Gandalf_The_Grey
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- Apr 24, 2016
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Microsoft, we need to talk about the Microsoft Store on Windows 10
It's not good enough for an app that's integral to the Windows 10 experience.
The Microsoft Store on Windows 10 remains an integral part of the OS. It's how users can safely and securely pay for, download, and install their favorite third-party applications. But more importantly, it's how in-box system apps get updates to keep the OS current with new features. It's an integral part of the Windows as a Service experience, which is why I'm shocked at how bad the Microsoft Store as an app really is.
The Microsoft Store has several issues, the main one being a lack of apps. This is not helped by the fact that even Microsoft doesn't put all its apps in the store. Microsoft Teams, for example, isn't in there. Neither is Visual Studio Code, or Microsoft Office. This doesn't paint a positive picture to other developers looking to distribute their apps in the Microsoft Store.
Microsoft has said that the Store is still an active monetization channel for app developers on Windows 10, but Microsoft has done extraordinarily little to convince developers it's worth investing in. The Microsoft Store itself hasn't been updated with new features or changes in over two years, and the last major update actually made the store experience even worse by making native product pages web pages, slowing down the Store experience significantly.
Internally, Microsoft has more or less abandoned the Microsoft Store as an app. It now basically runs on its own, with a little maintenance here and there to make sure basic functionality still works. The problem with this is that as mentioned above, the Microsoft Store is still an integral part of the Windows as a Service experience. Without it, Microsoft couldn't issue updates to in-box app experiences on the fly.
I think this is the main reason why the Microsoft Store as an app marketplace is still around. Microsoft can't remove it, because it plays that integral of a part in the overall OS experience. So Microsoft's "abandonment" of the Microsoft Store app is unforgivable for this very reason. Here's some examples of why the Microsoft Store app is so bad.
Microsoft, we need to talk about the Microsoft Store on Windows 10
It's not good enough for an app that's integral to the Windows 10 experience.
www.windowscentral.com