Windows 10: Microsoft Store: no astronomical pricing and paid open source or free copycat applications...

Microsoft updated the Microsoft Store policies on June 16, 2022. One of the changes prohibits publishers from charging fees for software that is open source or generally available for free. Another that irrationally high pricing is used on the store.



If you have been to the Microsoft Store in the past couple of years, you may have noticed that it is home to more and more open source and free products. While that would be a good thing if the original developer would have uploaded the apps and games to the store, it is not, because the uploads have been made by third-parties.

Even worse is the fact that many of these programs are not freely available, but available as paid applications. In other words: Microsoft customers have to pay money to buy a Store version of an app that is freely available elsewhere. Sometimes, free and paid versions exist side by side in the Store.

Having to pay for a free application is bad enough, but this is not the only issue that users may experience when they make the purchase. Updates may be of concern as well, as the copycat programs may not be updated as often or as quickly as the source applications.

Microsoft notes under 10.8.7 in the updated Microsoft Store Policies:

In cases where you determine the pricing for your product or in-app purchases, all pricing, including sales or discounting, for your digital products or services must:

Comply with all applicable laws, regulations and regulatory guidelines, including without limitation, the Federal Trade Commission Guides Against Deceptive Pricing.

Not attempt to profit from open-source or other software that is otherwise generally available for free, nor be priced irrationally high relative to the features and functionality provided by your product.
​

The updated section confirms the new policies. Open source and free products may not be sold anymore on the Microsoft Store, if generally available for free, and publishers are not allowed to set irrationally high price tags for their products anymore. The developers of open source and free applications may charge for their products on the Microsoft Store, the developer of Paint.net does that, for example.

If Microsoft enforces the policies, numerous applications will be removed from the Store. Developers could report applications to Microsoft before, but the new policies give Microsoft control over application listings and submissions directly.

Now You: have you used the Microsoft Store in the past? (via Deskmodder)

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Filter by price

Hi Thanatica,

Please answer these questions to assist you better.

• Are you referring these feature in Windows Store?
• When you say 'filtering by price' are you referring to price filters ascending or descending?

If yes then I suggest you to open Windows Store click on
Apps tab; Click on Top apps; Under Refine you can filter for free and paid apps. However there is no option to filter ascending or descending under paid. You may leave feedback about this feature in Feedback app. Thank
you.

 

HP to Contribute webOS to Open Source

HP today announced it will contribute the webOS software to the open source community. HP plans to continue to be active in the development and support of webOS. By combining the innovative webOS platform with the development power of the open source community, there is the opportunity to significantly improve applications and web services for the next generation of devices.

webOS offers a number of benefits to the entire ecosystem of web applications. For developers, applications can be easily built using standard web technologies. In addition, its single integrated stack offers multiplatform portability. For device manufacturers, it provides a single web-centric platform to run across multiple devices. As a result, the end user benefits from a fast, immersive user experience.

“webOS is the only platform designed from the ground up to be mobile, cloud-connected and scalable,” said Meg Whitman, HP president and chief executive officer. “By contributing this innovation, HP unleashes the creativity of the open source community to advance a new generation of applications and devices.”

HP will make the underlying code of webOS available under an open source license. Developers, partners, HP engineers and other hardware manufacturers can deliver ongoing enhancements and new versions into the marketplace.

HP will engage the open source community to help define the charter of the open source project under a set of operating principles:

• The goal of the project is to accelerate the open development of the webOS platform
• HP will be an active participant and investor in the project
• Good, transparent and inclusive governance to avoid fragmentation
• Software will be provided as a pure open source project

HP also will contribute ENYO, the application framework for webOS, to the community in the near future along with a plan for the remaining components of the user space.

Beginning today, developers and customers are invited to provide input and suggestions here.

 

Microsoft Store free apps

Hello,

Corrupted system files can cause issues when downloading applications from the Microsoft Store. However, for us to provide you the most appropriate assistance, can you provide us the exact error message that you're getting?

As an initial troubleshooting step, we suggest that you reset the Microsoft Store cache and try to download applications again. Check out the steps below:

• 
  Press Windows + R keys to open the run command box.
  
• 
  Type WSReset, then try launching Microsoft Store and sign in.
  
• 
  Once done, try to download applications.
  

We'll wait for any updates to assist you further.