MSFT is building a new app store for Windows 10 in major revitalization effort | Hacker News Reader

MSFT is building a new app store for Windows 10 in major revitalization effort

windowscentral.com

28 pointswdb25 comments

Windows feels to me like it's completely directionless at this point. From the outside it appears to be a large collection of teams that are not collaborating but doing their own thing in their corners.

Some of the features they've delivered have been great, like no longer having to bother with installing additional antivirus. Others like the control panel, which really sits at the center of the Windows operating system, come across as very fragmented and half-baked.

I wish they really would come together and rework some of the core UI from the ground up. Be bold for once.

As hard believer on UWP I must acknowledge that this seems to be true, the WinUI / Project Reunion teams seem to try to salvage what is left of UWP ideals, while handwaving have lost the trust we had on the technology, trying to sell us the idea to keep hanging to WIP reboot that will take years to undo why they have been pushing during the last 10 years.

Starting new desktop projects in MFC/WPF/Win32 seems to be a more long term safer bet than wishing WinUI/Reunion will still deliver.

In any case I am curious if BUILD 2021 will change my current position.

> These changes will allow developers to bring their Win32 apps to the new Store without any changes to their existing code. In the past, developers were required to package their Win32 apps as an MSIX, and were forced to use Microsoft's own store-driven update and commerce platforms. This will no longer be necessary with the new Store.

I'm so relieved at this and hope these changes make their way to the Xbox app. Their store platform has been the worst thing I've seen in gaming in recent years. I've never had as much trouble getting games installed or updated as I have with the MS store. There's also their efforts to prevent users from modifying game files unless developers explicitly allow it, which would've prevented things like the absolutely necessary unofficial patches for Nier Automata.

So what does the store experience bring me then? My favorite part is the unified update management. If apps aren’t automatically updated, what value is the store bringing that an .msi isn’t?

Beyond automatic updating, the Store up until now guaranteed Clean Uninstall. Most of what is left of MSIX package restrictions after all the "Project Reunion" stuff so far and Win32 support is just to fit that guarantee. If the Store is just installing random EXEs and MSIs like it is 1999 again, how long until we get back to the "I need a cleaner app to clean up all the other apps I just uninstalled" nonsense?

Why would it be any different than it is now other than having a slightly more centralized platform? Do you use a cleaner now? Unless you're installing junk, you don't need one.

I actually have been using the Store since Windows 8. There have been apps I've tried that I never would have installed from an EXE or an MSI. Relatedly, I've also got less tech savvy family that I've been able to recommend stick to "S Mode", install everything from the Store, and I don't worry about them calling me in a few months that something is mysteriously broken or that the system is full of junk they can't uninstall.

It's a huge difference if the Store is just another distribution point for random EXE/MSI installers that can do whatever they want, install where ever they want, and may or may not clean up after themselves on uninstall.

MSIX packages have a lot of very interesting technical support for "overlays" that could be used for some very powerful mod/patch support if there was a good UI for it and maybe sideloading support with a good UI for it.

You couldn't just open File Explorer and expect to fiddle bits directly in Notepad.exe, but MSIX had the capabilities to create a "Package Explorer" to fiddle some bits in Notepad.exe (or whatever) and then package the fiddling into an overlay.

A couple games have used a subset of this tech to provide official mod support, but yeah it's overall a shame that Microsoft teased the idea of but never quite developed a general option/solution for "MSIX mods" at a high level despite having most of the platform tech for it.

I'd be more interested in an overall, OS-wide pass on unifying the UI experience and control panels.

I shouldn't still have to go three menus deep into a WinXP holdover to change the bass boost on my microphone.

The clean, consistent, expressive user interface of the Classic windows theme (introduced in Win95), in my opinion, is better than the inconsistent and often confusing mix of styles and paradigms that Windows 10 offers today.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely agree. I grew up with the classic windows theme and I honestly prefer it. I just find it frustrating to have to dive so deep to change what feel like basic settings.

Why, if I open Settings -> System -> Sound -> "Manage Sound Devices" are my only options to manage said devices "Test" and "Disable"?

I have to go back to Sound, scroll down (or over if my window is wide enough) find "Sound Control Panel" under 'Related Settings' and now I have my good old control panel with which I can meaningfully interact with and change the settings of my devices. Or, yes, Sound -> Select Device -> Device Properties -> Additional device properties. Which, again, opens a classic control panel menu.

Honestly I don't care whether the control panel has the new slick look or the classic windows theme, just unify the settings so they're not so inconsistent and scattered in different places.

>Microsoft wants to bring life back to the Store app on Windows 10.

That would imply it was alive before whereas most developers I know regarded it as dead on arrival.

it is very much alive, I assure you.

it isn't Google Play, for example, but it is very much in use by both devs and consumers.

avoid using your circle of friends and acquaintances as a barometer of entire ecosystems; that type of comparison will fail you every time.

>it is very much alive, I assure you.

If that was the case then they wouldn't be "building a new app store for Windows 10 in major revitalization effort".

It is alive, but definitely not at the level of Android and iOS stores, which is the end goal, to have the store as Windows main package manager.

yes, thank you; you said that far better than I did.

... it's always SUPER clear in my mind when I type the words, but I can never quite communicate correctly.

Yet you are happy to diss the Apple app store:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26097618

Personally I dislike these big companies trying to insert themselves into transactions between myself and my customers and will never support them.

you can renovate a house while it is lived in. why not an app store?

what's so bad about learning what your weaknesses are and then fixing them?

Nothing, just don't assume I want to come and live with you when it's done though.

>According to my sources, there are three big changes coming to the new Store that will benefit developers:

> Allow developers to submit unpackaged Win32 apps to the Store > Allow developers to host apps and updates on their own content delivery network (CDN) > Alllow developers to use third-party commerce platforms in apps

This sounds like it totally has no way to get abused. Are they going to be policing the App's published here like Apple does their app store, or more like Google does Android, or will it be like Microsoft does and go with "if it compiles, let-er rip tater-chip. If it makes the Op-Eds of the NYT, we may remove malicious apps."

There are so much good idea and concept they've created, but it's seem that none of them is went the whole hog. Please just one time think for your end user and do your product carefully.

Updates through the store isn't a bad idea.

Each program creating it's registry keys and auto-update daemon at startup isn't a great experience.

I find that constant user interface refreshes reflect the company culture and less so trends. They love to build new apps. I wish they would have incentives in place to maintain old ones.

An easily accessible, trusted repository for Win32 programs is of course welcome news. No, chocolatey does not count for casual users.

Still destined to fail as it's too late by now but I do like these changes.

How do I short this?

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