What you need to know
- Registration for Launch 2020 is now open.
- Launch is an annual event for developers to release and share their UWP-related projects.
- Launch 2019 featured a major update to myTube and the release of Spotimo.
Registrations for Launch 2020 are now open to developers. Launch is an annual event that allows developers to showcase and release UWP apps as well as UWP-related projects. Launch 2020 is set to happen during the first week of June 2020. Developers can register their projects on the new UWP Community website. People can also discuss the event and UWP projects on the UWP Community Discord.
Launch 2019 featured the release of Spotimo, Legere, and Kanban Ink. It also saw a major overhaul of myTube to myTube 4.0.
Developers who participate in Launch 2020 gain access to a secret channel in which developers keep each other updated with the progress of their project's development.
In addition to UWP apps, UWP-related project can be part of Launch 2020. As pointed out in the announcement post in the UWP Community Discord, "PWAs/React Native apps are universal, scalable, and have full access to the WinRT APIs. They are eligible for participation if it makes use of Windows 10 features and is published in the Store."
The focus of Launch 2020 is for developers to create original ideas and projects. The announcement post stated "This year, Launch will have a focus on original apps. We encourage every developer to be creative, rather than making an alternative to an existing solution, leverage the capabilities of the platform to create something new."
Registered projects can be public or private, allowing developers to choose when their projects are shared. At this point in time, the only app that's publicly registered is UWP File Explorer. I've tested this app for months and will do a full review once the app is complete and stable enough to be reviewed. Arlo Godfrey, one of the people behind Launch, expects many more projects to be registered before Launch 2020 and stated that several projects have been registered privately.
