Microsoft will completely relaunch the Windows 10 app store this year for a better user and developer experience
Resource Windows Central, citing their informants, said Microsoft is working on a completely new app store for Windows 10, which should offer a modern and flexible user experience. The company will also make changes to the policy for approving programs for the store: it is reported that the site will become more user-friendly for both users and developers.
It’s fair to say that the Microsoft Store app for Windows 10 has faded into the background over the past couple of years, although it hasn’t shone in the past either. The store is unattractive, slow, and unintuitive. All of this should change with the new environment Microsoft is working on.
The store’s app will reportedly follow the same Sun Valley design update as the rest of Windows 10 – it will be rolled out towards the end of the year. Many built-in apps, including the store, will be enlivened with a new interface structure, design, fresh icons in a consistent style, and smooth animations.
The new store will still be a UWP app, but Microsoft will take it seriously with monthly updates with new features and improvements. The Windows Store will supposedly provide more stable downloads and installations of large apps and games.
But the main thing is that Microsoft will allegedly take a step that it should have taken even earlier. For example, the company will allow developers to migrate their Win32 applications to the new store without any changes, right in the existing code. In the past, they had to package their Win32 programs in MSIX and were forced to use Microsoft’s update and commerce platforms. With the new store, this will no longer be necessary.
Microsoft will allow developers to submit regularly.EXE or. MSI packages to the store and will even give host apps and release updates through their own CDN channels. This change will benefit developers with built-in auto-update functionality (like Firefox or Zoom) by giving them control over how and when updates or other types of content are sent to users. Finally, Microsoft will allow developers to use their own revenue streams in applications, bypassing Microsoft’s commercial platform entirely. What’s more, Microsoft won’t charge a share from developers who use their trade and advertising channels – it looks like the move will be the first in the industry.
Microsoft wants to position the Windows Store as an open platform that will allow users to find the best Windows apps easily. In the past, programs that were rejected for using native update systems or in-app purchases will now be allowed. These changes should allow apps like Google Chrome or Adobe Creative Cloud to be available on the store, although time will tell if these developers really get interested in the site.
Interestingly, thanks to the changes, Microsoft itself will finally add many of its top-notch apps to its own store: Teams, Office, Edge, and even Visual Studio. This step will show end-users and developers that Microsoft is serious about the new store.
The new store is reportedly launching in the fall – most likely in conjunction with the Windows 10 Sun Valley update, although the fresh store is likely to be carried over to older versions of Windows 10. Microsoft is likely to announce its plans for a new store at a conference Build 2021, followed by a public beta release shortly thereafter.
