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from the cats-and-dogs-living-together dept.
Microsoft is making it possible to run Android apps in Windows 10:
Microsoft has made great progress with its Your Phone, gradually adding more and more capabilities so you can text, answer calls and browse photos stored on your phone from the comfort of your computer. But now things are about to get really interesting.
The company is increasing what it dubs the "seamless connection between PC and phone", adding the ability to run Android apps in Windows 10 via the Your Phone app. There is, of course, a bit of a catch.
The new capability is something that huge numbers of Android handset owners would excitedly embrace, and it comes about because of Microsoft's partnership with Samsung. The ability to run mobile apps within Windows 10 without the need for an emulator or complicated software is something of a dream for many people, but there is a danger that it is a luxury that might only be afforded to Samsung customers.
[...] The fact that this new integration was born from the relationship between Microsoft and Samsung means that it is hardly surprisingly to see it debut on the Galaxy Note 20. But it is, at this stage, impossible to tell whether such PC/phone integration will remain exclusive to "select Samsung devices" or if other companies -- and therefore more users -- will be able to take advantage of it.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Thursday August 06 2020, @12:24PM (4 children)
The only reason I can think of that anyone would actually need to use this is some functionality that was only made available through a lobotomized cell phone "app". Anyone who make something only available on a cell phone needs to folded, spindled, mutilated, beaten to a pulp and their bodies thrown on the same pile as those who made web sites that only worked in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.
Besides, Microsoft already tried to turn Windows in to a dumbed down oversize cell phone in Windows 8. Where did that get them?
Texting? Texting is for teenage girls. Professionals use e-mail, which is not locked in to some stupid phone service.
Fine by me. They can keep their so-called luxury. They can store it right next to their copies of Microsoft BOB.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 06 2020, @01:16PM
Probably games.
There's a lot of mobile-exclusive stuff, and M$ needs to maintain Windus-Dindus as the one-stop platform for gaming.
(Score: 1) by petecox on Thursday August 06 2020, @01:44PM (2 children)
Have you been living under a rock these last few years, friend? :)
Various popular online services from social media to ride sharing to meal delivery to navigation adopt a mobile focus with a feature-lacking webpage as an afterthought. It is what it is.
2 Android apps I use on a regular basis, which are better on a 22" than a 5" screen: video streaming and sport. The first has a crappy website. The second isn't available through a browser because the content is otherwise licensed via cable TV.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Thursday August 06 2020, @06:59PM (1 child)
Ok. You find these restrictions acceptable why exactly?
(Score: 1) by petecox on Thursday August 06 2020, @11:50PM
Acceptable? It's simply reality that mobile development outpaces that of traditional desktops.
Where possible I'll trust the desktop client or web interface over a corporation insisting I install their app and trawl f-droid over Play.
But yes I have an Android smartphone. And yet there are situations where accessing its apps with a mouse, keyboard and big screen would be a pragmatic compromise for that functionality being unavailable on a Linux desktop.