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Microsoft Dumps 1,500 Apps From Its Windows Store
redletterdave writes: Microsoft announced on its Windows blog Wednesday that it's removed more than 1,500 apps from its Windows Store in a bid to clean up the store and restore trust with Windows 8 and Windows Phone users. Microsoft's new certification process, in particular, asks for clear and accurate names that "reflect the functionality of the app," more accurate categories, and differentiated icons to ensure apps aren't confused with one another. Microsoft reached out to developers with apps that violated its policies; some agreed to make changes to their software, while those who were "less receptive" saw their apps removed from the Windows Store. That might be just the beginning.
Google needs to clean up misleading apps in their search and stop malware instead of profiting from it.
Look at the ads for Firefox.
http://i.imgur.com/piER06h.png
It's the same for other apps, like Skype etc.
This space for rent.
If you're going to have a walled garden, you might as well tend it!
Yeah, as far as windows Store goes, things went from empty to spamfilled with no golden era of sorta useful in between.
They won't fix it. They make a ton of money from those ads, make Windows slow down and look bad so they can push heavily locked down Chromebooks that techies seem to sing the praise of.
I completely fail to comprehend why most Slashdotters seem to push everyone towards DRM'ed iPads and Chromebooks that put Palladium to shame instead of more open Windows PCs.
I guess it's more about Microsoft hate and the desire to bring them down than software freedom.
They should crowdsource this. Simply mark new apps as being in a probationary period and give downloaders the option of tagging the app as misleading, malware, abuse of permissions, etc. It would greatly help their human staff find the bad apples quickly. Of course the same goes for Google and Apple.
> We took the feedback seriously and modified the Windows Store app certification requirements as a first step toward better ensuring that apps are named and described in a way that doesnÃ(TM)t misrepresent their purpose.
I'm glad to see the scamware get the boot, but the whole idea of "we changed the certification requirements" should scare everyone. Unless you're a large company with a highly sought after application, you're an idiot if you develop for platforms that don't have an open distribution model. Microsoft's platform is one instance where developers have some leverage and everyone needs to take a stand and tell Microsoft to go fuck themselves until they get their heads out of their asses stop trying to control application distribution.
Today they're kicking out the scammers. Tomorrow it'll be competitors.
This might not be a stellar opinion but its got to be said. for microsoft to jettison 1500 apps from a store few used and even fewer knew existed isnt poigniant unless you take into account that this has been microsofts strategy for 10 years in various segments. new product shows up, its identical to a product or products that have been around for 5 years, and it reluctantly disappears without much fanfare or spends a decade on XBox revenue life support. The zune was a dismal failure, and Azure only made an 11% gain because they tie the product into normal licensing for businesses, making it a mandatory item as part of discounts. Windows phone has had more stops and starts than a sixteen year old in a porsche. in 2014 it only had 3% of the marketshare for smartphones and its purchase of nokia was the kiss of death that made standard and poors downgrade their bond status to junk. the content restrictions on the appstore are virtually indistinguishable from the content restrictions of a protestant grandmother. The concept of a microsoft store in general is so hobbled its had to partner with another floating turd, best buy, to continue expansion beyond its 63 stores. Bing was the product of 3 years pounding away at yahoo until they purchased their search technology and relabeled it. After a huge marketing blitz, forcing it as a default in internet explorer, strapping it onto everything from phones to the xbox and even copying google results they still couldnt do better than an alexa rank of 23. Yahoo is alexa ranked at 4. IIS is a blood-stain that makes headlines only because its netcraft rating is artificially inflated with hosting providers that have been paid to use IIS for their static placeholder sites. Internet explorer, despite having 7 versions of development, ranks dead last in pc and mobile categories. Windows and Xbox and perpetual corporate licensing are all that keep microsoft in busines, and even Xbox isnt ranked #1 in gaming as that title goes to nintendo.
Financials and earnings reports sum this point up exactly. Microsoft has hemmoraged 21.8 billion dollars in net income and all it has to show for this is a lobbying division thats convinced a city in germany to switch to windows, and an operating system that, until valve pulls the trigger, will continue to exist solely because it shows up on the computer at the time of delivery and skyrim runs on it.
Good people go to bed earlier.
The problem comes when the apps are ported.
Say I make ACoolApp on iOS, and it's so good, someone makes an Android version. Call it "AndroidCoolApp". Now much richer from iOS sales, I decide to try my hand at Android development, and port it to Android. Now what?
ACoolApp for Android is technically "duplicate" of AndroidCoolApp, but that was a duplicate of ACoolApp to begin with.
It's happened a few times. And while it's true there are a few intentionally deceptive (search 1Password and find the REAL one), there are also plenty where both apps are legitimately developed - someone sees a cool app on the other platform, the developer is "taking too long" and release their own.
And that's the real problem - how do you properly draw the line between apps that are legitimate but happen to be similar because one inspired the other, and apps that are pure scamware and trying to undermine the original developer?
Hell, what if you make a flappy bird derivative that has some neat twists in it? Does your app no longer exist because of all the others? (And face it, most people would download the app, run it for two seconds and then mark it duplicate without trying to play it).
I guess there will be no more "Shazam" for the Windows Phone platform, then?
"In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
Sorry, the Store has been a problem for me from the start. First I don't believe in Walled Gardens but you also can't sideload Metro apps. Couple that along with the fact that you can't delete store history in Windows 8 and you'll have a situation that just pisses people off. There are multiple support threads on this in the Microsoft forums and yet nothings been done to address these deficiencies. That's why you still see vendors creating desktop mode apps which still give them some control over the user experience including downloads and support.
Sorry Microsoft, get your heads out of your collective asses and listen to your customers.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"