"Microsoft is on the right track towards universal application": Jagoba Los Arcos

Jagoba Los Arcos: It all started in a hackathon that took place in Bilbao at the end of 2012. It was a weekend in the that I was able to meet other developers and get to know Windows 8 and Windows Phone first-hand. In this event in which we were learning and programming for 2 days, I won a Nokia Lumia 800. I have to say that until that day, my work had consisted of programming web pages in ASP.Net, Javascript, HTML5, for 12 years. etc… and I was surprised by the easy jump and the rapid adaptation curve of my knowledge to programming for a phone or tablet.

With this newly won Lumia, I came face to face with the main problem of the Windows Phone platform in my opinion, that is, the OS for me was fresh and new, but it suffered from the drawback that the main applications that I used on my previous phones (I had used Android and iPhone for streaks), were either poorly implemented (Whatsapp for example), or did not exist at all.This is the case of Tapatalk, an application that I had been using for years. So, seeing that my 12-year knowledge of .Net technologies was easily applicable to the phone and that the Tapatalk API was open, I decided to create my own Tapatalk client. In a few nights of work, I had the first version of Foroplex (name I gave my app) uploaded to the store. My pleasant surprise was to see that in a few days it had several thousand downloads. But he still had a problem; Although the Tapatalk API is open, there are certain resources like the list of forums that support Tapatalk that is private, so I tried to contact Tapatalk to see if there was a possibility to get access to this directory. After several conversations with the people in charge of Tapatalk, they liked my application, and they decided not only to give me access, but also to give me the opportunity to make my application the official client. After this, everything came rolling. Putting more and more hours into developing the Tapatalk client for Windows Phone, developing the version for Windows 8, and eventually turning this nightly coding adventure into my current full-time job.

Xataka Windows: What is your opinion as a developer and user of Windows Phone?

Jagoba Los Arcos: I think the platform has a lot to offer developers and users, but it also has the problem of having reached a little late to the war of mobile operating systems. I think that anyone who has worked with .NET technologies has a very fast adaptation curve to be able to translate their projects into Windows Phone. You have the possibility to program the applications with HTML and Javascript, or as in the case of Tapatalk, use XAML+C directly. Why XAML+C and not HTML+Javascript to do Tapatalk, if I really came from programming web pages? Well simply because I think XAML+C gives me more power and a faster running application. An application at first glance simple like Tapatalk, but really "in the guts" is complicated since it has to connect to multiple servers, the faster the better.

Windows Phone Store is still second rate

The store is growing rapidly, but it still gives me that second-rate feeling. I explain. On the one hand, Microsoft's drive to bring more apps to the store has led to many simple or useless apps that only increase the number of apps available. On the other hand, you only need to see the announcements of any official body, company or product that talk about the availability of a mobile application. This application is rarely available for Windows Phone.

More and more users are going to opt for a Windows Phone

In any case, I think that this tends to change. Microsoft in my opinion is doing a formidable job with both high-end phones and the most basic models. This, together with the continuous updating and optimization that the operating system is undergoing, I think will make more and more new users opt for a phone with Windows Phone.To give an example and without wanting to get into much controversy, you just have to compare a Lumia 520 with a low-end Android phone. I think anyone who holds them in their hands for 10 minutes will see the difference and understand what I'm talking about.

Xataka Windows: What is the opinion of other developers that you may have met about Windows Phone?

Jagoba Los Arcos: One of the biggest drawbacks I'm finding is precisely the difficulty of finding other Windows Phone developers. Microsoft puts at our disposal a lot of tools, discussion forums, events, and chats where you can meet other programmers. But my personal experience is that I always come across Android or IOS programmers who try to get closer to the Windows platform, more out of curiosity than interest or a real need to port applications to the platform. It's inconvenient, but I think it's also an opportunity for other programmers like me, because just like I've done with Tapatalk, I think there are still a lot of apps that need their presence on Windows Phone and this opens up a market for job offers for programmers .NET.

And especially carrying games. In my opinion, games drive a large part of the business of mobile devices, especially for users who use a mobile for the first time, which is becoming earlier. It is becoming more and more normal, whether we like it or not, to see children that what they want as a gift is their first mobile. If the first mobile that a user has in his life is an Android, he will hardly move to iOS, if his first mobile is an iPhone, he will hardly want a Galaxy. And that's the problem, if you give your child a Lumia as their first phone that doesn't have the latest trendy social game, no matter how good the phone is or how good the operating system is, it won't succeed. And not having mobile games, let's say “essential needs”, is a big problem with this platform. Nowadays if you don't play Candy Crush, or Apalabrados, or the most fashionable game of the moment, you're not cool. And unfortunately many of these games either don't exist or come late to Windows Phone.Here I think Microsoft should put more effort into bringing these applications to Windows Phone to attract these new ones.

Xataka Windows: How would you rate the app store for Windows 8 and Windows Phone if we focus on the side that developers You see, like the approval process or quality controls? Are there notable differences between the Windows 8 store and the Windows Phone store, or does Microsoft follow the same policy in both?

Jagoba Los Arcos: Microsoft is trying to merge the two stores into one. Right now to publish your app on Windows Phone and Windows 8, you only need a developer account. The publication process is simple, and lately the approval processes that initially took about 5 days have been reduced in some cases to less than 24 hours. There are a series of very simple rules that must be followed so that your application passes approval without problems.And also, as I have mentioned before, you can send your application beforehand to the MS development support guys who will gladly locate possible bugs and give you suggestions so that your application passes the approval of the store without problems.

As for the store itself, there is a slight difference that I hope will be corrected over time. For me the most important is the possibility to upload an application as Beta. In the Windows Phone Store, I can upload an app as a Beta, add the email addresses of the beta testers I want to allow to download the app, and the beta testers receive the app on their phone as just another app. In this process, it is also not necessary to pass the approval of the store, so normally, I upload a Beta with my changes every 2 days more or less to the store and my beta testers receive it on their phone in 1 hour. This feature does not exist in the Windows 8 store, and it makes it very difficult to field test the app before distributing it in the store, since I have to send zip files to the testers and they have to install the app. on your own in Windows.I hope they add this feature to the Windows Store soon.

Another big drawback of both stores is, as a developer we can't get in touch with the users who leave their ratings and comments about the application. This is a big problem, because many times we see comments like “the application doesn't work because the X forum doesn't appear” or “I can't log in to the X forum”. Despite the fact that in Tapatalk we have several mechanisms to support users, many only use the comments of the store, and do not realize that little or nothing we can do for them since we do not have more information about their problem.

Xataka Windows: If it were up to you to encourage more developers to make apps for Windows Phone, what would you do to achieve it?

Microsoft is doing a great job with developers

Jagoba Los Arcos: In this regard, I think the work Microsoft is doing is very good.There are events and contests almost every month; there are device loan programs so you can test your apps on real phones without the need to invest money in buying your own phone just for testing; there are a lot of facilities to be able to put your application in the store easily; There are very active forums where you can answer questions and a great team of evangelists who you can ask questions, send them your application for review and evaluation before uploading it to the store. I really think Microsoft is going all out to make developers feel comfortable programming for the Windows Phone platform.

Xataka Windows: Let's talk about Windows RT. Lately we are seeing how the rumored merger of Windows RT and Windows Phone is getting closer to strengthen both systems, and this year affordable tablets with Windows 8.1 will begin to arrive. Do you think this union is a wise decision?

Jagoba Los Arcos: From my point of view as a programmer, you are on the right track towards universal application, and indeed with each OS, Visual Studio and SDK update makes it easier for us to share code between different platforms. I don't want to go into too many technical details, but as an example, the Tapatalk application is divided into two parts. One part of the application, the one in charge of making the connections with the central Tapatalk servers and with the different plugins installed in each forum, is exactly the same code for both Windows Phone and Windows RT/8. The other part is the one that draws the user interface on the phone or tablet, and this is specific to each system. Although it is true that with the latest update of the SDK we can create a valid user interface for both systems, at Tapatalk we believe that it is better to create a specific one for Windows Phone and another for tablets/desktops, adapting the UI in each case to device capabilities and resolutions.However, with the latest 2.0 update of Tapatalk for WP, we have tried to unify the navigation and functionality available in both systems.

Microsoft is on the right track towards universal application

As for affordable Tablets, I just got back from spending two weeks in Shanghai meeting my Tapatalk colleagues at HQ, and had the chance to try out a tablet like the Emdoor EM -i8080 that we have been able to see in Xataka Windows weeks ago. My feeling could not have been better. Having a Windows device for the same price that you can buy an Android tablet is something that I think will change the market in the short term and will get the end user to start seeing Windows RT/8 with different eyes. It's not hard to see a lot of negative comments about Windows 8 and its interface. Actually the problem is that the user has not tested this interface on a touch screen.Once you try it, the classic Windows desktop begins to be no longer necessary. And if you're going to be able to play your PC games on a low-cost tablet, I won't even tell you. Can you imagine being able to play LoL from your tablet in bed so richly for only €100? Well, that's about to drop.

Xataka Windows: How would a union of two platforms like these affect a company like yours?

Jagoba Los Arcos: As I have commented before, I believe that each device needs a user interface appropriate to the size and characteristics of the device. I don't think the approach I give to Tapatalk programming today changes much. In any case, any help to make the code more centralized is always welcome.

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And so far the interview with Jagoba Los Arcos, whom we thank for attending us and answering our questions. We hope you found it interesting.

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