Where do Windows 8 apps go? On the state of the Windows Store and its future

With Windows 8 Microsoft introduced an app store for its desktop operating system. The move seemed logical, accompanying the new Modern UI environment that the system brought with it. Called Windows Store, the store was intended to become the primary way for users to install applications on their computers. But things don't seem to have been that way.

Although almost two years have passed since its official arrival, the Windows Store has never managed to earn the position for which it was conceivedThe initial arreón has not had continuity and today it still suffers from great absences and applications of at least doubtful quality. Microsoft now seems focused on another strategy for Windows 9 and the store will have to be rethought accordingly. Let's do the same, reviewing the status of the Windows Store and its possible future.

The State of the Windows Store

Microsoft hasn't provided official figures for a while on the number of apps in the Windows Store, but it's possible to learn their number by other methods. The main one is the one provided by the MetroStore Scanner website, which periodically scans the store and maintains a list of all available applications. According to said website, as of September 22, 2014, the total number of applications in the Windows Store is 171,877

The number may seem large, but it pales in comparison to other app stores, such as the Windows Phone Store itself or other mobile stores.The problem is also that, since the 150,000 applications were exceeded in March, their number has barely increased by 20,000, with which, in the last six months, the store has reduced its growth rate.

Right now Windows Store receives less than 120 new apps every day, leading to a certain stagnation. Although the number continues to increase, it does so at an increasingly slow pace, and what is more serious, with fewer and fewer noteworthy developments. Microsoft itself has not made big announcements about the arrival of new applications for a long time.

And it is that far from the quantity, the biggest problem of the Windows Store seems to reside in the quality of its applications. The short list of renowned novelties is joined by an overpopulation of applications of more than dubious quality that do not help the general image of the store. The situation has been recognized by Microsoft itself, eliminating more than 1 last month.500 considered false or misleading, but still serious.

If one checks the list of best rated applications the picture is not very rosy. Few of the first applications deserve to be considered for their quality or originality. Some of them, in fact, are nothing more than simple news or video aggregators. And when we talk about well-known names, many offer versions that are not up to the standards of other platforms.

Today it's hard to deny that the Windows Store has both a quantity and a quality problem The store itself has gone through several redesigns and it looks better than ever, but the content it hides is not up to what you should expect from an app store. The good news is that things could start to change.

Waiting for the boost of universal applications

Part of the slowdown in the growth of the Windows Store occurs from the last Build held in early April in San Francisco. At that time, at the inaugural conference of the event, Microsoft announced the unification of applications from the Windows and Windows Phone stores The objective was, on the one hand, to provide developers with tools to create applications on both systems with the same code, and, on the other, allow users to access all of them regardless of the device used.

From this unification many results can still be expected. It is a fundamental step to make life easier for developers and, as a consequence, populate the Windows Store with applications directly from Windows Phone. Its corresponding versions for larger screens should boost the number and quality of those available in the Windows store, but the effect is still timid and we may need more time to understand its meaning.

Not only that. Microsoft may need to go further and definitively unify the two stores Something they may try to do sooner rather than later. The trend to abandon the differentiation between the Windows brand and the Windows Phone brand points to a future in which Redmond decides to talk about a single environment. It would be then when we finally have those truly universal applications. Those that we can open both on our smartphone and on our computer in full screen, or even as another window on the desktop.

The return of applications to the desktop

One of the novelties that the next version of Windows will include is the possibility of executing Modern UI applications on the desktop. This means that the user will no longer have to suffer the change of environment that affected the experience so much in Windows 8. In the next version of Windows any application from the Windows Store will be able to open as another window of the systemAnd that change cannot be underestimated.

In a nutshell, the separation of environments has been too heavy a slab for Windows 8. The start screen has not been able to convince a good part of desktop users, who have ended up doing it disappear from their screens at the slightest opportunity they have been given. And with it the Windows Store and its applications. But Microsoft has been vigilant, and with the renewed prominence of the desktop, the store could get a second chance

The ability to hide the start screen and return to the desktop has taken away the visibility of the Windows Store and its applications.

Universal apps and direct launch on the desktop are the two changes that could determine the future of the Windows Store. But let's not kid ourselves, the store needs something more.If Microsoft wants to give its app store real importance in Windows, it needs to start over. It needs to provide incentives for developers to think about it and it needs to offer the user something more than just a Modern UI app repository

The usual programs as salvation

We've already noted how combining with the Windows Phone Store and running Modern UI apps on the desktop are points to consider, but they probably won't fix the store's main problem: the lack of of quality applications. After all, both are apps developed with touch control and smaller screens in mind and might not work well under mouse control and on larger screens.

Where the Windows Store could find salvation is in traditional desktop applications Right now any developer can try to publish their desktop program on the Windows Store, but it will simply be listed with a link to its web page.No download and installation directly from the store.

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With the return to the desktop that has to change. If the apps from the store are also executables like traditional desktop programs, it no longer makes sense to keep the latter out of the Windows Store. The time has come to provide the user with a convenient and fast way to install software in Windows A way away from the usual method of downloading and installing based on clicking next>."

The opportunity is in the hands of Microsoft. Windows is probably the operating system with the most software available, but those from Redmond have not been able to reflect that in the Windows Store. With Windows 9 you have another chance to change the way your app store feels, and what you need may be simpler than you think.