For some, the Progressive Web App future cannot get here fast enough, especially for those who believe in a Phoenix-like rebirth of Microsoft’s mobile and desktop operating usage. PWA’s have been positioned as one of the great equalizing factors to Microsoft’s attempts to keep their operating systems competitive in a world of mobile productivity powered by apps and robust browsing experiences.
To that end, the Windows-centric Petri blog is reporting that Microsoft has been dipping its toes in the PWA waters and recently began testing a PWA version of its very popular business communication tool, Microsoft Teams. A small group of Teams users have been given access to a PWA version of the software that can be downloaded from the Windows Store. The alpha build of PWA Teams is still in rough-cut form and can not be found through any Windows Store searches for normal Windows 10 users.
However, the hosted Teams PWA (or HWA) is coming along rather nicely according to users and developers have found the app to work in a very similar version to a local representation. As it stands the presence of an alpha build that’s being tested outside of the trusted Redmond ring of developers should be an encouraging sign for PWA advocates as well as those wagering their mobile futures on a possible Surface-phone being released this year with PWA’s as its differentiator.
