The new Microsoft Store policy for Windows 11, which allows unpackaged classic Win32 apps to be published to the store, has clearly appealed to many developers. With that change the new Microsoft Store is gradually becoming a hub for all Windows desktop applications. Regardless of the underlying technology, be it UWP, Win32 or PWA, the app can be published.
Advertisеment
Microsoft is also committed to making many of its products available in the app store. For example, this week the company published the Visual Studio 2019 and Visual Studio Code installers in the Microsoft Store. You can already find them through the search in the store.
Note that those are not actual products but only online installers. For example, if you choose to install Visual Studio 2019, the Store won't download the whole product for you. Instead, it will download and run a tiny web installer that will do all the job. It is just a classic app that will download Visual Studio on your local drive and then run the installer.
Over time, Microsoft is expected to add other native apps to the store, including Teams, Office, and more. It is also known that Adobe will soon release its Creative Cloud package in the Microsoft Store.
It also worth noting that in the case of classic Win32 applications, the Microsoft Store downloads a regular installer to the device, which previously had to be manually downloaded from the developer's website. This means that such applications can still use their own update systems and CDNs.
Another great feature that is coming to Microsoft Store is Android app support. Microsoft is actively working on improving the Store app. Just today, the Redmond company added support for new filters and sorting options, and changes their appearance in the Library section of the Store app.
Support us
Winaero greatly relies on your support. You can help the site keep bringing you interesting and useful content and software by using these options:
If you like this article, please share it using the buttons below. It won't take a lot from you, but it will help us grow. Thanks for your support!
Advertisеment
