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Apps wanted

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
As I have mentioned before the selection of Apps for Windows is pathetic. For me it really kills the tablet experience. I'm not an software developer but I have some thoughts how Microsoft could get back into the game. Not that anyone is asking.

  1. Provide excellent App developer tools for free. (No brainier here)
  2. Lots of contests for developers to compete in for best Apps in different categories.
  3. Provide development tools that non coders can use to create apps. (iOS examples include Codea, GamePress, Pythonista, Pixelpress)
  4. Take a very small revenue fee from developers
  5. Provide free App of the week where Microsoft pays the developer a fee to freely distribute the App
  6. Simplify the process to get Apps listed in the Windows App Store
  7. Clean out the existing crap in the Windows App Store
  8. Internally develop some excellent apps to raise the bar
  9. Create an open source endeavor
Provide assistance and pay the developers of top apps to develop Windows versions.
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
Provide excellent App developer tools for free. (No brainier here)
Visual Studio 2013 Express is already free
Lots of contests for developers to compete in for best Apps in different categories
Microsoft DX (used to be DPE) does this at the country level already
Provide development tools that non coders can use to create apps. (iOS examples include Codea, GamePress, Pythonista, Pixelpress)
Project Seana is already available
http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/e...ct-siena/5ae47651-e8f3-4e41-aab7-e19ab1b80180
Take a very small revenue fee from developers
Microsoft App Store already takes the lowest cut in the industry....
Provide free App of the week where Microsoft pays the developer a fee to freely distribute the App
This is already done through Red Stripe Deals
Simplify the process to get Apps listed in the Windows App Store
I don't have any frame of reference here
Clean out the existing crap in the Windows App Store
This is a problem, they have done clean ups but need more
Internally develop some excellent apps to raise the bar
MSN News Apps, Lync Mobile and OneNote as well as Dynamics....
Create an open source endeavor
They're doing this already with much of .NET
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
Oh, and build a quality Android emulator to provide an exceptional cross platform integrated user experience. Productivity on Steroids.
Visual Studio 2014 Beta has the best Android Emulator on the Market....and supports creating Apps on iOS, Android and Universal Windows....
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
Visual Studio 2014 Beta has the best Android Emulator on the Market....and supports creating Apps on iOS, Android and Universal Windows....
A developer tool is one thing a user productivity platform is a horse of a different color.
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
Android Emulator for Apps would be a mistake in my opinion but there are rumors that MS is looking at the ability to stream cross platform apps and games via Azure.

Windows 10 Universal Apps will go a long way on further App Development....
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
Productivity over platforms. If your going to build Apps for other platforms first over your own you may as well at least allow seamless access cross platform.

Maybe they are trying to solve a different problem though... The one where whatever you do on your platform isn't good enough however, if you do it on another platform no matter how badly its great. Resulting in: when said app is released on your platform they are at least grateful but they still hate you. :)

IMO streaming apps is about something else but the ability to run an app without installing it is appealing. In no case however is a streamed app as good as a locally stored app because of lag and the repetitive data transfer. To solve that though we will invent "app caching" i.e storing them local. :)
 

leeshor

Well-Known Member
Reading this post, makes you wonder if Microsoft is trying to gain some of the android market. Who knows...
Microsoft makes money off every Android device sold, through licensing. It's a love hate relationship. They love Android but hate Google.
 

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
Productivity over platforms. If your going to build Apps for other platforms first over your own you may as well at least allow seamless access cross platform.

Maybe they are trying to solve a different problem though... The one where whatever you do on your platform isn't good enough however, if you do it on another platform no matter how badly its great. Resulting in: when said app is released on your platform they are at least grateful but they still hate you. :)

IMO streaming apps is about something else but the ability to run an app without installing it is appealing. In no case however is a streamed app as good as a locally stored app because of lag and the repetitive data transfer. To solve that though we will invent "app caching" i.e storing them local. :)
Really the only App that has been released on other platforms and not on Windows is Office Touch. Currently on Windows Phone, Office Mobile is part of the OS (Much as Xbox Music and Xbox Video was prior to 8.1). Once Office is un-entangled with the Core OS we will see the Touch Version of Office on Windows Phone and SSTs. Keep in mind that Office 2013 is on all Windows Client machines which iOS and Android can't compete with...
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
Really the only App that has been released on other platforms and not on Windows is Office Touch. Currently on Windows Phone, Office Mobile is part of the OS (Much as Xbox Music and Xbox Video was prior to 8.1). Once Office is un-entangled with the Core OS we will see the Touch Version of Office on Windows Phone and SSTs. Keep in mind that Office 2013 is on all Windows Client machines which iOS and Android can't compete with...
TBH I have been on both sides of the fence with this issue. Originally I was totally against Android emulation on Windows or any other platform as a solution to APP availability. I've come to change my view of this but Id expand it to other platforms as well. Essentially enabling running apps a universal choice without limits or as few as possible. With the ubiquity of virtualization in its different forms, remoteing, and cloud the platform becomes almost invisible yet its underlying value becomes the ease with which one can run any app regardless of its origin.

This is something some other vendors would never ever do which means they would stay an island as they are in their walled garden. Why should universal apps be a small proprietary universe vs a big all encompassing universe? Its definitely possible.... A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. However, this is NOT a choice I leave to you. It will happen with or without you, your only choice is: do you want to play a game?

I hope my meaning was not lost or misconstrued while mixing song and movie references as I am wont to do. :)

Further, with the open sourcing of .net any app could run on another OS with a .net framework implemented. The horse is out of the barn, the cat out of the bag, and the app out of the OS. It seems the choice has already been made toward universal platforms.
 
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jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
TBH I have been on both sides of the fence with this issue. Originally I was totally against Android emulation on Windows or any other platform as a solution to APP availability. I've come to change my view of this but Id expand it to other platforms as well. Essentially enabling running apps a universal choice without limits or as few as possible. With the ubiquity of virtualization in its different forms, remoteing, and cloud the platform becomes almost invisible yet its underlying value becomes the ease with which one can run any app regardless of its origin.

This is something some other vendors would never ever do which means they would stay an island as they are in their walled garden. Why should universal apps be a small proprietary universe vs a big all encompassing universe? Its definitely possible.... A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. However, this is NOT a choice I leave to you. It will happen with or without you, your only choice is: do you want to play a game?

I hope my meaning was not lost or misconstrued while mixing song and movie references as I am wont to do. :)

Further, with the open sourcing of .net any app could run on another OS with a .net framework implemented. The horse is out of the barn, the cat out of the bag, and the app out of the OS. It seems the choice has already been made toward universal platforms.
I understand what you are saying, but lets be real Android Applications are the XP Applications of the Mobile World....they are poorly coded and ~25% of the Google Play Store Apps have malware payloads....

The Universal App Market is greater than Android and Apple combined BTW as it covers x86, x64 PCs, Xbox One and Windows on ARM....
 
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