The Windows 8 App Store. What should it be?

The day that people buy music pretty much exclusively from the internet has come.  I mean, how many people do you know now-a-days that don’t use software like iTunes, Zune, Rhapsody, etc.?  Maybe your grandparents? Maybe?  Companies have been trying to push this method into other forms of entertainment and software as well.  The most recently note-worthy attempt would be App Stores and Marketplaces.  Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) was the first to do this in Windows Vista in 2004. The iOS App Store did not launch until 2008. It was called the Digital Locker as was a webpage that you would log onto with you Windows LIVE ID. Once software was downloaded, you could log in on other Windows PC’s and download it again if the license of the download allowed.  It was intended to be a extremely cost effective way for developers to distribute software onto the Windows platform.  But, the Digital Locker program was a failure, and in 2008, Microsoft announced that it would be drastically cutting back in this area by 2009.  Now, in 2011, Ubuntu (Canonical) and Apple OS X (NASDAQ:AAPL) both having considerably good success with their “App Stores”, leaving Microsoft in their dust.  So now, what should Microsoft do with Windows to try and get a piece of this success?  Well, it begins by getting a solution out quickly so that we don’t get stuck playing market catch-up like the Windows Phone Marketplace is doing.

First off, the name.  With Xbox LIVE and Windows Phone entries into the “app store” business being called “Marketplace”, I’d say it should be called Marketplace to ensure consistency amongst all of the products in Microsoft’s range.  It should be a light-weight program that would be included into the Start menu.  It should be as simple, uncluttered, and as easy to use as possible.  Much like the way the Windows Phone  App Marketplace is organized in the Zune software, but much snappier.  Users would still have to log into their Windows LIVE ID, much like they have to log into their Apple ID in the Mac App Store.  Included in this store will be more than just Apps.  Users would also be able to make themes (shout out to deviantART) for sale, along with widgets, log on screens, etc., etc.  And finally, the first page that opens up as well as when you click on a category that would be on the left should open up with things like “Most viewed”, “Most purchased”, “Most downloaded”, etc., etc.  to ensure app discovery.  And when users download a app from the Marketplace, make it install while it is downloading in much the safe fashion that games downloaded in Steam (VALVE) are downloaded.  Well, now the end user side of things is situated, let’s appease the developers.

First off is software, or app, developers.  Developers just want to get the most of the time and effort that they put into their apps.  Some of them develop professionally.  Others are free lance developers that know how to code and do so for fun.  Some even, learn to program out of completely nowhere for whatever reason they have. Never the less, Microsoft will have to appeal to all developers if the new Windows Marketplace is to be a success.  First off, it irritates me that Microsoft has been recently restricting most of it’s SDK’s to Visual C#.  How about a little developer freedom?  Some people are addicted to Visual Basic, and others prefer higher level language programming such as C++.  Then, I’m sure there are a few that like C#.  But why limit our developers eager to improve our new app store by submitting their apps?  So, let’s allow developers to use any of the Microsoft supported (through some iteration of Visual Studio/Express) that they wish.  This will allow anyone who wants to develop a Windows 8 Marketplace app to do so.  Then, make it easier to submit this app by putting a “Publish to Windows App Store” button in Visual Studio.  Developers should be charged competitively to developers that submit apps to Apple’s app stores.  Maybe even do something like YouTube does for it’s producers?  Allow developers to submit apps to be approved for free, but charge if they wanted the apps to be promoted in the Marketplace?  Check out sponsored channels in YouTube if you don’t understand where I’m coming from.  But this would allow the Windows Marketplace to even compete better with the free Ubuntu Software store.

Now, I had mentioned previously about people from websites like deviantART being able to sell and distribute their amazing looking themes in the Windows Marketplace.  But first, I believe Microsoft needs to make a new version of Visual Studio, just for them.  Make it so that they can modify the look and feel of Windows as much as possible, while still being reasonable. things like custom start orbs, frames, icons, custom themed widgets, log on screens, boot screens, all the things that are typically modified in one of these types of themes.  This could also potentially improve security for Windows, as you would probably drastically cut the amount of people trying to hack Windows system files just so they can change the look and feel of Windows, not to mention offer digital artists a way to monetize on their amazing abilities. I know I’d pay for the theme picture above. And I’d pay for it in the Windows Marketplace because of the quality and simplicity of the installation it would offer. By the way, props to ~S-u-P-R-e-M-e (Alex) from deviantART for his amazing work in the form of the PURE Windows 7 theme pictured above. You should really check out his page.  I won’t lie.  There is one huge thing I miss greatly about Windows 98 SE.  Something that has been overlooked by almost everyone version since that time.  Windows themes.  First off, Windows 98 came with multitudes of more themes right out of the box than all other versions of Windows after that, and it was practically a copy and paste evolution to add new ones.  I remember how cool I felt as a nine-ish year old kid with the Windows NT/Windows 98 based machine my father had built me, replacing my logo.sys and logos.sys files so I could have custom boot and shutdown screens.  In many ways, thinking back at it, I think that might have been what spooled my passion for technology.  I think it might have been the first thing I had done something with a computer that was more impressive than just turning it on.  At that moment I figured if I could change something like that, that easily, what else can I do with this mysterious beige box?

The only last thing that I want to mention is Windows Update.  It should remain its own separate application, but should work with the Marketplace.  Everything downloaded from the Marketplace should be push updated through Windows Update. To be honest, I don’t really feel like much has to be done to Windows Update.  Just ensure that is stays that way, Microsoft.  Remember to check out the source links on the bottom, and comment if you have anything you would like to see in a Windows 8 Marketplace.

 

Sources:

MobileKnots (Windows Phone Marketplace picture)
~S-u-P-R-e-M-e (Alex) from deviantART (Windows Theming SKILLZ)
IntoMobile (Windows Flag picture)