Box releases its Windows 10 Universal app

Online file-storage vendor Box is releasing its revamped Universal Windows 10 application on November 11.

Box worked closely with Microsoft to build one of the first Universal Windows 10 apps. These kinds of apps are meant to run across the various flavors of Windows 10 with relatively little code modification required.

The new Box app is free for anyone who has an individual, business or enterprise Box account. It's available today for Windows 10 PCs and tablets. It will be available on Windows Phones running Windows 10 Mobile approximately three weeks after Windows 10 Mobile is made generally available, a Box spokesperson confirmed.

Box combined its two different Windows 8 apps -- a Windows 8 desktop app and a Silverlight Windows Phone app -- to create a new unified Windows 10 app.

Microsoft is trying to get more developers to port their Windows and, eventually, iOS and Android apps, to Windows 10 by touting the improved speed and simplicity of the porting process.

Microsoft officials are playing up the new unified Windows Store, which offers developers a way to publish apps and invite selected customers to download the beta. Once apps are ready, testers can be automatically upgraded to the production version when available.

The Windows File Picker in Windows 10, which allows users to work in Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and have their changes saved directly back to their apps without having to leave Office is another new feature that Microsoft is using to try to entice developers like Box to port their apps to Windows 10.

Oh, and if you're wondering whether Box might have any kind of cloud-storage offers for Microsoft users who are unhappy about Microsoft's recent changes to OneDrive cloud storage, so far, Box isn't commenting. (I asked.)