This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

W10 Store Feature

When Microsoft launched Windows 10, the company emphasized the new operating system was the foundation for a brand-new Windows ecosystem. Going forward, Windows users could look forward to unprecedented compatibility between smartphones, tablets, PCs, and fifty-fifty the Xbox One. The Windows-equally-a-service model meant that no i would be left behind on an ancient operating system. The Windows Shop is vital to bringing this vision to reality, simply developer feedback is anything but positive.

Digital Trends recently interviewed several long-time Windows developers, including Scott Peterson of Liquid Daffodil. Peterson has been writing applications for Windows since the company launched Windows 2.0, and he makes a living developing custom Windows software for oil and gas companies. Digital Trends describes him equally a "steadfast evangelist."

What Peterson and other developers like Gaurav Kalra of Next Matters see, nonetheless, doesn't have them singing praises to the heavens. While the Windows ten install base is theoretically much larger than the Windows Phone ecosystem — Nokia and Microsoft accept shipped an estimated 110 one thousand thousand Windows Phone devices since 2022, while Microsoft reports over 200 meg devices using Windows 10 in the past eight months — the vast bulk of their revenue is beingness driven by mobile devices.

WinUniversalApps

Microsoft isn't very adept at naming things.

Co-ordinate to Kalra, their NextGenReader application has been downloaded more than 300,000 times since it debuted on the Windows Telephone shop, but only 90,000 of those downloads were to a PC running Windows 8, viii.1, or Windows x. Both developers are committed to the Windows platform, but neither believes they can honestly recommend it every bit a practical, money-making enterprise.

Are desktop paradigms killing the Windows Store?

When Microsoft announced that Windows 8 would characteristic an App Store, and that this represented the hereafter of the company'due south software design and distribution plans, user reaction wasn't very positive. Gabe Newell and Valve built Steam OS every bit a defensive measure, designed to foreclose Microsoft from requiring all PC games to be sold through their own store front end, cutting Steam off at the knees. Others expressed concern about how the strict sandboxing requirements would bear upon application functionality.

It shortly became clear that these fears were unfounded. The Windows Store launched aslope Windows 8 and quickly became known equally a place where good apps went to die aslope shovelware and scams. A year afterwards launch, it was still common to see tertiary-party programs masquerading as official clients for major Web services and social media hubs. Microsoft has slowly dealt with some of these issues, just desktop and laptop users still don't use the Windows Store much, if at all.

Windows 8.0 Store, December 2022

The original Windows eight.0 store: At present with extra Indian apps in an American market

The criticisms levied at the Windows Store are genuine, but they may not be the root cause. It's at least possible that what'due south holding the Windows Store back is the users themselves.

If you own a smartphone or tablet, the just official fashion to install new software is through Google Play, iOS, or Amazon. Only desktop and laptop users have decades of experience in finding their own software, usually through various online repositories.

Here'southward a uncomplicated example: If y'all watch movies or television shows on your PC, chances are you play them back with either VLC or an awarding like Media Role player Classic. If you're a gamer, yous use Steam. If you apply instant messenger services, there's already a suite of applications that can handle them.

In the early on days of the iPhone — at least after Apple unveiled the App Shop in 2008, a year after launch — Apple showcased the telephone by running the tagline "At that place'due south an app for that." In a way, that'southward the PC's trouble: There'due south already an app for that, and if you've been using the desktop for 10-twenty years, you probably know which ones you similar and which you don't.

Microsoft has tried to offering compelling applications built around its new UI, but these applications are often handicapped by intrinsic limitations that their desktop brethren don't share. Adobe Photoshop's mobile version can't use plug-ins, because Microsoft's API doesn't permit them for security reasons. Even applications equally simple as photo viewers or video players expect all content to reside in a single privileged directory. The problem is, that'due south not how most PC users maintain content libraries, especially over a v-10 year catamenia.

I still remember meliorate curation and presentation could solve this problem long-term — Steam'due south gradual transformation from an online service everyone loathed to a cherished online gaming hub is proof that people really tin can change their opinions of a thing long-term. Before it tin can modify people's perceptions, however, Microsoft needs content worth featuring and and so a way to characteristic it that doesn't make users feel like they're being groped at a swoop bar past a 300lb used-car salesman.

usedcarsalesman

[Insert nauseating sexual allusion here]

It's worth noting that Microsoft isn't the merely company with this problem. Apple's Os X App Shop has lagged far behind its online cousin, with fewer features and limits on Bone Ten – iOS compatibility. Many of the problems MacWorld details within the Os X App Store are also problems with the Windows Store.

The difference between the ii, of form, is that Apple tree'south massive mobile infrastructure dwarfs whatever minor problems it might be having with the desktop App Shop. Microsoft, on the other hand, is trying to bootstrap its mobile business concern past relying on its desktop strength. Things could start to turn around this year as Windows x matures, but it's going to be a long, slow climb.