UNO Platform 2019: A Year in Review

As 2019 comes to an end, I can’t help but reflect on how much has happened with UNO Platform this year — and how meaningful it feels to me personally.

I’ve been working with UNO since early 2018, when it was still a young and relatively unknown organization. My first responsibilities involved manual testing of cross-platform mobile apps, which gave me a front-row seat to watch this framework evolve from the inside. I’ve seen UNO grow from an ambitious idea at nventive into a technology that developers around the world are now embracing.

A Year of Milestones

2019 was the year UNO Platform truly stepped onto the global stage.

✨ UnoConf 2019 was one of the most important moments of the year. It was the first conference fully dedicated to UNO, bringing together colleagues, speakers, and community members from around the world. For me, being there wasn’t just about attending sessions — it was about seeing the vision I had been following since 2018 finally shared with a wider audience.

🚀 During UnoConf, the release of UNO Platform 2.0 marked another huge step forward. It brought:

• XAML Hot Reload for quicker iteration

• Support for Xamarin.Forms

• UI Testing tools

• SkiaSharp.Extended for WebAssembly

• Official Syncfusion components (Data Grid, Chart, Scheduler)

On top of that, Microsoft’s Windows Community Toolkit previewed XAML controls for Microsoft Graph that now work with UNO, making the ecosystem even stronger.

🌍 And in October, UNO Platform participated in Hacktoberfest for the very first time, inviting contributors from all over the world to get involved. This milestone not only expanded UNO’s reach but also showed its commitment to building a strong, collaborative open-source community.

These achievements confirmed what I had already seen day to day: UNO was moving fast, and it was ready to support real-world applications.

WebAssembly’s Rise

Another highlight of 2019 was the momentum around WebAssembly. Running C# and XAML directly in the browser is something I never imagined I would witness so soon, and yet here we are.

I’ve tested apps running on Android and iOS, then opened the same project in Chrome and watched it work seamlessly — powered by Mono WASM. Debugging is still evolving, but the progress is remarkable. The idea that we can now write apps once and have them run everywhere, even in the browser, is becoming a reality.

My Personal Journey

2019 was also memorable for the people I met and the experiences I had. At UnoConf, I reconnected with Miguel de Icaza for the second time, and I met Jen Looper for the first time as she led the event as MC. Both left a lasting impression on me with their energy and vision.

Another highlight was reconnecting with friends from the Dominican Republic, my home country. Seeing people from my own community present at an international event like this felt very special. It reminded me how far we’ve come — that talent and passion from the DR are contributing to the global open-source movement alongside others from around the world.

✨ October also brought a special moment: Hacktoberfest 2019. It was the first time UNO Platform joined, and I also had the chance to participate locally in the osmtl #3 Hacktoberfest special in Montreal. It was inspiring to connect with open-source leaders from the city. The evening ended with great conversations over beers and pizza — the perfect reminder that community is as much about people as it is about code.

On a personal level, I feel proud of my journey so far:

• I contributed to testing UNO apps across multiple platforms.

• I learned from the amazing UNO engineering team at nventive.

• I began sharing what I’ve learned with others, stepping into a role as an advocate for the platform.

More than just technology, this year reminded me of the community spirit that drives projects like UNO Platform. Open source is built on collaboration, and seeing developers from different backgrounds connect around UNO was truly inspiring.

Looking Ahead to 2020

If 2019 proved anything, it’s that UNO Platform is here to stay. From the inside, I know how much passion and effort the team is putting into it, and seeing the momentum grow in the community makes me even more excited.

For 2020, I look forward to deepening my involvement: learning more, experimenting with new features, and continuing to share my experiences so others can discover UNO as well.

Call to Action

If you haven’t tried UNO Platform yet, now is the perfect moment. Explore it at platform.uno or dive into the code on GitHub.

2019 was a breakthrough year, but I know this is just the beginning of something much bigger. I’m grateful to have been part of it since the early days — and I look forward to seeing what’s next.