Don't tell anyone, cause Redmond and Mountain View Are listening, but the Android Emulator runs just fine on the Surface Pro.
from a developer's perspective, the platform guys (Apple, MS, Google) make it REALLY difficult for us to do anything cross-platform. not only do all three require a different code-base and a unique set of binaries, let's not forget that they all have app stores/marketplaces for the purpose of making money. Why would they allow someone who paid Google for an app to be able to just simply bring it over to windows? one of them will actually penalize the developers if they give a discounted price to existing customers on other platforms.
Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge them their cut (30% BTW). I'm a total capitalist. I'll gladly pay them for their infrastructure which allows me to sell my wares. But man, sometimes i wish they would ask us how many cross-platform customers we have and give us some solutions to accommodate them.
and while i'm on my soapbox, why do people who purchased on one platform think that they are entitled to a free version on a different platform? (not pointing at anyone specific here) The three platforms are totally different development environments, different code bases. different developer skill sets and these things all cost money. in the case of a self-funded company, it costs MY money, so when someone thinks they are entitled to a free version on one platform because they bought on another, it gets a bit aggravating.
That being said, if someone comes to us and asks nicely, we will virtually always give them a key to the alternate versions, unless it's MS, which actually has no method whatsoever for us to comp a free copy to someone.
\. soapbox
