4 ms·

I imagine not only is this a technical challenge in general, but the "best" apps require google integration and google is giving devs and big companies incentiv

I imagine not only is this a technical challenge in general, but the "best" apps require google integration and google is giving devs and big companies incentives to require the google play libraries, which this can't use. This has been google's main dirty trick since the beginning, which is why you don't see much competition in the android space. Its a few big licensed players. Niche, homebrew, emulated, etc players aren't going to get google certified. Android has just become MS from the 90s. Google is a crony capitalist tough guy as much as MS or Oracle or Apple, it just has better PR as being "friendly" and "open." MS also is clearly bribing/paying for big apps to come to its Windows platform via the Windows store, so why bother with this Android middle-man that is all trouble? Eventually the big apps got to Windows Store and that's really all that matters to 90% of customers. Everything about this project was doomed from the start. I think MS just has given up on apps and mobile and leaves that to Apple or Samsung, who are now just caretakers for ios and android at this point and mobile becoming a low/no profit commodity in the long run, outside of payment processing.

bonton89 3y ago
Is the Windows store popular now? Aside from Microsoft dog fooding I didn't get the impression it was very much used even after all these years.
- rightbyte 3y ago
  Last time I checked the MS store it was mainly bikini wallpapers. Not kidding ...
  - bikson 3y ago
    Good enough.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    Bikini wallpapers?! Oh my god, that's disgusting! Where?
    - rightbyte 3y ago
      They seem gone when I check now. I could swear, that when I installed WSL 2 years ago on my office computer, there was a ridiculous bikini wallpaper problem in the MS store. For some reason they push the store by forcing WSL installs via it ...
      - bitvoid 3y ago
        You can install WSL distros through the command line with: wsl --install -d <Distribution Name>
- kyriakos 3y ago
  Not popular but usable now they allow any kind of application and not just "modern apps". Main benefit that applications update automatically but even though I do install apps via the store I don't ever remember finding apps through it. Maybe discoverability is just bad.
- LikesPwsh 3y ago
  It's integrated with winget, but that hasn't caught on much either.

bonton89 3y ago

Is the Windows store popular now? Aside from Microsoft dog fooding I didn't get the impression it was very much used even after all these years.

rightbyte 3y ago
Last time I checked the MS store it was mainly bikini wallpapers. Not kidding ...
- bikson 3y ago
  Good enough.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  Bikini wallpapers?! Oh my god, that's disgusting! Where?
  - rightbyte 3y ago
    They seem gone when I check now. I could swear, that when I installed WSL 2 years ago on my office computer, there was a ridiculous bikini wallpaper problem in the MS store. For some reason they push the store by forcing WSL installs via it ...
    - bitvoid 3y ago
      You can install WSL distros through the command line with: wsl --install -d <Distribution Name>
kyriakos 3y ago
Not popular but usable now they allow any kind of application and not just "modern apps". Main benefit that applications update automatically but even though I do install apps via the store I don't ever remember finding apps through it. Maybe discoverability is just bad.
LikesPwsh 3y ago
It's integrated with winget, but that hasn't caught on much either.