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Microsoft is purging a lot of low quality apps from the Windows Store

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"Microsoft is sending emails to some Windows Store developers informing them that their apps have been removed from the Store for violating its quality standards."

"Neowin reports that app developers have been receiving these emails over the past couple of days:

In its latest review of the Store, Microsoft is evaluating if the published apps are good enough to be listed in the Windows Store. This includes publicly available apps as well as private beta apps. Additionally, Microsoft is also asking developers to delete any promotional campaigns for their apps to prevent advertising charges. Similarly, app name reservations are also being nullified; which means that if your app is unpublished, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to republish it under the same name.

Officially, the policies for the Microsoft Store says that apps must have "distinct and informative metadata" and "provide a valuable and quality user experience". There are also some specific standards that must be in the apps, including having a name that is not similar to another app or device, along with offering a description that is accurate about its features and functions.

There have certainly been many Windows Store users who have complained over the years about the large number of apps published that are clones of other apps or ones that are simply poorly made. Hopefully, this new move by Microsoft will help to curb these issues, at least for now.
"

http://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-purging-lot-low-quality-apps-windows-store
 

HTC

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'apps' for desktop PC is already lowest quality idea

I get the sentiment, but practically this is a godsend and I want it to grow and to be accepted. Conduit and Ask toolbar will be things of the past. :D
 

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This will be a good idea for the phone, to make shopping for apps a little easier. Probably it will eliminate the apps still in there made for Windowsphone 7. Otherwise I have to agree with @Drone.
 

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This will be a good idea for the phone, to make shopping for apps a little easier. Probably it will eliminate the apps still in there made for Windowsphone 7. Otherwise I have to agree with @Drone.

Why is it a bad idea?
 

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including having a name that is not similar to another app or device
I agree with everything that Microsoft is doing except this.

Imagine a scenario where one developer writes an app called File Manager. Another then wants to call theirs File Management, a legitimate name and both apps are completely legitimate. Suddenly this is not allowed? That's just wrong.

I'm not sure about nullifying the app reservations either now I think about it. It should be managed to prevent abuse, sure, but not removed.
 

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About time.
I would greatly appreciate, if MS had separated smartphone/tablet apps from Desktop/Laptop apps (at least created dedicated categories for such apps).
The actual delivery mechanism of Windows Store is very good, and very usable (much better than Ubuntu Software Center), but the content is either not there, or meant to be used on a touch-enabled device.
 

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Why is it a bad idea?

Two reasons. As a phone user, alot of these apps belong purely on phone or tablet with slightly gimped abilities, because on desktop many are resource hogs that don't do as much as full fledged programs.

And 2, just call me THAT guy that just plain prefers full-fledged programs on his desktop.
 
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silentbogo

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Two reasons. As a phone user, alot of these apps belong purely on phone or tablet with slightly gimped abilities, because on desktop many are resource hogs that don't do as much as full fledged programs.

And 2, just call me THAT guy that just plain prefers full-fledged programs on his desktip.
+1
This is the primary reason why desktop software developers are not inclined to publish in MS Store - you are automatically surpassed and buried under "similar" phone applications.
Hence, you can't find decent archiving software, LibreOffice/Apache OpenOffice, decent media players (only their mobile counterparts), productivity software or even... games...
Who cares about Supermarket Management 2, Dr.Panda, Death Drive Racing Thrill or AngryBirds on a desktop?
Another thing that's very annoying is ads: both Android, iOS and Win10 suffer from ad overuse. It is fine to see occasional popups, I can coop with a small unobtrusive banner, but when a shitty unusable excel file editor has 1/2 of it's workspace occupied with ads - that's disgusting and disturbing! The same story with almost all productivity software in MS Store: you either pay full price for shit, or you get more shit with ads for free.
 
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