With all the talk about Microsoft Andromeda and Windows Core, could Microsoft be working on a Windows skin for Android?
Windows Core
In simple terms, Windows Core is the code re-write of the core elements of Windows, all the behind-the-scenes things that make Windows work, that most customers never see. It's the heart and brain of Windows, and Microsoft has been working hard since WIndows 7 to unify the core of Windows.
Windows 10 saw a huge push toward having one core at the heart of Windows, with everything from Windows 10 Home to WIndows 10 Pro, and Xbox, destined to share a common core.
Windows 10 on ARM was another project that required the bedrock of Windows to be re-written for ARM processors, with an emulation layer to enable 32-bit apps to run on ARM processors. 64-bit apps wont be able to run on ARM.
Microsoft Launcher and Continuum
Microsoft Launcher has been available on Android for quite some time. Launcher becomes a central home for Windows apps on Android, and offers access to Microsoft apps for Android from the Microsoft Store and Google Play.
Continuum was a separate project that enabled WIndows phones to scale up an interface shell to look similar to a PC install of Windows, and run phone-based apps on a large screen with a mouse and keyboard, connecting via a dock.
If we saw a merging of Launcher and Continuum, we could see what would effectively be a Windows skin on top of Android, running on a phone, and acting like a PC. Of course, it would be Android under the hood, but, Microsoft already has lots of apps for Android, including Office, OneNote, OneDrive, Outlook, Skype, LinkedIn, and more.
A phone with Snapdragon 845 could make this a reality.
This would dovetail nicely with the slew of Microsoft-Qualcomm-Snapdragon tablets about to launch.
Until next time,
Xavier Zymantas
XYZtech XYZ Media Group
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