Is anyone actually using Win UI 3 (and if not that, then what?)
-
An informal survey here to find out if anyone is actually using Win UI 3 in a real commercial application that people pay for? I'm sure there are plenty of LOB apps and personal projects etc., but I mean is anyone using it for anything serious that they expect to make money off of? A bet-the-company flagship product? Three years after release, compared to WPF it's buggy, inflexible, and poorly supported (by Microsoft or by the community - try running a search to find something Win UI 3 specific and seeing how much UWP or WPF content you have to sift through). I badly need to move off of WPF for its being nearly 20 years old and unsupported, but I find WinUI 3 to be essentially unusable. It suffers from the ultimate problem that nearly all Microsoft development technologies suffer from - because they don't use it to develop their own consumer products, it - at best - isn't a strategic priority, or - at worst - it's deliberately crippled to make sure their own products can't be edged out. I'm tempted to just use DirectComposition and build an entirely homegrown UI framework, which I then at least can control and debug. I'm almost certian this is what all the major development shops (including Microsoft) do for their flagship products. What other options are there at this point really?
-
An informal survey here to find out if anyone is actually using Win UI 3 in a real commercial application that people pay for? I'm sure there are plenty of LOB apps and personal projects etc., but I mean is anyone using it for anything serious that they expect to make money off of? A bet-the-company flagship product? Three years after release, compared to WPF it's buggy, inflexible, and poorly supported (by Microsoft or by the community - try running a search to find something Win UI 3 specific and seeing how much UWP or WPF content you have to sift through). I badly need to move off of WPF for its being nearly 20 years old and unsupported, but I find WinUI 3 to be essentially unusable. It suffers from the ultimate problem that nearly all Microsoft development technologies suffer from - because they don't use it to develop their own consumer products, it - at best - isn't a strategic priority, or - at worst - it's deliberately crippled to make sure their own products can't be edged out. I'm tempted to just use DirectComposition and build an entirely homegrown UI framework, which I then at least can control and debug. I'm almost certian this is what all the major development shops (including Microsoft) do for their flagship products. What other options are there at this point really?
You should avoid UWP/Win 3 UI and appx, you have to understand they are trying to kill win32 and build a closed down ecosystem like apple and google, don't tie yourself down they want to deceive developers into the close ecosystem to tax you to death with a 30% fee to be hosted on microsoft store.
-
You should avoid UWP/Win 3 UI and appx, you have to understand they are trying to kill win32 and build a closed down ecosystem like apple and google, don't tie yourself down they want to deceive developers into the close ecosystem to tax you to death with a 30% fee to be hosted on microsoft store.
You can sideload; you don't have to go through the store. And the 30% is for "games"; other categories are lower.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
-
An informal survey here to find out if anyone is actually using Win UI 3 in a real commercial application that people pay for? I'm sure there are plenty of LOB apps and personal projects etc., but I mean is anyone using it for anything serious that they expect to make money off of? A bet-the-company flagship product? Three years after release, compared to WPF it's buggy, inflexible, and poorly supported (by Microsoft or by the community - try running a search to find something Win UI 3 specific and seeing how much UWP or WPF content you have to sift through). I badly need to move off of WPF for its being nearly 20 years old and unsupported, but I find WinUI 3 to be essentially unusable. It suffers from the ultimate problem that nearly all Microsoft development technologies suffer from - because they don't use it to develop their own consumer products, it - at best - isn't a strategic priority, or - at worst - it's deliberately crippled to make sure their own products can't be edged out. I'm tempted to just use DirectComposition and build an entirely homegrown UI framework, which I then at least can control and debug. I'm almost certian this is what all the major development shops (including Microsoft) do for their flagship products. What other options are there at this point really?
A good sign is that Microsoft IS using WinUI (WinApps SDK) to build consumer-facing apps. One of them is the Photo App Microsoft rolls out Windows App SDK-Powered Photos app for Insiders[^] If I recall well, another WinUI app by Microsoft was something to do with a "Phone" app, but can't quite recall what it was. While I can agree with some of the sentiment expressed, I am starting to see great energy on WinUI team, open-sourcing of WinUI was great and their OSS participation has been great.