Microsoft's message to ISVs is that it has one consistent platform. This includes flexible development, unified management common identity and integrated virtualisation in a complete data platform. What Microsoft now has for the first time, Rob Croft (pictured), Microsoft senior director. 
Microsoft's message to ISVs is that it has one consistent platform. This includes flexible development, unified management common identity and integrated virtualisation in a complete data platform.
What Microsoft now has for the first time, Rob Croft (pictured), Microsoft senior director, enterprise cloud told the ISV Convention on March 26, is a single core for everything from Windows desktop, server, Xbox and Windows phone.
This was confirmed a few days later when the Microsoft develop conference was told by David Treadwell, Microsoft CVP of Operating Systems Group, that there were five areas the company focused on when trying to streamline the development process: User Interface, App Model, APIs, Tools, and Store.
David Treadwell explained that it understands that developers want the bulk of the code to be the same regardless of which Windows platform they are targeting. At the same time, the company will be giving developers the option to make designs specific to each type of device and choose how many devices to allow their products to run on.
Microsoft is also announcing an update for its Visual Studio platform that allows developers to create (with some minor tweaking) "universal" apps that can run on PCs, phones, tablets, and the Xbox One. Users will be able to download an app for one device through the Windows Store, and immediately have it be available for others.
Rob Croft quoted Gartner: “By 2016, more than 50% of application modernization efforts will address business demand for enhanced functionality to legacy applications, not cost reduction.” This means that development times must come down, and applications made similar across platforms securely and in an available form. Microsoft plans on playing to its strengths and running across as many platforms as developers, and users require.