single version.

Bad take. The old native Outlook is actually great. The web version is fine.

The new Electron monster is horrible and looks like a toy.

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#103

Post by FiniteLooper »

calibas wrote: post #91

There needs to be more of a consequence for large companies who create platforms like this, then get a bunch of developers & users dependent on it, and then pull out the rug. And not necessarily government regulations. Maybe a contract that guarantees operation for X number of years should become the standard, or even better, an explicit agreement to open-source discontinued products so the community can continue run…

Ah yes, remember Silverlight?

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#104

Post by w3ll_w3ll_w3ll »

jamal-kumar wrote: post #65
TeMPOraL wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New Outlook still doesn't handle S/MIME. That means it's between annoying to useless in large companies, depending on the volume of such e-mails you're getting.

What email client is popular in large enterprises then? Last time I worked in a company like that it was all microsoft software, including outlook, by policy

Old Outlook

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#105

Post by creshal »

mook wrote: post #88
pjmlp wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're counting that, than this is the 3rd time. The first one was Project Astoria, whose ashes gave birth to WSL.

That would have been WSL1, right? As in, the thing that tried to implement Linux syscall interfaces on top of the Windows kernel? The current thing (WSL2) is "just" a VM (with lots of work to make it work nicer)…

> As in, the thing that tried to implement Linux syscall interfaces on top of the Windows kernel?

It's really funny, NT was supposed to be great at three things:

- be easily ported to different hardware architectures, which then never actually became relevant (and nowadays macOS is the best example for actual architecture migrations!)

- have a much more sophisticated and elaborate security model than those filthy unices (and now we're getting sudo on Windows, because 30 years later, it's still too complicated for anyone to use as intended)

- allow fluid switching between different userlands, be it win32, OS/2 (RIP), Unix (RIP), and anything else you could want in the future! (except no, you're getting VMs now)

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#106

Post by Postosuchus »

pjmlp wrote: post #59
Postosuchus wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't make much sense. Building an ecosystem is far, far more difficult than throwing together a small embedded OS. Just ask Samsung and LG (and Google for that matter). Maybe Amazon has enough clout to force all streaming app developers (and game developers, which is the new frontier, and ad platforms) to suck it down and build support for the new platform but I doubt it - plus the ROI is just not there. Why destr…

The rumors are there, because apparently Amazon wants it to be a kind of media center only, and prime products, nothing else. I can understand them, my LG with WebOS is good enough for similar purposes.

> wants it to be a kind of media center only

Again, to accomplish this goal, one has to:

- Build a credible software stack - from UI kits to audio and video codecs

- Convince the streaming companies to build one more flavor of their apps (in addition to Android/FTV, AppleTV, Roku, and a bunch of SmartTV platforms)

- Build ad stack and also convince major ad platforms to build their respective ad SDKs for the new platform (believe me, even for established platforms this takes years)

And all of this - to accomplish precisely what??? To wean away from Android? Why? There are no licensing issues, Amazon has grown a tremendous expertise in Android, which underlies most of its devices. Why throw all of this away???

Unlike Amazon, Samsung is much more tethered to Google, because they cannot afford to diverge in Android experience for the phones. They tried to cut this Gordian Knot by building Tizen and they learned their lesson the hard way. But at least for them there was a strategic benefit of moving away from Android. There is no such benefit for Amazon.

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#107

Post by creshal »

theusus wrote: post #4

I feel like this was released just yesterday and now they are ending the support. Why?

I get a feeling whatever deal they had with Amazon over their app store fell through. Nothing else I can think of really makes sense to end support so suddenly.

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#108

Post by skissane »

PreInternet01 wrote: post #18

So, this is the second time a "run your Android apps on Windows" initiative fizzles out: before WSA (which was Amazon-centric), there was a late-2020 "Your Phone" feature that (briefly) allowed Samsung apps on Windows desktops. Not sure if this means anything other than "phone apps run best on, well, a phone", especially since I can't think of anything from my phone that I would truly like on my desktop, other than i…

> Not sure if this means anything other than "phone apps run best on, well, a phone", especially since I can't think of anything from my phone that I would truly like on my desktop, other than instant messages, which are already available in various ways?

Sometimes I go to this coworking space. They have an iOS/Android app you need to use to book a desk, message the admins, unlock the front door, pay, etc. No web app. Forces me to get my phone out when I’d rather just stay on my laptop. If I could run their app on my laptop (haven’t looked into it yet), I’d like that

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#109

Post by quattrofan »

sonicanatidae wrote: post #68
basch wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't tried it, but allegedly Outlook for Android runs better on Windows than the new Outlook for Windows. Which makes some sense, as one is a native app and one is a web app. https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/i-ac...

Outlook is hot garbage and has been for a lot time. Every single version.

[dead]

Re: Microsoft is ending support for the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA)

#110

Post by bitwize »

chasil wrote: post #100
mdaniel wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trick to that is similar to the Intel/Apple split: just having the OS doesn't help if the apps are for a different architecture. (I'm aware of qemu/Rosetta/etc but that's not something that Android has ever tried to solve (AFAIK) - rather, they declare any native library packages at the .apk level and one is expected to pick the right installer for the right architecture)

I think that Android-x86 has an ARM emulator. Doesn't Dalvik/ART compile Java Bytecode down to a native layer anyway, so this wouldn't matter?

It does matter because lots of Android apps (esp. games) have native-code bits in them that are linked in with JNI.
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