(Credit: Jeffrey Hazelwood/PCMag; Microsoft)
In 2012, Microsoft jumped the shark with Windows 8, releasing an ambitious, touch-first desktop OS to a world that didn't want or see the need for one. The company has spent years undoing all the bad decisions of that era, and the Microsoft Store (originally the Windows Store) has remained a sore point. But the company might finally be making it into something useful.
I still think the Microsoft Store—a central place to find easy-to-update and vetted apps that run in a sandbox—is an amazing idea, but a series of poor bets on app requirements and initiatives (see the discussion of Metro and Universal Windows Platform apps below) made it into something almost no developer or user wanted to deal with. Here's how things got so dire and how the company can fix things going forward.
What Should the Windows Store Have Been?
Apple's App Store and iPad (first released in 2008 and 2010, respectively) clearly inspired the idea of transforming Windows into a scalable, touch-ready OS with a dedicated app platform. But Microsoft took the wrong lessons from Apple's innovations, using them as an excuse to clumsily launch the Windows Store without much of a plan in place for its success.
When I first heard the early rumblings that Microsoft would have an app store on Windows, I hoped it would be like a Linux package manager. If you used Linux back in the day—even at the turn of the millennium when Windows 2000 was the hot new OS—you’ll remember that Linux systems offered a one-stop shop for installing and updating software. Such an app store could have largely saved Windows users the trouble of searching the web, dodging fake download buttons, and avoiding adware check boxes in installers. It could have ended the days of a dozen different auto-updaters running in the background and taking up significant PC resources.
In short, Microsoft could have combined the best ideas of Apple’s App Store and Linux package managers to create a centralized app repository for everyday users while still letting power users install things from wherever they liked.
The Windows Store on Windows 8 Was a Disaster
Of course, the Windows Store turned out to be a delivery platform for something Microsoft initially called “Metro apps” but now insists was just an internal code name. (There was reportedly a trademark dispute.) Whatever they were called—Microsoft threw around "modern" and "Store-style" apps but never committed to either—they were meant for Windows 8’s touch-centric interface and didn’t even run in dedicated windows on the desktop.
This focus on touch-centric apps essentially made the Windows Store useless for most users from the start. It didn't let you download the VLC app you wanted, for example, instead offering a “modern” version that ran only in full-screen mode and had fewer features. Most PC users rightfully learned to ignore the Windows Store after they discovered it didn’t have the apps they wanted.
Worse yet, the Windows Store quickly became a complete mess. Back in 2014, I pointed out that Windows 8’s app store was full of scams. For example, if you searched for “VLC,” you might have come across entries like “VLC Player Download” that cost $4.99 but which would actually show you where to download VLC for free. It was gross. As I wrote back then, "The Store is supposed to get rid of scams, not host them.”
Eventually, these issues forced Microsoft to change the Windows Store’s policies. It promised to eliminate clutter, enforce “appropriate pricing,” and generally make it a better experience. One core problem remained: Most software developers were still ignoring it. Who could blame them for not wanting to rewrite their apps for Windows 8’s new touch-first interface? And besides, you could download apps from outside the Windows store on Windows 8—except on the iPadOS-like Windows RT. The limitations of Windows RT raised the question of whether Microsoft was attempting to lock down Windows, but Windows RT and the devices that ran it, such as the original Surface with RT, ultimately failed.
Microsoft Squandered the Store During the Windows 10 Years
With the release of Windows 10 in 2015, Microsoft renewed its focus on so-called modern apps, which evolved into Universal Windows Platform (UWP) applications (they ran on all the big Microsoft platforms at the time: HoloLens, Windows 10, Windows Phone, and Xbox). But restricting the Windows Store to UWP apps was another serious misstep. Why would app developers rush to ditch their existing Windows apps for a new platform that didn’t even run on Windows 7 (which held 62% of the global Windows market share at the time)?
Microsoft’s early efforts to position the UWP framework as an option for demanding games were a failure, too. For instance, the Windows Store version of the Microsoft Studios-published game, Quantum Break, was missing a lot of features, and the company eventually abandoned it.
In 2016, Microsoft announced Project Centennial, a plan to repackage traditional Windows desktop apps for distribution through the Windows Store. Few app developers took Microsoft up on this at the time, and few Windows 10 users even noticed. In 2017, Microsoft rebranded the Windows Store to the Microsoft Store.
Windows 11’s Store Wasn't Much Better at the Beginning
With the launch of Windows 11, Microsoft made a big show of change. Finally, all desktop apps were welcome in the Store. You could even download the Epic Games Store app—a strong signal that Microsoft would distribute competing software stores.
It was great news for developers, but it didn't amount to a big transformation for end users because popular apps weren't there. Moreover, many of the desktop apps in the Microsoft Store were basically just traditional desktop software installers—you couldn't update the apps via the store. It's not surprising that most people continued to install apps via more accessible web downloaders.
How the Microsoft Store Is Finally Improving
In 2023, Microsoft changed its terms to let developers keep 100% of the revenue from non-gaming apps if they used their own commerce platform. Since then, app availability has exploded.
You can now find all kinds of desktop applications, including the real versions of big-name apps such as iTunes, OBS Studio, Slack, Spotify, and Zoom. You won’t find everything, of course. Google doesn’t publish Chrome here, for example, but you can install Firefox and Brave. If you haven’t opened the Microsoft Store lately, you should—it’s a great way to find and install apps.
This year, Microsoft announced it plans to let developers distribute updates for their apps in a standardized way. Imagine getting app updates for both Microsoft Store and non-Microsoft Store apps via Windows Update in the Settings app. But, instead of Windows downloading the updates from Microsoft, it can download them from the app developer. Every app won’t have to have its own app updater (this was an issue for WinRAR), and developers won’t have to abandon the traditional desktop apps just to offer a simplified update experience. Microsoft is also opening up the Microsoft Store to individual developers.
That’s what I wanted from the start. Flexibility for developers, easy app discovery for average PC users, and equal support for PC geeks who prefer to get apps from outside the Microsoft Store. No one wanted heavy restrictions, oversimplified and worse versions of desktop software, or new app platforms for a touch-first desktop computing revolution that never happened—just what actually makes sense for Windows.
But Is It Enough? That Depends
With the release of Windows 8, Microsoft bet it could build an entirely new app platform for Windows, separate from the desktop—and it failed. If Microsoft had prioritized the classic desktop interface and traditional desktop apps, perhaps we’d all be using more Microsoft Store apps.
I’m not sure whether the new changes are enough to achieve whatever business goals Microsoft has for the Microsoft Store. But, as a PC user, here’s what I do know: Windows 11’s Store is already way better and more useful than you think. If app developers embrace the new standardized update system across the board and keep putting their apps in the Windows Store, that well could be enough to make the Microsoft Store into what it should have been all those years ago in Windows 8.