From Mac to Windows: Why is Microsoft making it so hard for developers?

Now that Aeon Timeline has been shipped off to the Mac AppStore folk for review, I have a bit of dead time while I wait for their approval. Since I say on my website that I am considering a Windows version, and I am now getting several emails a day asking for one, I have spent the evening researching my options.

The results is not pretty: Microsoft has created a mess of half-finished technologies, with no clear path to move forward. If I am wrong in this, I would dearly love for a more experienced Windows developer to come along and point this out.

What follows will be somewhat more technical and developer-oriented than my usual blog posts. I have tried to keep it simple, but apologies if I lose any non-developers along the way. The implications, in turns of support for different operating systems, may still be relevant to you.

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