So I have to say that I agree with the original poster.
- Systems that allow "anything’ to be installed are dead. They are a nightmare for privacy and security. “Closed” stores like the Microsoft store do something to prevent that. At least they try to, which cannot be done with win32 apps. The same is true of the App Store and the Google Play store (anybody that side-loads anything is asking for trouble)
- Saying that there have been problems with viruses in curated stores is like saying that there have been problems with run-away throttle in Priuses. That doesn’t mean that a hybrid vehicle, or a curated store, is a bad idea. On the contrary, having someone or something look over our code is a good thing. I want the user to be confident that my code is free of things it isn’t supposed to do.
- Malware designers are getting better. That’s why the companies that create these curated stores are trying to create them. They are not doing to steal vast revenue. They are adding value by pre-scanning apps, and by allowing a more secure place to emanate from. Their goal is to make sure no one has to ever regret installing an app. Ignoring that Malware is getting better at doing what it does is just living in the past. We need “curated” stores to even have a hope of ever being safe.
- Unix is cool, but if Unix was more popular, it would be attacked more often than less popular OS’s. Therefore, there would be no advantage to running Unix. It would not be secure, it would not be safe to run. Malware designers go to where the money is. I’m pretty sure that they would love Unix to be the most popular OS because then they could stop having to reverse engineer, and just look at the source.
- The point of UWP (now) is to be cross-platform. Since Windows Phone is no longer in development, UWP cannot be thought of as enabling Mobile development. Using UWP and Xamarin, one would be able to target everything in one go.
- For the gentleman that said that “forced” updates are bad, that’s a two way street, and one has to remember that the vast number of computer users are not savvy. They barely know how to start up a computer. If something goes wrong, they don’t know how to fix it, or even how to describe what is wrong. They cannot be relied upon to patch systems. If we don’t force users to patch security vulnerabilities, we’re going to have more compromised systems. One has to remember that the biggest source of compromised systems is systems that have patches available that have not yet been loaded. Those systems will be used as botnets to compromise other systems, and it goes on.
For these reasons, a curated store is a good idea, a more closed OS is a good idea, and an official UWP support for UE4 is a good idea.
Let’s work together to make it happen, guys. I like the gentleman’s point that we should “get on board” and then we can use our influence to make change.
Let’s not let Unity be the only engine on Windows UWP, and HoloLens. Let’s not leave the support of UE4 on these platforms to the community. I know the community is talented, but Epic known their engine better than anyone, and most of it is common. If we leave the support in a fork somewhere that isn’t supported, that fork will not be updated. It will stagnate (It has. looks like the latest branch in the UWP branch is 4.12, while 4.19 just came out).
Tim, take a meeting with Satya. Talk to him.
-thanks