Microsoft explains iOS app porting project: Sandbox-free access to Win10 API

Currently, Microsoft's Android application porting project Project Astoria has attracted much attention. Through this project, Android applications can be directly run in Windows 10 Mobile. In contrast, another porting project launched by Microsoft, the iOS application porting project Project Islandwood, has not received the same level of attention.

Project Islandwood is a tool provided to developers, which enables them to port their existing iOS application code to Windows 10 application projects. Unlike Project Astoria, porting iOS applications requires developers to spend more effort. Microsoft is currently working hard to improve this tool to make it more convenient for developers to use. To this end, Microsoft has also opened the source code of the project to allow more developers to participate and contribute their own strength.

In a blog post, Microsoft explained the development goals and guidelines for the project, which they hope will be:

1. Full Windows API access: It is easier to access Windows API using Objective-C code;
2. iOS compatibility: Allow developers to use as much existing iOS application code as possible to maximize code reuse;
3. No sandbox: iOS and Windows APIs can work together;

This is exactly what is different from Project Astoria. When running Android apps in Win10 Mobile, the apps themselves are in a sandbox and only have access to some of the APIs provided by Microsoft.

No sandbox means that if Microsoft's porting tool does not support a certain iOS API, developers can directly call the Windows API to implement it. Not only that, Microsoft also provides Projections, allowing developers to directly call the Windows API using the Objective-C language.

Since Microsoft has open-sourced Project Islandwood, developers can solve problems themselves or get help from other developers when they encounter problems without having to wait for Microsoft to solve them.

Project Islandwood looks great, but the final result depends on the willingness of iOS developers. Time will tell. Currently, Project Islandwood only supports x86 platforms, and ARM/Mobile platform support will be added in the next few weeks. (via: WMPU & Microsoft)