Microsoft announced a new software development kit (SDK) today that lets developers use Google Analytics to measure usage of universal Windows apps. The company also expanded an existing SDK to support Facebook ads that prompt users to install Windows apps.

“Facebook App Install Ads has immense audience reach, and it is now available for Windows,” said Kevin Gallo, Windows Developer corporate vice president, in a webcast this morning. “Ads are displayed in a user’s news feed. You can target based on interest, behaviors and locations, and you can centralize all your campaigns across all platforms.”

Microsoft made the announcements at Windows Developer Day. Executives outlined a series of new initiatives for developers, largely focused on Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps — programs and games that can run on everything from Windows 10 PCs and the Xbox One to smartphones and holographic headsets.

The company is making a broader push to get third-party developers on board with UWP apps. Without a dominant smartphone platform, Microsoft is looking to UWP apps as a way to leverage its base of existing Windows developers to make the operating system relevant on a wider range of devices.

Microsoft’s Kevin Gallo shows a Windows Holographic headset from Lenovo, which will be able to run Universal Windows Platform apps. (Microsoft, via webcast)

Several of Microsoft’s hardware partners will be releasing headsets running Windows 10 Holographic in the coming months.

Microsoft is also reported to be developing a version of a Windows called Windows 10 Cloud, which would only run Universal Windows Platform apps, but the company hasn’t confirmed this initiative.

Microsoft also unveiled a new site, docs.microsoft.com, as a central repository for developer documentation, and made its backlog of bugs and completed features available publicly on a new Windows Developer Platform site.

“You can see what we’re working on, and you can help prioritize what we do,” Gallo said. “We pioneered this with our web platform a couple years ago, and it has been so successful that we’re expanding it to the app platform as well.”

Also the event, Microsoft showed several apps that use its Desktop Bridge technology to allow Win32, .NET and Universal Windows Platform apps to share code and call common APIs, another initiative meant to boost development of UWP apps.

The company is preparing to release its Windows 10 Creators Update later this year. Gallo announced that the Windows 10 Creators Update SDK is now feature complete and available for download by members of the Windows Insider program.

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