Build great experiences with Windows

Windows gives you the tools and capabilities to build modern experiences that empower your customers to do more. The Universal Windows Platform (UWP) lets you create a single app package that can run on a wide range of devices. And the Windows Store provides a unified distribution channel you'll use to safely reach customers worldwide.
NPR One on PC increases user engagement across platforms

More personal and productive

Windows 10 lets you build apps and games that are personalized and tailored, and that adapt to input preferences and device capabilities at run time. Customers can interact via a variety of natural user inputs like voice, touch, ink, and even gaze. And Windows 10 supports your app with services that connect your customers to the people and data that matter most to them.

With UWP, one codebase can produce a great look and feel on every Windows device: a traditional PC, a Surface with a pen, your living room’s Xbox console, or even a Windows Mixed Reality immersive headset. Your customers can take their experiences with them across all of their screens.

Citrix ShareFile gains increased reach, security, and usability with Windows Hello and UWP

Safer and more protected

Windows 10 provides enterprise-class security by design, so you and your customers can focus on getting more done. Credential Locker and encryption APIs offer more peace of mind with roaming data, while Windows Hello supplies a range of intuitive biometric protections that help keep security strong without getting in the way.

The Windows Store provides a reliable channel to sell and distribute apps and games globally. It offers a range of flexible business models and customer payment options, with no custom installer or e-commerce site required.

Evernote brings their desktop application to the Windows Store using the Desktop Bridge

The best place to build

Windows 10 optimizes your work as a developer. You can use Bash, PowerShell, and more tools that maximize your productivity regardless of the language you use or where your code will ultimately run.

Visual Studio provides a world-class IDE and developer tooling. Windows supports many middleware and game engines to help you expand the reach of your codebase.

The Desktop Bridge and Hosted Web App model make it easy to distribute your existing experiences to new customers. And the Windows Dev Center helps you be more agile by surfacing real-time events, crash reports, and user feedback.

Developers have been bringing their ideas to life over the past year with Microsoft HoloLens, and we know that the best is yet to come

Where the future becomes reality

Windows services and devices continue to take tomorrow's ideas mainstream, empowering you to do more.

Microsoft HoloLens and our mixed reality headsets create immersive experiences in your apps and games to delight your customers.

And Cortana and Microsoft Cognitive Services make it easier to deliver conversational interactions that feel natural on any device type—screen or no screen, Windows or non-Windows.

Windows 10 on a laptop

Get started with a developer account

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Ready to dive in?

Downloads and tools

Visual Studio Community gives you everything you need to build great apps–and it's free!

Get started with UWP

Step-by-step instructions to set up your developer environment and create your first app.

Windows Dev Essentials

A comprehensive set of resources and offers to help get your UWP app into the Windows Store.

More success stories

See how developers are finding success with Windows.

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