Microsoft Makes Windows Calculator Open Source
Today Microsoft has said that they are open sourcing Windows Calculator on GitHub under the MIT License. This includes the source code, build system, unit tests, and product roadmap. The goal is to build an even better user experience in partnership with the community. They are encouraging your fresh perspectives and increased participation to help define the future of Calculator.
As developers, if you would like to know how different parts of the Calculator app work, easily integrate Calculator logic or UI into your own applications, or contribute directly to something that ships in Windows, now you can. Calculator will continue to go through all usual testing, compliance, security, quality processes, and Insider flighting, just as they do for other applications. You can learn more about these details in the documentation on GitHub.
In addition to reusing and adapting the code in your own apps, anyone can participate in the development of Windows Calculator. Getting involved is simple. The project is “clone-and-go” and development will follow the standard GitHub flow. There are many ways for developers at all stages to contribute:
- Participate in discussions
- Report or fix issues
- Suggest new feature ideas
- Prototype new features
- Design and build together with our engineers
Reviewing the Calculator code is a great way to learn about the latest Microsoft technologies like the Universal Windows Platform, XAML, and Azure Pipelines. Through this project, developers can learn from Microsoft’s full development lifecycle, as well as reuse the code to build their own experiences. It’s also a great example of Fluent app design. To make this even easier, they will be contributing custom controls and API extensions that we use in Calculator and other apps, to projects like the Windows Community Toolkit and the Windows UI Library.
Microsoft are happy to welcome all of you to the Windows Calculator team! To get started, check out the Windows Calculator project on GitHub.
Duncan is a technology professional with over 20 years experience of working in various IT roles. He has a interest in cyber security, and has a wide range of other skills in radio, electronics and telecommunications.