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[Tobimacoss]

I know what the apps are for, I'm just saying they're badly constructed, and poorly organized. They don't need a separate Xbox app when they could just make it a tab inside the base store (separate from the casual mobile garbage), and organize the store itself with better UI + a better recommendation algorithm. They have a separate Xbox Accessories app just to do less controller customization than Steam Input, and have done next to nothing to improve/add to it sitting at a 2.2 rating on their own store.

I've had more glitches and issues with basic functionality (failure to move games from drive to drive, having to clear cache so it recognizes my login, etc.) vs other pc storefronts, and I threw in the complaint about the update all button as just an example of them not doing something basic right. I want more competition in the PC space, but it sucks when the biggest OS maker can't do a good store.

Already said Google and Apple don't have great storefronts either, they're just better than Microsoft...and having a worse storefront is a big reason their phones failed to ever take off.

So from February 2016 with Rise of Tombraider, and Forza Apex, to June 2019, MS store alone acted as the hub for AAA games. PC gamers didn't like that one bit, they wanted a game specific PC client, hence the Xbox app debut in June 2019 along with PC Gamepass and Ultimate tiers.

Xbox app is just a frontend for the MS Store, which itself is a front end for the store services that are directly integrated into the OS. It's better to have Xbox app for Xbox certified games, separate from random games and apps.

Thing with MS store is, the apps are MSIX packaged, and games are MSIXVC packaged. They will absolutely not do unpackaged games similar to Epic/Steam, especially for Gamepass. The store did have a lot of bugs, but with windows 11 launch in 2021, they got a new team for store that has fixed those issues since. There were other factors at play too, like people running third party scripts that block the Windows services needed to operate the store. People doing it for whatever reasons, privacy, de bloating etc, without realizing they were killing the store, until they got a desire to use the store with Gamepass.

MS Store does operate differently from other PC stores, that's by design.

Microsoft to Replace All C/C++ Code With Rust by 2030

Microsoft is taking an impressive step in modernizing its biggest codebases and will eliminate all C/C++ code by the end of the decade.

www.thurrott.com

Good luck Windows. Keep pumping that AI machine. Linux is rooting for you.

Linux is a kernel, not an OS, so what exactly is Linux rooting for?

Are you aware that MS is a high ranking member of the Linux Foundation? Or that they do use Linux servers for Azure too? Or the fact that MS is also part of the OIN (Open Invention Network), which allows Linux kernel to use any of MS patents without fee. Or the fact that WSL2, Windows subsystem for Linux 2 ships with full Linux kernel?.

If MS wanted, they could switch to the Linux kernel in the future if they felt the need to, nothing would change. You still need paid engineers to build the OS. Take a guess who contributes to the Linux kernel?

The OS layer is irrelevant if you control the content that sits on the OS layer. Look at Apple.

 

[Ashamam]

The OS layer is irrelevant if you control the content that sits on the OS layer. Look at Apple.

Err, I'd argue the OS is critical for Apple. So much of their success rides on clever forward thinking decisions in early OSX days. Decisions like cutting legacy code and making those hard transitional decisions that MS has never made to their detriment. Whats more Apple are still prepared to do it. Also the way they've developed the OS to be scalable across multiple devices in cut down forms whilst still maintaining many of the key advantages. TVOS, IOS, WatchOS for example.

 

[Ellis]

I was still choosing to buy outright from Steam even with a GP sub. That's how shit the MS storefront is.

 

[Barakov]

 

[Ellis]

Speaking of Win bins. 2006 was best design, imo.

 

[Three]

Speaking of Win bins. 2006 was best design, imo.

That's my favourite too

 

[RCX]

"our turds smell better this year"