Microsoft has set a goal of attracting 1 billion Windows 10 users in the next two to three years, and now it's trying to make it easier for Apple and Android developers to get in on the action.

Windows 10, slated for worldwide release this summer, will run on all kinds of devices, from smartphones and small tablets to PCs and digital displays. This wide range of devices - and an expected 1 billion-strong user base - will greatly expand opportunities for developers, according to CEO Satya Nadella.

[Also see: How Windows 10 lets phones become "like a PC"]

"We want to make sure every developer has the widest user base to target with your apps," Nadella said Wednesday US time at Microsoft's Build conference in downtown San Francisco.

At the event, Microsoft unveiled four new ways for developers to build apps in Windows 10 using the code they've built for apps on other platforms.

Developers will be able to take nearly all of the Java and C++ code they use to build Android apps and use it to build apps that run on Windows 10 devices, said Terry Myerson, executive vice president of Microsoft's Operating Systems group (OSG).

Myerson said Windows Phones will include an Android subsystem that will let them run apps that use both Android and Windows 10 code. This could let an Android developer expand the scope to Windows 10 and target the expected 1 billion-plus user base, he said.

Microsoft also unveiled technology for building Windows Universal Apps -- which run on any kind of device - using Apple's Objective-C language. Developers can now compile the same code they use to build iOS apps on Windows 10, thereby taking advantage of capabilities only Windows has, Myerson said.

King, the developer of Candy Crush Saga, used this technology to bring the wildly popular game to Windows Phone, and it's planning to release more games for Windows 10, said Myerson.

What Microsoft unveiled Wednesday US time is basically the reverse of what Xamarin, a mobile vendor that lets developers code Android and iOS apps using Microsoft's C# programming language, offers today.

Xamarin was the star of last year's Build conference and was said to be in acquisition talks with Microsoft in the weeks leading up to the event. But so far, this year's Build event focused on cross-platform tools that Microsoft developed itself.

Microsoft is also enabling developers to bring new apps to Windows Store. This means apps built on .NET and Win32, two popular technologies in the Microsoft developer community, can be imbued with the ability to run on any kind of device that runs Windows 10.

"We will be adding support for bringing .NET and Win32 apps into the Windows Store and take advantage of Windows Universal Apps capabilities," Myerson said.

This article originally appeared at crn.com