Today was Windows Developer Day, and Microsoft hosted a live online event to bring developers up to speed on the improvements it’s delivering with the Windows 10 Creators Update. But if you missed the event, here’s a quick rundown.
As you might expect, Microsoft is delivering a new version of the Windows SDK alongside the Creators Update. This SDK is actually feature-complete already, and is available to developers in preview form. You can use it with the current Visual Studio versions, or Visual Studio 2017 RC, which itself nearly complete as well.
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Here’s what’s new.
UWP improvements. Microsoft’s modern apps platform is being updated with new pen and ink capabilities, Surface Dial support, and various improvements that will help developers make more beautiful and sophisticated apps. Developers can write games that span both Windows 10 and Xbox One. And developers that want to bring forward desktop applications can take advantage of various Desktop Bridge improvements.
Windows Store improvements. New Store Services APIs will help developers understand how well their apps are performing, with analytics and telemetry, flighting, automated submissions and updates, and ad campaigns. Updated services will also help push better user engagement with A/B testing, targeted push notifications and more.
Developer middleware improvements. Two new libraries are available: The Windows SDK for Google Analytics and the Facebook App Install Ads.
Developer documentation improvements. Microsoft is moving its developer documentation to docs.com, alongside its product documentation. Microsoft is also opening its bug and feature backlog to the public and will take bug contributions and feature requests starting immediately.
New experiences. UWP apps can take advantage of the Windows Holographic platform, new Cortana skills, and Project Rome, a way to sync apps and services across devices.
Visual Studio 2017. The next version of Visual Studio will include various performance, stability and debugging improvements.
Microsoft promises a deeper dive into Creators Update features for developers at Build in May.