Microsoft Removes Google's Chrome Installer From the Windows Store (theverge.com)

Not too long after Google published a Chrome app in the Windows Store, Microsoft removed it, claiming it "violates our Microsoft Store policies." The Verge reports: Citing the need to ensure apps "provide unique and distinct value," Microsoft says "we welcome Google to build a Microsoft Store browser app compliant with our Microsoft Store policies." That's an invitation that Google is unlikely to accept. There are many reasons Google won't likely bring Chrome to the Windows Store, but the primary reason is probably related to Microsoft's Windows 10 S restrictions. Windows Store apps that browse the web must use HTML and JavaScript engines provided by Windows 10, and Google's Chrome browser uses its own Blink rendering engine. Google would have to create a special Chrome app that would adhere to Microsoft's Store policies. Most Windows 10 machines don't run Windows 10 S, so Google probably won't create a special version just to get its browser listed in the Windows Store. Google can't just package its existing desktop app into a Centennial Windows Store app, either. Microsoft is explicit about any store apps having to use the Edge rendering engine.

Comments

Facebook for Windows Store should go, too.

[segin]

Look, you can hate me for being a Facebook user, I don't give a shit. My life, not yours.

That aside: Facebook's port of their iOS app to Universal Windows Platform doesn't use EdgeHTML, either. They bring a full port of the WebKit engine, on top of their own reimplementation of the Cocoa Touch (iOS) APIs (which Facebook got by acquiring a stealth-mode startup called OSmeta in 2013.) WebKit is clearly used, in DLLs JavaScriptCore_osmeta.dll, WebCore_osmeta.dll, WebKit_osmeta, and WebKitLegacy_osmeta.dll. It becomes more painfully obvious if you e.g. make a post or comment with a link to a page that displays the browser's User-Agent, as opening the link in-app should (by default, unless configured otherwise) use the in-app webpage preview, revealing the User-Agent string for the WebKit engine embedded and used, instead of Microsoft's EdgeHTML.

If Microsoft was to be truly fair, Facebook's apps would get yanked from the Microsoft Store as well.

Re:Facebook for Windows Store should go, too.

[mark-t]

You appear to presume that the world around you is somehow supposed to be fair.

It's a common misunderstanding.