Building a new, open Microsoft Store on Windows 11
Building a new, open Microsoft Store on Windows 11
Today, we introduced Windows 11. What makes Windows, well, Windows is the variety of apps available – from core to casual games, from sophisticated productivity suites to social experiences, from creativity tools to niche hobbyist apps, from developer tools to entire virtualized environments.
A few years ago, we launched the Microsoft Store on Windows. The Microsoft Store is now one of the most used apps on PCs, and customers tell us they love the convenience and reassurance it brings, compared to the risks of installing apps from the web. However, app developers have told us that technical and policy constraints built into the original foundations of the Store sometimes made it difficult to get their apps published. We’ve used this feedback to re-think and rebuild the Microsoft Store, so it can meet the needs of customers and developers alike.
Introducing a new Microsoft Store
Today, we are excited to introduce a new Microsoft Store coming soon to both Windows 11 and Windows 10. It will help you discover and install the best apps, games, movies and even special offers – like unique movie discounts for Xbox Game Pass members. All the content in the Microsoft Store is tested for security, family safety and device compatibility.
We gave a few app publishers an early look at our plans, and today, we’re excited to share that several awesome apps, including Adobe Creative Cloud, Disney+, TikTok, Zoom, and some of our own apps like Microsoft Teams, Visual Studio, and even Notepad and Paint will be coming to the Microsoft Store on Windows.
We redesigned the Microsoft Store from the ground up, making space for more content, keeping the user experience simple and responsive. Here’s a sneak preview at some of the features coming over the next few months:
- Get introduced to the best apps and games with curated stories and collections
We want the Microsoft Store to be the place to get all your favorite apps – including the ones you haven’t heard about…yet! We are introducing Stories, rich editorial content to keep you informed about the best apps and inspire you to achieve more with your device.
- Run your favorite Android mobile games and apps on Windows
We also announced a partnership with Amazon to bring their catalog of Android apps and games to Windows. Windows customers will be able to discover Android apps in the Microsoft Store, and acquire them through the Amazon Appstore.
- A “pop-up” store that helps install apps from the web
With the new pop-up store, we are making it easy to install apps from the browser; when you click a Microsoft Store download badge on a web page, the Microsoft Store will pop up to manage the install – without pulling you away from what you were doing.
A more open Microsoft Store for developers
We believe app stores should be grounded in choice, fairness and innovation. Inspired by these principles, our new Microsoft Store takes two important steps to address feedback from developers about what an app store can do for them:
- Support for more types of apps
Starting today, Windows developers can publish any kind of app, regardless of app framework and packaging technology – such as Win32, .NET, UWP, Xamarin, Electron, React Native, Java and even Progressive Web Apps. Developers can sign-up here to publish desktop apps, or build and package PWAs using our latest open-source tool PWABuilder 3.
- Flexibility and choice of commerce platform
Many developers love the Microsoft Commerce platform because of its simplicity, global distribution, platform integration and its competitive revenue share terms at 85/15 for apps and 88/12 for games.
Starting July 28, app developers will also have an option to bring their own or a third party commerce platform in their apps, and if they do so they don’t need to pay Microsoft any fee. They can keep 100% of their revenue.
Ready for you
We are launching an early preview of the new Microsoft Store for you to try in the upcoming Windows Insider build. We’ll continue to build and refine it in the open, and we’d love for you to participate or – for developers – to bring your existing or new apps. See you there!
Editor’s note – June 24, 2021 – The page above was updated to provide a link for developers to sign up to publish desktop apps.
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