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Microsoft is open sourcing Windows 11's UI framework

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Re: Microsoft is open sourcing Windows 11's UI framework

#71
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WinUI is an evolution of UWP which is an evolution of WinRT. WinUI has been around for years. MAUI is not exactly a competing product and is more about enabling cross platform UI development. Different intent. WinUI is actually ok tech. It’s evolved over the years through a few iterations, now on WinUI 3. Im mostly with you though. Until they rebuild the entire OS in it, including all of the administrative controls a…

I think only WinUI2 (deprecated) is an evolution of UWP (uses WinRT APIs). WinUI3 is something different.

WinUI 3 still supports WinRT. It ALSO supports more. It's an evolution of WinUI 2, not just a simple version bump, but also not a completely new tech. It's probably a closer evolution to go from WinUI 2 to 3 than it was to go from Angular 1 to 2.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/winui/winui3/...

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/develop/platf...

Re: Microsoft is open sourcing Windows 11's UI framework

#72
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WinRT was windows 8. Remember the ARM-powered Surface RT had the same branding? UWP came along in windows 10.

WinRT was introduced with windows 8, the WinRT APIs still exist in Windows 11.

Yep! I was implying it was the same timeframe as windows 8, but I see where my wording could easily have been taken literally.

Re: Microsoft is open sourcing Windows 11's UI framework

#75
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just go for MFC FTW, it is in feature freeze but I will last probably for the next 20 years yet.

You could also go for wxWidgets as it is kinda MFC-y but better and cross-platform, though like MFC you can combine it with Win32 API code (almost) seamlessly. Or go with Qt, though that doesn't use native controls.

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft is open sourcing Windows 11's UI framework

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Start Menu is apparently a React Native app, so I'm going to hazard a guess and just assume WinUI is built on top of React, and that the Start Menu at least is thus indeed built with WinUI. But it's also clear that some other parts aren't, so who knows what's what. I'm sure there are folks who spent time reverse engineering it all though who do.

The start menu is not a React Native app, but it's actually even worse. Only the recommended section (which is basically recently used files - plus probably advertisements in some scenarios) is. The rest of the start menu is WinUI, to my knowledge.

I cannot stand the latency using a local app. Same with rendering views of local file systems. Frontend reactivity as the expense of responsive performance is the problem with modern user interfaces in my opinion.

Like I’m searching for an installed app. I don’t need news articles about that and never expected a file system ui to be a web portal.

Re: Microsoft is open sourcing Windows 11's UI framework

#78
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly yes. And all the platforms are to blame. Microsoft and their 1000 half-working frameworks made writing a wrapper that was any better than wxWidgets impossible. But also Apple "totally not deprecating" AppKit and pushing everyone to the mess that is SwiftUI, Gnome breaking backwards compatibility as a sport, and Qt messing around with QML, meant "native UI" became quicksand. Even going HTML, CSS and JavaScript w…

The most important thing the web standards get right is their insistence on never ever breaking backwards compatibility. HTML, CSS, and JS accumulate a lot of cruft, but they do move forward into the future without leaving anyone behind.

Flash was a web standard, albeit a closed one. Good luck opening a site with it today.

The web has continually added and removed features. It is absolutely not perfectly backward compatible. It’s not even close.

Re: Microsoft is open sourcing Windows 11's UI framework

#79
post #55

> Alignment with Microsoft Goals > We are being thoughtful about resourcing. This effort is happening alongside other critical responsibilities like security, platform stability, and support for existing products. Our current focus is on foundational work that unlocks value for contributors and increase transparency. We are aligning this work with Microsoft’s broader business priorities to ensure long-term support an…

> hoping passionate losers will contribute.

Offloading the work to their victims. Maybe they will even make it usable again.

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