There are increasingly clear indications that Windows 10X will support Win32 apps. Essentially, this gives users the ability to run regular Windows 10 apps. Windows 10X won’t be limited to just running specific applications (for example, apps from the Microsoft Store).
The news comes from a Microsoft job posting on LinkedIn.
According to Microsoft’s job listing on LinkedIn, the company is looking for a principal software engineering lead to work with the Containers team within the Azure Core OS Kernel team. It goes on to mention:
“These technologies form the basis for Store-delivered Win32 applications, Windows Server Containers, Windows Defender Application Guard, Windows Sandbox, and Win32 application support for Windows 10X on dual-screen devices like Surface Neo.”
Towards the tail end, the job posting mentions explicitly Win32 application support will be provided for the operating system through containers.
What is Windows 10X?
Windows 10X is a variant version of Windows 10 initially designed to support upcoming dual-screen devices. For example, it’s set to run on the forthcoming Microsoft Surface Neo set to sit stores by the 2020 holiday season.
The operating system is expected to have a different UI experience depending on the device in use.
Other expected features in the new OS include:
- Changes to the start menu, including renaming to Launcher and a stronger focus on local search.
- Updated file explorer giving the OS a touch-friendly modern Universal Windows App (UWP).
- A new action center that gives users quick access to critical settings and notifications.
Microsoft has remained tight-lipped about Windows 10X since it was announced earlier in 2019. However, the looming launch of Microsoft 10X devices, such as the Surface Neo is likely to change the silence.
Backward Compatibility Support
Windows 10X is likely to offer the coexistence of both PWA (Progressive Web App) and Win32 versions of MS Office.
However, this is far from an official confirmation by Microsoft. There’s always a chance that an executive got it wrong in the job listing. It’s also possible that the text was copied from an already expired job listing. Nobody knows for sure until Microsoft comes out and confirms.
In summary, therefore, it seems there is a plan for Windows 10X to support Win32 apps, offering limited backward compatibility, as well as support for UWP applications.
It certainly fits in with other reports that 10X isn’t designed exclusively for dual-screen devices and might come to traditional laptops soon.
That, however, remains to be seen.