I tried to build a Windows native app using Microsoft's latest technologies. Now I understand why everyone builds Electron apps.

Hacker News is a community-driven platform for sharing and discussing technology news, startups, and programming-related topics. Through user submissions and comments, Hacker News offers insights into emerging technology trends, industry developments, and entrepreneurial ventures. Readers can participate in discussions, share their insights, and stay informed about the latest advancements in technology and innovation.

Hacker News

A developer with a Windows background attempts to build a small native Windows utility app using the latest Microsoft technologies (WinUI 3, Windows App SDK) and documents the painful experience. The post covers the fragmented history of Windows UI frameworks (Win32 → MFC → WinForms → WPF → WinRT → UWP → WinUI 3), the awkward deployment choices (.NET AOT vs framework-dependent), the constant need to fall back to Win32 P/Invoke for basic features, and the poor state of tooling like CsWin32. The author concludes that Microsoft treats native app development as a low priority, and argues that web-based stacks like Electron or Tauri are a more rational choice for most developers.

Windows Native App Development Is a Mess

For once the heat is on Windows for having inconsistent UI handling instead of Linux having inconsistent UI handling. The main problem is the first one is made by a single company and not a bunch of OSS projects. 😁
Regardless of the ecosystem, no wonder projects like Tauri are popular.

This part in the article floored me:
<blockquote>
I could avoid sideloading if Microsoft would just accept my app into their store, but they rejected it for not offering “unique lasting value”.
</blockquote>
From the linked issue the detailed feedback includes:
<blockquote>
The product does not currently contain enough content and functionality
</blockquote>
Why should it be up to Microsoft to decide what apps have enough value to be listed for distribution? If a developer makes an app that does one thing and does it well does that mean it wouldn’t be listed in the store unless they bolt on a bunch of other random things? It’s not like the Microsoft Store is intended for a locked down ecosystem like a game console, it’s for general purpose computing.

hence the popularity of electron.

Even Microsoft ripping a ton of the MFC generators out of Visual Studio 2022 didn’t do anything remove the entrenchment of Win32 and MFC. Microsoft never kept their promise to give people on MFC and off-ramp for their projects, and if you had to do that, why would you stick with Microsoft?
xaml never really clicked for me. None of is compatible between frameworks. Everything about it is way too complicated for its own good.
Honestly if Microsoft were smart, they would stop trying to fight their C++ users and give them a proper framework. Instead of another unusable transition tech, give WinForms native C++ bindings or something.