1) Why so late? If this had come out a couple of years ago, they could've cemented themselves in Windows 7.
2) AFAIK the real reason for Microsoft not making an app store for native apps is that they can install spyware, browser toolbars, change browser home page, change default search provider, eat up battery, install always running services and what not because they're not sandboxed.
How will the Steam store deal with the inevitable barrage of such user hostile apps? Will the approval process be highly exclusionary or inclusionary? Where are the app store terms? What's the cut? 30%?
I think dealing with adware, spyware, malware and grayware is going to be a challenge. If they're pretty exclusionary, expect devs to get pissed off.
3) Sadly Steam Store won't be allowed to include WinRT apps but Microsoft allows links to desktop apps on their app store.
If they solve the malware problem, I think they'll have a huge market and help devs immensely.
Anyone know or remember Intel AppUp Center? It completely failed to take off.
If they're pretty exclusionary, expect devs to
get pissed off.
I don't see any reason to. They are a 3rd-party distribution channel. This isn't Google's AppStore on Android (or Apple's on iOS or Microsoft's on WP7). Sure it might piss of some people, but any decision will piss off some number of people.
This is super awesome news for desktop software developers. I would love to publish my product to Steam - it has me lot more excited than publishing to the Windows 8 app store.
Another cool thing about this, if even for Windows users - is that it may mitigate motivations for upgrading to Windows 8. If Steam becomes the most popular, most profitable place to publish Windows apps - and every app is fully compatible with Windows 7 - they will have 'cemented' themselves quite nicely as milesskorpen would say.
1) From my observations, platforms that did this weren't too successful (e.g. Stardock before turning into Impulse). We were also in a time where the Windows world didn't have a need for it and it's hard to deny that things have changed so much lately that people are expecting more centralised stores of applications.
1)Maybe whatever events that led to them doing this didn't exist 2 years ago.
2)That seems like more reason to have an app store as you can weed that kind of stuff out.
They will use Steam Greenlight a community driven process to vet apps for inclusion. Basically you submit and if the community wants it they get it.
3)Since most PC users will be on Windows 7 and XP for a while after Windows 8 is released there will still be a huge market for Steam even if by some miracle RT just took over.
1) Why so late? If this had come out a couple of years ago, they could've cemented themselves in Windows 7.
2) AFAIK the real reason for Microsoft not making an app store for native apps is that they can install spyware, browser toolbars, change browser home page, change default search provider, eat up battery, install always running services and what not because they're not sandboxed.
How will the Steam store deal with the inevitable barrage of such user hostile apps? Will the approval process be highly exclusionary or inclusionary? Where are the app store terms? What's the cut? 30%?
I think dealing with adware, spyware, malware and grayware is going to be a challenge. If they're pretty exclusionary, expect devs to get pissed off.
3) Sadly Steam Store won't be allowed to include WinRT apps but Microsoft allows links to desktop apps on their app store.
If they solve the malware problem, I think they'll have a huge market and help devs immensely.
Anyone know or remember Intel AppUp Center? It completely failed to take off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_AppUp