What Windows Runtime runs where?

Jim O'Neil - Technology Evangelist - Windows Runtime–what’s supported where?

As I’m sure you've heard, Windows Phone 8 and Windows Store (nee Metro) applications share a common core operating system, and that’s great news for developers looking to take advantage of both platforms with a single or complementary applications.

The common core does not, however, mean that the platforms are identical – in fact, only about 1/3 of the Windows Runtime API members are available on both platforms, and there are some APIs that are specific to either Windows Phone or Windows 8 due the unique experiences or features of the hardware.

Then, of course, there’s a .NET API available for both Windows Store applications and Windows Phone applications each a somewhat differing subset of the complete .NET API you’ve been using to build Windows Forms, WPF and ASP.NET applications for years.

As someone that’s been transitioning his skills from core .NET development to the Windows Runtime, I share the pain of trying to make that call to API X and finding it’s not supported on Windows 8 (or Windows Phone) or wondering why the namespace that I’ve used for years refused to resolve in a new Windows 8 app.

The good news is that the documentation is there, but there are some subtleties and nuances, so I’ve pulled this post together to outline some of the tricks and links I’ve discovered.

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We've heard what Windows Runtime is available on a number of devices, but only pieces and parts are available in a given space... So what runs where? Jim's post helps us find what runs where for the Runtime. Worse case, it's a great resource link post... :)