A month after Windows 10’s launch, Microsoft’s new Windows Store falls short

[steven36]

To find a new app on Windows 10, you may need to skip the Windows Store.

That’s the takeaway based on our experience so far with the Windows Store on Windows 10 desktop and touch-screen machines. A month after the now-unified storefront debuted, it still feels geared toward mobile devices and lacks some essential programs. Missing apps include popular communications client Slack, the full Evernote and even Microsoft’s full Office Suite for desktop users.

In some cases, the store does include lightweight versions of those essential apps, such as Evernote Touch and universal versions of the Office apps geared for touch devices. And with other apps, such as Slack and the full Office suite, the software is available for download on the web.
But anyone looking for a one-stop shop for Windows 10 apps will be disappointed.

How it works
With Windows 10, Microsoft introduced a new way for users to buy all of their digital goods. From movies to watch on your desktop, to apps for your phone, the Windows Store is where Microsoft wants you to shop for virtual products for all your Windows devices. But that all-in-one experience leads to a cluttered store and makes finding apps hard. Plus, the obvious omissions make the store feel incomplete.

It’s not necessarily the design that causes the Store to fail. There are clear sections for apps, games, music and movies. The download process is pretty seamless as well, with recently downloaded apps showing up in the rehabilitated Start Menu. But the selection is sparse.

The first thing you notice when logging into the Store is the preponderance of games. If you’re logging on from a more traditional desktop setup, the touch-focused games probably aren’t what you’re looking for. In fact, the whole Store seems aimed toward the Surface, touchscreen laptops and, eventually, Windows Phone users.

The Store was populated from the outset with a lot of mobile apps, which users can now download on their desktops. Facebook and Twitter are there, brought over from the Windows Phone store. And with an update to Visual Studio that lets developers reuse code from other platforms, users may see more apps popular on iOS and Android coming to Windows 10 soon.

But there is still a lot missing. There’s no TweetDeck, Todoist or Slack. Classic desktop games like Civilization and BioShock are missing too. Instead of a full-fledged Evernote, the Store only has the mobile-focused Evernote Touch.

Even Microsoft’s own apps aren’t the full-fledged desktop versions. The Windows Store only has the touch-optimized, mobile versions of Word, PowerPoint and Excel; if you want the full versions, you have to turn to the web.

Microsoft has made this distinction purposefully. But why have a unified store if it’s not comprehensive?

Users who want Word may turn to Google to find the right download. But when you search for “Word download,” everything after the initial results looks like a cesspool of malware-infested sites.

A main benefit of having a store built into your operating system is that it makes it easy to download apps without worrying if they’re safe to open. But the Windows Store has a bunch of knockoff apps, like this misleading BioShock Infinite app.

A common problem

Microsoft isn’t alone in having this problem. The Mac App Store has similarly slim pickings. It does have Slack, the desktop version of Evernote, some classic desktop games and Apple’s iWork suite, but apps like Spotify and Dropbox are nowhere to be found. Apple does warn users who try to open apps downloaded from the web, but users still have to turn to Google to find many essential apps.

However, Apple also has separate stores for mobile and media purchases. The App Store on iOS is the only way to get your app on iPhones and iPads, so developers have been conditioned to submit apps there from launch. And iTunes was a pioneer in the market of music, movie and TV show downloads.

It isn’t necessarily Microsoft’s fault that developers aren’t putting their apps in the Windows Store. Right now, developers have full control of how apps are distributed. But Microsoft is quietly nudging developers to cede some of that control to the Store. Sure, it benefits Microsoft if they control the storefront, but they’re trying to make it better for developers too.

Updates are more seamless for apps downloaded through the store. And users who use Cortana to start their searches will see store links without ever having to open a web browser. If a user asks Cortana to find a painting app, she’ll point them toward an app in the Store. Developers who jump into the Store early can use that exposure to their advantage.

But Microsoft still has a way to go if they want to compete with offerings on other platforms. They’ll have to push developers hard and make it easier to tell whether apps are meant for desktops or phones.

In the meantime, you might just have to turn to a search engine — and trust your gut — to find your next Windows 10 app.

Source

[heyyahblah]

Seems to me that more and more the Windows Store seems to cater towards stupid touch interfaces and not the Desktop Gamer or Enthusiast who needs his machine to play high end games or do video editing, rendering and so forth. For me all the apps are complete useless garbage. Powershell uninstalled everything except for voice recorder, calculator. and the windows store, lol. I even use classic windows photo viewer, not that photos crapp.

Hopefully in the next update their will be an ability to remove all that store junk, espcially forcefully installed ones like xbox.

[steven36]

All ready you can remove most of it trough power shell incl the store . I did it myself.

How to Uninstall Windows 10’s Built-in Apps (and How to Reinstall Them)

http://www.howtogeek.com/224798/how-to-uninstall-windows-10s-built-in-apps-and-how-to-reinstall-them/

[eddman]

Did he have to write this HUGE wall of text just to tell us that desktop programs are simply not listed in the windows 10 store?!

Honestly, I don't see why Win32 programs not being listed in the store is such a huge problem. They cannot be downloaded from the store anyway. They simply link to the publisher's website.

I, and pretty much everyone else, already know how to find them; through a search engine.

[steven36]

Did he have to write this HUGE wall of text just to tell us that desktop programs are simply not listed in the windows 10 store?!

Honestly, I don't see why Win32 programs not being listed in the store is such a huge problem. They cannot be downloaded from the store anyway. They simply link to the publisher's website.

I, and pretty much everyone else, already know how to find them; through a search engine.

Some people think they can use windows apps and they will be good as real apps .. But this wont never be so because there sandboxed away from the real pc And yes there are apps in the store that have the same names as real apps but they wont work the same . If I wanted a phone I would buy a phone . That's why I uninstalled everything they let me and disabled even more things myself.

[eddman]

people think they can use windows apps and they will be good as real apps .. But this wont never be so because there sandboxed away from the real pc And yes there are apps in the store that have the same names as real apps but they wont work the same . If I wanted a phone I would buy a phone . That's why I uninstalled everything they let me and disabled even more things myself.

If they don't know, then that's their problem, isn't it? There are a lot of uninformed people out there and it's their own responsibility to get informed.

Also, claiming that store, WinRT apps will NEVER be as capable as Win32 programs is very farfetched. It's mostly up to the developers to create feature rich apps. Although WinRT hasn't matched Win32 yet, it's quite close already and is constantly improving.

P.S. Just to clarify; I'm not defending anything here. The only store apps that I use are weather apps, for now.

[CODYQX4]

As long as it's crippleware, Win Store will not succeed.

There's so much potential if they allow unrestricted apps.

I like the Mac App Store, and the idea of "my account is my license, not my hardware or some code", but they severely hamper the ability for more apps with their sandboxing requirement, and MAS is a 2nd-Class citizen to the iOS App Store.

Put the full version of VLC in the Windows App Store, do auto-updates? I'll allow it. I waste way too much of my life manually downloading, hoarding, and updating software via installer.