Windows 10 unified store starts to appear for Insiders

[HEXUS]

A new store for PC, tablet, phone, Xbox, the Internet of Things, and more.

Read more.

[Saracen]

... Now the corporation has made the first visible steps to providing a unified store where everyone in the Windows ecosystem will go for apps and games. ....

Hmmm.

I'm liking the direction of travel of the Windows "ecosystem" less and less, and a wholesale switch to Linux is looking ever more appealing.

First, I don't have, or want, an MS account. I've avoided it so far, sticking entirely with local accounts. In much the same way, I neither have, nor want, a Google account.

I'm increasingly worried that MS are forgetting the 'P' in PC. It's a personal computer, configured by me to suit MY needs, wants and preferences, not a marketing tool for MS (or Google, or whoever) to leverage into a sales device embedded in my home.

If MS go the way it increasingly looks like they will, and have since the Win8 debacle, then they no longer offer a platform I'm buying into, either philosophically or monetarily. Shame, but .... oh well.

And "thanks for all the fish."

[shaithis]

This has been on the cards ever since we learnt about Windows 8 and the XB1.

This pretty much completes the unification and I would be a lot more excited about it if I had ever found anything on the Windows store worth downloading.......

The annoying thing is that the one unification I want, they will never do. XB1 > PC compatibility on games.

[Corky34]

I'm liking the direction of travel of the Windows "ecosystem" less and less, and a wholesale switch to Linux is looking ever more appealing.

You wouldn't be the first to come to that conclusion.
Windows 7 will be the last Microsoft operating system for me, i just hope Valve and the Linux community can address some of the problems associated with running it in the next 5 years.

[LSG501]

So this is essentially the same approach as itunes (for iOS) and google (play store) in that they have a one stop shop for all their apps, music and movies/tv. Don't see a major issue with this IF it's done well and is likely more for 'metro' apps than things like say photoshop.
Yes apple and google have split off desktop and mobile but microsoft is the first major os to fully combine all ecosystems so I'm sure apple and google would be doing the same.

Personally I don't have an issue with an 'ms account' linked to my store purchases, I have one for android/play store, I had/have one for itunes and surprisingly I need one for most of my online shopping accounts, Amazon being a perfect example. At the end of the day you don't have to purchase items from the store although I'm sure that is the direction MS (and apple/google) would like it to go, they get a cut in most cases I'm sure... I know that wouldn't work with my software and we still have people with restrictive internet connections.

I also doubt they'll remove the personal accounts just yet, it will likely come along but to be honest it's not a big issue in my experience, I'm not going to put sensitive data on onedrive (or anything else) but I already had a years old hotmail account so using it to log in to the desktop isn't that different, it's also my 'calendar' so I can see it on both office 2010 and android (google being pita again).

[Corky34]

Last time i checked though a PC is a general-purpose computer, it isn't a Microsoft computer.
If i wanted to be locked into one manufacturer or company i would buy into the Apple or Google walled garden.

[shaithis]

Last time i checked though a PC is a general-purpose computer, it isn't a Microsoft computer.
If i wanted to be locked into one manufacturer or company i would buy into the Apple or Google walled garden.

Your not locked into anything. You have all the choice you want and no one is forcing you to use, let alone purchase anything, from the Windows Store.

Just like you don't need to install iTunes or Chrome.

[Ksyruz]

I don't see why people are moaning that Microsoft is creating a Google Play/iTunes store. This has become the social norm due to Apple and Google, thus making it a better strategy for General consumers. And anyway Microsoft will have a Business version of Windows that does not require a outlook account

[Corky34]

Your not locked into anything. You have all the choice you want and no one is forcing you to use, let alone purchase anything, from the Windows Store.

Not yet you aren't no, but it's pretty obvious that Microsoft are walking people down the garden path that leads to their walled garden, you only have to look away from the pretty flowers and look up at the signposts.

[Saracen]

Your not locked into anything. You have all the choice you want and no one is forcing you to use, let alone purchase anything, from the Windows Store.

Just like you don't need to install iTunes or Chrome.

Like corky said .... "not yet, you aren't". That's why I said it's the direction of travel I don't like.

It may just be the wording of the HEXUS article rather than MSs intentions, but notice ....[QUOTENow the corporation has made the first visible steps to providing a unified store where everyone in the Windows ecosystem will go for apps and games.QUOTE]
Not "can", or "may", but "will". Even if that is just HEXUS wording, it appears to me to be entirely consistent with ever-greater pressure to push consumers/users where they want us to go. One example of that is that the ability to use lical accounts, even now, really rather depends on the user knowing they exist, knowing the difference with an MS account, and wirking out how to do things in a way MS clearly don't want users to, but won't (yet) quite ban.

I see a distinct similarity in methodology with Android forcing users to register an account with an email address to even get the tablet I'm using right now to power up. So, I used a one-shot temporary address that I've never even been back to see if there's any incoming email.

Also, of course, Android making it ever harder to either install software that doesn't come from them, via Pkay store, or to get rid of a lot if the pre-installed garbage that I don't want and WILL NOT use.

This tablet is far from a personal device, because Google and the hardware manufacturer do their damnedest to ensure I use software they want me to use, and it seems to me MS are heading down that same road, step by inevitable step.

[shaithis]

One example of that is that the ability to use lical accounts, even now, really rather depends on the user knowing they exist, knowing the difference with an MS account, and wirking out how to do things in a way MS clearly don't want users to, but won't (yet) quite ban.

They quite clearly have that "Sign in with a local account" option on the screen for the Microsoft account. Yes, it could be bigger, yes it could be a dialogue making it impossible to miss but not everyone feels the need to be so paranoid about creating an account.....

I see a distinct similarity in methodology with Android forcing users to register an account with an email address to even get the tablet I'm using right now to power up. So, I used a one-shot temporary address that I've never even been back to see if there's any incoming email.

Odd....Having owned 4 android phones and 2 android tablets (from Cupcake to Lollipop) I have never ever been forced to create an account to use a device. Not once. I have had to create an account to use the store though. Some might say the devices are useless without the account but you can enable installing apps via USB and download them elsewhere and load them on, all without ever creating or using a google account.

Also, of course, Android making it ever harder to either install software that doesn't come from them, via Pkay store, or to get rid of a lot if the pre-installed garbage that I don't want and WILL NOT use.

News to me, I've already loaded a number of apps onto my new un-rooted M9 via USB....same procedure I have always used.

This tablet is far from a personal device, because Google and the hardware manufacturer do their damnedest to ensure I use software they want me to use, and it seems to me MS are heading down that same road, step by inevitable step.

I have yet to be forced to use anything on any of my devices. I could understand if you have purchased an Amazon or Nook device, they would force you (and rightfully so).....If it was another manufacturer though, that sounds odd. Most will use AOSP builds which won't have anything forced on you. The big players have their own builds and sometimes will force something on you, which is why Cyanogenmod exists.

[Saracen]

I don't see why people are moaning that Microsoft is creating a Google Play/iTunes store. This has become the social norm due to Apple and Google, thus making it a better strategy for General consumers. And anyway Microsoft will have a Business version of Windows that does not require a outlook account

Because the OS for a "personal" computer is supposed to be enabling software that allows me to pay for the software ONCE, then configure the machine how I want it, not how some giant corporate wants me to have it. It's not supposed to be a marketing trojan horse enabling MS to data profile me, and THAT is what I find objectionable in having a central MS account that links all sorts of discrete services together, enabling them to build all sorts of metrics and data about me, personally.

And I will no more sign up for Google Play or iTunes, in a way that identifies me personally, than I will for MS. I don't have an iTunes account and never will have. The only Google account I have leads to an email account I've never used, beyond that initial startup. Even the IP address isn't going to help them. I don't even use Google as a search engine, and the sky hasn't fallen in on me yet.

For basic privacy reasons, I won't use such services, and MS look like they're going the same way. If they do, I stop using MS products too. I don't expect MS to notice, or care, unless far larger numbers than I expect do the same, but nonetheless, if they go that route, I go LINUX. I've been expecting this, and have preoared for it, since the Win8 launch, but it looks like my personal L-day is getting closer. Even .... close. If so, shame, but so be it.

[crossy]

I see a distinct similarity in methodology with Android forcing users to register an account with an email address to even get the tablet I'm using right now to power up. So, I used a one-shot temporary address that I've never even been back to see if there's any incoming email. Also, of course, Android making it ever harder to either install software that doesn't come from them, via Play store, or to get rid of a lot if the pre-installed garbage that I don't want and WILL NOT use.

Hmm, I'm not 100% convinced that the you-must-have-a-Google-account is an Android restriction. Unfortunately I've not got access to an Android device with a 3rd party ROM that doesn't have Google Apps (GApps) also installed.

Sideloading is also possible - Amazon's store is done that way (as are Beta versions of BeyondPod that I'm using). Failing that there's other stores like Aptoide and F-Droid.

I'm not concerned by the availability of one "Windows Store" as it seems like a natural way to do things. What I'd be far more concerned about are:
a. That you have to have a "Windows Store" account to get any patches; and/or
b. You need an online account with MS to be able to do certain key operations.

One of my kids is running a two-month old copy of W10 and we were unable to get to the User Admin parts of Control Panel until she converted her account to an "online" one AND that system was connected to the 'net. Up to that point W10 looked pretty damn good, but needing to go online to add new user accounts is a big fat FAIL in my book.

Then again, what do I care, I only use Windows for gaming - anything "proper" (like banking, software development, etc) is done on Linux because I prefer the faster response and utter lack of BSoD's. Actually, there's a good example - Ubuntu Software Centre is a similar store, but doesn't seem to ask for any credentials.

[Saracen]

Samsung tablet, shaithis, and on initial power-on, it goes to a Play registration screen requiring an email address, and if there's a way past it without providing one, I couldn't find it, despite spending about two hours trying. Nor could my brother. And between us, we have about 95 years (yes, ninety five, it's not a mistake) computer and IT experience, the vast bulk of it professional and commercial, and the rest, academic.

As for installing apps, it depends on the apps. A decent firewall, for instance, that lets me have some control over what apps talk out? Similarly, getting rid of pre-loaded garbage without rooting? Again, not that I've been able to do on this tablet.

And MS have been making the local account link less and less obvious and intuitive. It's there, IF you look for it, but it's now way less obvious than a simple option box, with "local account" and "MS account" as options. It really requires users installing to know what they want, that it's available and to find it rather than just drift through the defaults.

[Saracen]

Hmm, I'm not 100% convinced that the you-must-have-a-Google-account is an Android restriction. Unfortunately I've not got access to an Android device ....

It may not be solely Google. In my case, it may be Samsung. Google have, however, been systematically moving elements of Android out of open licensing into Google forks, with Google exercising considerable control over OEMs that want to use those services, and/or components. But that's getting off-topic.

My concern is not so much this W10 store, or the current status of local accounts v. MS accounts, etc. It is, as I said at the start, the direction of travel. It's been a whole series of marketing decisions, from the W8 GUI fiasco, to 'always on' requirements for XB1, and so on, that strongly suggest to me what their agenda, their end destination, is. And if it is, I'm getting off the train shortly.,

[Hicks12]

It may not be solely Google. In my case, it may be Samsung. Google have, however, been systematically moving elements of Android out of open licensing into Google forks, with Google exercising considerable control over OEMs that want to use those services, and/or components. But that's getting off-topic.

My concern is not so much this W10 store, or the current status of local accounts v. MS accounts, etc. It is, as I said at the start, the direction of travel. It's been a whole series of marketing decisions, from the W8 GUI fiasco, to 'always on' requirements for XB1, and so on, that strongly suggest to me what their agenda, their end destination, is. And if it is, I'm getting off the train shortly.,

Yup Saracen it would be Samsung at fault here, android at stock i.e what google pushes to the android core does allow you to continue without added an account, its quite simple so I would presume samsung have been naughty and implemented code that does not allow you to! With android you can install things without a market app and can install third parties so its not really at fault.

Honestly I dont mind this, windows 8 brought in this app store fully but it was so fragmented that buying an app on a desktop marketplace wouldnt reflect on the mobile side and with windows 10 Microsoft have realised this was a mistake and now they can finally put it all together for one large store like Apple and Google have for their tables/phones.