Microsoft has long been rumored to be including Android app support in Windows, but what it announced at Build 2015 looks much better than anyone may have ever imagined it to be.

Because it doesn't just stretch to Android, either. Microsoft is courting iOS app developers, too, in fact, it already has done. Windows 10 isn't the first platform to go looking at another platforms apps. But it does look at least right now, as if it's being handled a little differently.

BlackBerry 10 is one of the more high-profile platforms to integrate an Android app solution. It allows regular Android apps to run on BlackBerry devices, installed as an APK and run using an Android runtime to push them through and make it all work. BlackBerry even went as far as to enter into a deal to have the Amazon Appstore running officially on its devices.

I dabbled with this in its early days and the experience was mixed. On the one hand, it allowed apps that just weren't available in BlackBerry World to be installed and run on BB10 devices. But in the early days it relied upon an old version of Android built in, and the user experience was pretty jarring. BlackBerry native apps behaved one way, Android apps another. The experience has improved vastly over time, but it's still Android apps running in an Android runtime inside of BlackBerry 10. Best VPN providers 2020: Learn about ExpressVPN, NordVPN & more Android apps on Windows 10 won't be handled in such a way. Microsoft is making it so that Android developers can reuse their existing Java and C++ code to create a Windows 10 Universal App. The result will be a Windows app that behaves like a Windows app. It can use live tiles, Cortana and Xbox Live, for example. It'll require a little work on developers part, Google services will be substituted for Microsoft services, and all apps will integrate with the standard Windows navigation. So, underneath, it'll be an Android app. Except it won't really be an Android app when you download it on Windows 10. The code is the same, but the end result is more tailored to the Windows 10 experience. Microsoft is giving those developers a straight forward channel to get their apps on Windows 10, with added Microsoft goodness.