The Windows Store... why did I sign up with this mess again?

This sounded awfully much like Apple's app store process. Different details, but a horrible and unintuitive experience nonetheless.

Is it simply difficult to make a good developer signup workflow, or are both of these companies unmotivated to make any effort on the front?

Is your bank run by like a 90-year-old man?

Because I have a bank-issued credit card also, and I can log in and see my activity, even pending purchases that haven't cleared yet.

Oh, the pains of spending all day filling out forms and spending $180 in licensing to become set up in the Windows store. The agony!

This sounds like the same signup process is in use for both M and Desktop apps. You could probably start making M-ui based programs too, and even host them in the store!

Why ARE you going through all of this effort, since you're so quick to point out the small the benefit to you? Why not just forget it all and just sell your programs from your own website? Do you regularly place yourself in disadvantaged situations so you'll have a reason to be angry later?

>Now, about live accounts. You might know this: live accounts are tied to everything you do with Microsoft. So if you have an MSDN subscription, e.g. the one which costs over $5000.-, it's tied to this same live account. But the fun thing is, you can login with your live account to the MSDN subscriptions with just the account id and password. No additional code is mailed to you. While it gives you access to all Microsoft software available, including your licenses.

>Why the draconian security theater with this Windows Store, while all I want is to publish some desktop applications while on other Microsoft sites it's OK to simply sign in with your live account: no codes needed, no verification and no certificates?

Cannot believe he's serious. Doesn't he see the massive malware problem with Windows applications? Microsoft is going to such great lengths so that anyone submitting applications with malware, disguised or not, will have some accountability later. i.e Expect MS and/or law enforcement to come after you, that's why all the identity checking. Also, this discourages fly-by-night operations from trying to submit malware to the store.

Comparing that to MSDN login is a pretty invalid comparison. If someone hacks in to your MSDN account, MS potentially loses a few thousand worth of software. If people are able to distribute malware through Windows Store, care to estimate the damage caused by the inevitable headline "Microsoft Windows Store distributes malware" even though MS just links to the software ?

Apple's answer to this was to heavily sandbox OS X apps, due to which there was a lot of outcry with developers jumping ship to normal distribution.

Also note that Microsoft is not forcing developers to pay 30% of the desktop software sale price like Apple is, so the cost of those certificates might pay for itself down the line.

i for one feel that microsoft is completely justified in actually being stricter with these desktop listings in the windows store..

these apps don't go through the same certification processes as do the modern apps that sit alongside them in the store, but they get all the discoverability from being in there.. to a consumer, all apps via an app store are assumed to be stable and safe (even if they link to an external site to complete payment). just the fact that they're listed there in the windows store provides a de-facto stamp of approval that these apps are vetted by microsoft.

if they aren't sufficiently strict and maleware (or process-hogging apps) get through it would undermine both trust in microsoft and in the reliability of the app store which would probably hurt all devs.