Well, that’s a refreshing change! Alongside the many changes focused on users that Redmond recently announced for its new Microsoft Store are a couple of revisions for developers.
The redesigned apps repository is coming to both Windows 10 and Windows 11 and will include curated stories and collections to keep you updated on the newest current and upcoming releases. This, in addition to an enhanced focus on media and streaming services.
But a bunch of improvements are coming to the Microsoft Store that will interest developers.
From now on, Windows developers can publish any app to the Microsoft Store regardless of the technology framework and packaging mechanism. This means that in addition to modern solutions like UWP and PWA, classic Win32 programs and software built on Electron and Java are also available.
While Microsoft already offered a competitive 85/15 and 88/12 revenue split for apps and games, respectively, developers will not have to pay Microsoft a dime if they use their own or third-party payment mechanisms.
This starkly contrasts Google and Apple, which do not even support third-party payment systems and force developers to adopt the native billing infrastructure.
See it from any angle; this change is definitely an edge that Microsoft offers developers.
It comes into play starting July 28 and only applies to apps, not games.
But this certainly is a step towards democratizing the modern software space. If developers pick this up, users can look forward to a cornucopia of applications making the new Microsoft Store their home.
This could be big!
