Qt 6 Might Drop Their Short-Lived Universal Windows Platform Support

While the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is needed for targeting the Xbox One, Microsoft HoloLens, and IoT, The Qt Company is thinking about gutting out their UWP support in the big Qt 6 tool-kit update.

The Qt Company is busy brainstorming changes for Qt 6, which is expected to see its maiden release in late 2020 barring any delays. One of those fundamental changes being tossed around is eliminating the Universal Windows Platform coverage with Qt 6.0.

This change isn't about dropping Windows support (obviously) but the UWP aspect, which includes not only the UWP desktop applications but would eliminate support for Xbox One, HoloLens, and any other current/future Microsoft products built around UWP. But it's not clear there are any major Qt developers/stakeholders targeting those different devices right now with this tool-kit. One of the main drivers previously for UWP in Qt was for Windows Phone support, but now that Microsoft's phone ambitions are once again dead, UWP support in Qt loses some of its drive.

Doing away with the UWP support in Qt 6 would relieve some maintenance burden around their build system and other elements, lighten up the testing coverage, and eliminating some back-ends around sensors/Bluetooth/location that were UWP-specific code-paths.

The decision isn't yet set in stone but for those concerned about UWP support for Qt can see this mailing list post and the associated bug report.