Interesting analysis of the Windows 8 store

Through personal experience I have learned that in a lot of companies there is a Right Way, a Wrong way, & Their way.

"Their way" usually prevails.
 

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Oh. I have no great interest in "apps" on my pc. But isn't that supposed to very important in this new reimagined MS fantasyworld?

I know what it is.

I bet the store is pretty good - especially considering it is so new. Exciting new apps are being added day. Just give it as bit of time.

The review is like that because the reviewer is clearly a twisted MS hater.
 

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Yeah, it's sad. Prior to this post I spent very little time looking around the in the Store. Now that I read the story and poke around, this thing really is not very good at all.
 

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It's one of the penalties for rushing this thing out.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing - but it does rather look as if MS overegged the urgency.
 

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Looking through the review, it looks like the contents of the MS Store are not a lot different than the contents of any "Apps" store -- including the Android Apps store. Someone once said of the heated debate between Droid fans and iPhone fans that who cares if Apple has 10 time the number of apps as does Google -- having 10,000 apps that make "farting sounds" is really no better than having 1000 apps that do that.

As to the "pictures of babes" apps -- that's typically what shows up in the early days because it's an easy way to make money. Same was true of the Android store when it was starting up.
 

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I will not fault MS for its anemic app selection or being less fascist in its approval process then Apple. Personally, I disagree with the entire "oversight" methodology that accompanies all these closed gardens. Who is MS or Google or Apple to say what I can purchase with my money for my pc.

I will not draw comparisons between XBLA and the Indy section of Xbox Marketplace because I know they server two different purposes. Sure, XBLA is nice and clean with everything nicely vetted and tested. It also releases one or two games a week and that release list / order is completely dictated by Microsoft. Apple's store has more than its share of shovelware because there is no way in the world to provide the same tight oversight to an all encompassing app store that you can for a couple new games releasing a week.
However, the article does hit on a lot of what's wrong with the store and that is basically the entire UX. It is an abysmal user interface with no real good way to get around or find items you want. Search is broke or easily manipulated or a combination of both. Even with the limited number of apps it already seems to have outgrown its usefulness and for that there is no excuse. They have been working on Windows 8 for a long time and have revamped the XBLA and WP stores repeatedly. They should know better but didn't seem to care...even when, like someone said, the App Store is a huge point of Windows 8 in the first place.
 

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Personally, I disagree with the entire "oversight" methodology that accompanies all these closed gardens. Who is MS or Google or Apple to say what I can purchase with my money for my pc.
That is a nice theory. But in practice it does not help the user. How is he supposed to know whether an app has been sufficiently tested and will not brick his system.

Remember the calamities in the early days of Vista when the system was brought down every 2 minutes because of poorly tested device drivers from the OEMs. I don't think we want this scenario again.

I rather have a professional organization which checks what's being offered and sorts out those programs that don't make the cut.
 

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Personally, I disagree with the entire "oversight" methodology that accompanies all these closed gardens. Who is MS or Google or Apple to say what I can purchase with my money for my pc.
That is a nice theory. But in practice it does not help the user. How is he supposed to know whether an app has been sufficiently tested and will not brick his system.

Remember the calamities in the early days of Vista when the system was brought down every 2 minutes because of poorly tested device drivers from the OEMs. I don't think we want this scenario again.

I rather have a professional organization which checks what's being offered and sorts out those programs that don't make the cut.

Well considering most people nowadays buy Programmes online rather than in a store, the chances are much greater of getting a virus or something bricking your PC outside of the store than in the store.
 

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Oh. I have no great interest in "apps" on my pc. But isn't that supposed to very important in this new reimagined MS fantasyworld?

I know what it is.

I bet the store is pretty good - especially considering it is so new. Exciting new apps are being added day. Just give it as bit of time.

The review is like that because the reviewer is clearly a twisted MS hater.


Like I said yesterday, the Internet is full of Microsoft haters, they love the fact that Apple has $130 billion in offshore accounts, but when MS tries to make a few bucks, they're nothing but a bunch of thieves.

They say MS should give away the type cover for free, yet they don't mind that Apple charges over $70 for a ridiculous cover that does nothing, or charges $50 for a bit of cable.
 

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BillWindows, I think you see the world and the people therein too negative. Few people 'love' Apple and few 'hate' MS. They may like or dislike their products, but nobody really has any real interest in those companies - except the stock holders.

The point is that certain products are good and serve their target audiance well and other products don't. Take Windows 7 - that is a superb product. Why did they have to muck it up instead of coming out with an SP2 to upgrade it and make the Windows 8 flavor for tablets and smartphones. That has nothing to do with love or hate. Fact is that Windows 8 is not optimal for the PC. They could have done better.
 

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Redmond has released a sloppy, inefficient, obtuse store that’s arguably the worst store baked into any modern OS. In short, it’s a disaster.

More: 5 reasons why the Windows 8 Store is a complete mess | Digital Trends

Can't say I disagree with this review. I went to the Store to find the only game I play on my computer; the Windows 7 version of Solitaire, which is mindless enough to play while I'm thinking about whatever. I didn't find it, nor did I find anything remotely acceptable. As I looked over the offerings, I finally settled on one version; however, for the life of me, I cannot get it to sit in my Quick Launch Bar. Nor can I find it in my regular Programs.

So, I'll just stay away from the Store. Sigh . . .
 

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I was going through the store yesterday and I must say it has matured tremendously and is right up there with the best of them. The app store is delivering what people want. It now has a fart app!
 

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That proves it has really made the grade.
 

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I was going through the store yesterday and I must say it has matured tremendously and is right up there with the best of them. The app store is delivering what people want. It now has a fart app!

:dinesh::dinesh::dinesh::haha:. I must admit you had me going there for a minute Ray, I nearly fell off my chair, but yeah I should have known :what:
 

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BillWindows, I think you see the world and the people therein too negative. Few people 'love' Apple and few 'hate' MS. They may like or dislike their products, but nobody really has any real interest in those companies - except the stock holders.

The point is that certain products are good and serve their target audiance well and other products don't. Take Windows 7 - that is a superb product. Why did they have to muck it up instead of coming out with an SP2 to upgrade it and make the Windows 8 flavor for tablets and smartphones. That has nothing to do with love or hate. Fact is that Windows 8 is not optimal for the PC. They could have done better.

You need to get out into the World Wild Web a bit more WHS, there's a huge interest in Apple by the millions of Apple Fanboys and Lemmings.

You know I'm sure a lot of people said the same thing about a horse and buggy that you're saying about Windows 7, all those years ago, but the world has to move on regardless of what we think.
 

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Redmond has released a sloppy, inefficient, obtuse store that’s arguably the worst store baked into any modern OS. In short, it’s a disaster.

More: 5 reasons why the Windows 8 Store is a complete mess | Digital Trends

Can't say I disagree with this review. I went to the Store to find the only game I play on my computer; the Windows 7 version of Solitaire, which is mindless enough to play while I'm thinking about whatever. I didn't find it, nor did I find anything remotely acceptable. As I looked over the offerings, I finally settled on one version; however, for the life of me, I cannot get it to sit in my Quick Launch Bar. Nor can I find it in my regular Programs.

So, I'll just stay away from the Store. Sigh . . .

What are you talking about there's plenty of Solitaire Games in the store, and you don't have to pin them onto the Quick Launch bar, just grab the tile and put it wherever you want, or right click and do what you want with it.

Use the search in the charms bar when you're in the Store, you'll find most of what you want. Just did a quick check it brings up a 124 apps for Solitaire and the Microsoft Solitaire Collection is there.

I don't know what sort of games you like, doesn't really matter, just download Pinball FX2 and have a look at it, also 4 Elements 2 and Taptiles, then tell me there's no good games.
 

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What are you talking about there's plenty of Solitaire Games in the store, and you don't have to pin them onto the Quick Launch bar, just grab the tile and put it wherever you want, or right click and do what you want with it.

Use the search in the charms bar when you're in the Store, you'll find most of what you want. Just did a quick check it brings up a 124 apps for Solitaire and the Microsoft Solitaire Collection is there.

Oops, guess I didn't look far enough, but what I saw wasn't what I wanted. I'm still learning Windows 8, and still not sure I'll "keep" it.
Search in the Charms bar, eh? Really? I don't find the charms bar very charming. :confused: However, I'll go back and look.

Oh, and I want everything I use pinned to Quick Launch; it's more efficient for me. Yeah, playing a game is efficient . . . :eek:
 

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What are you talking about there's plenty of Solitaire Games in the store, and you don't have to pin them onto the Quick Launch bar, just grab the tile and put it wherever you want, or right click and do what you want with it.

Use the search in the charms bar when you're in the Store, you'll find most of what you want. Just did a quick check it brings up a 124 apps for Solitaire and the Microsoft Solitaire Collection is there.

Oops, guess I didn't look far enough, but what I saw wasn't what I wanted. I'm still learning Windows 8, and still not sure I'll "keep" it.
Search in the Charms bar, eh? Really? I don't find the charms bar very charming. :confused: However, I'll go back and look.

Oh, and I want everything I use pinned to Quick Launch; it's more efficient for me. Yeah, playing a game is efficient . . . :eek:

Look don't listen to the naysayers here, Windows 8 is an excellent OS and easy to learn, don't worry about closing down Apps, if you want to get out of an app just go down to the bottom left corner and left click, if you want to go back to the game just move your mouse to the left side of the screen and you'll see it's still there ready to unpause.

The main thing with Windows 8 are the two hotspots on the two bottom corners and right clicking, it's actually easier than the other Windows, and you can still pin stuff to the launch bar.
 

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One aspect stated in the review is right on the money and that's poorly implemented apps. Whether that's Microsoft's fault or not, is a moot point, apps that don't work send a very negative message across the board.

For example:

- I was looking for a local news app (web based paper news), but there are none, not one. Is it due to lack of interest?

- I downloaded a TV app from one of our free-to-air providers (SBS for our Australian viewers). After installing, I tried to view several of the listed programs and not one would display, all I got was what looked like a flatline signal on an ECG machine. Didn't the developers bother to check whether it would work, or did they simply leave something out?

- I also downloaded another TV app from one of our commercial stations, free-to-air again, (Channel 10) and wanted to watch one of their cooking shows. All I got was a very coarse still image with a message that the program was loading. Nothing ever happened. Again, did no one check the app?

I found similar things with other apps, they either didn't work, did not provide what they professed to provide or were so simplistic or limited in content that it was like downloading a brochure.

In what seems to be a rush to populate the app store and make it sound grand, any and all pieces of crap are allowed to be hosted, with no one doing any due diligence on the quality and functionality of the apps. This is part the responsibility of the app developers, but also Microsoft's, by having no quality control process in place whatsoever.

I don't know about IP violations, but if true, it's utterly stupid of Microsoft to allow such. Also, hasn't Microsoft had years to study the Apple and Android apps stores, to garner some idea as to how to make an effective and efficient app store?

Some may suggest that Microsoft is just starting, so give them some slack; however, Microsoft is not inventing the concept of an app store.
 

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