Chiara Mooney & Shiven Mian – Building for Microsoft (Chain React 2023)

This has been making the rounds on Twitter and the story never dies despite being essentially false. (Backed by “I hit Start and got a CPU spike”) Just the “Recommended” section - the lower frame showing M365 files & frequent apps - is built with React Native[1]. And, AFAIK, it uses Microsoft’s React Native for Windows that renders real XAML components, so it’s not just a masquerading WebView or something. The Start Menu itself is still C++ and XAML. (And I think WinUI 2, i.e. the system-included variation of WinUI) It’s not just all a web thing or a JS-backed React Native app. 1: [this video]

I found this: [this video] I googled the names of the people holding the talk and they're both employed by Microsoft as software engineers, I don't see any reason to doubt what they're presenting. Not the whole start menu is React Native, but parts are.

AFAIK the Start Menu itself is still C++ and XAML however only the Recommended section is build with React Native [1]. Funnily or rather sadly, they seem to be quite proud of using it as seen in the video. 1: [this video]