Deathwatch for Microsoft Store Begins Because the Store Office Installer Is Now Web

According to a rumor by Paul Thurrott, Microsoft is on the verge of killing UWP applications and reducing the focus on the Microsoft Store.

At the time, the main proof was that Microsoft was removing categories such as books and music from the Store, and helping developers access APIs previously reserved for UWP from legacy applications.

Two new elements appeared to add evidence, however.

The first is that Microsoft released its Azure Kinect API supporting C and C # applications, but not UWP applications.

It seems that Microsoft did not simply extend the UWP APIs to the usual developers, but actually gave the support to the previously neglected "legacy" developers and actually dropped UWP. Of course, we are still in the early days, but we have seen similar signs when Microsoft decided to abandon its previous activities.

WC today reported another important warning sign: When you try to download Microsoft Office from Store these days, you are redirected to the Web Installer. In a statement, Microsoft said:

People will continue to be able to find Office in the store. If the Office image is not already preinstalled, it will be directed to https://account.microsoft.com/ to install it.

The installer (like the new Edge on Chromium installer) would support Windows 10 in S mode, eliminating the need for access to the store.

If the prediction of the experts is correct, we should continue to see increasing signs of Microsoft bypassing the store (for example, getting extensions and installing PWA applications directly from the Web), which should clearly indicate the direction taken by Microsoft. Microsoft.

There are all sorts of reasons why Microsoft would need to keep the Store and UWP, many of which have been explained by UWP hero developer Rudy Huyn.

However, we could all make very consistent arguments about why Microsoft needed a phone operating system or its own browser rendering engine, or even why operating system updates needed to be mandatory, but Microsoft has changed direction on all these occasions.

Does Microsoft not signal so subtly its abandonment of the Store? Let us know below.