Microsoft updates app store rules, cracks down on counterfeit software, and prohibits open source projects from illegally paying for listings

According to foreign media reports, Microsoft updated the Microsoft Store policy on June 16, 2022, a very important one is “Do not try to profit from open source or other software that is usually provided for free, and do not try to provide features relative to the product. and features are overpriced.”

In the past few years, a lot of open source and free software products have gradually appeared in the Microsoft Store. If the open source software developers upload themselves, it is the best thing for the store. But many of these software are not uploaded by the original developers, but by third-party developers, and these open source software are often set as paid software for people to download. Such as the very expensive 7zip version of the application, the expensive Google Chrome user guide software and so on. This means that users of the Microsoft Store need to pay to use free and open-source software products. In addition, the free and paid versions of the same software will coexist. In addition, the paid “fake” software uploaded by these third parties is not updated as frequently as the original program.

It can be seen that Microsoft’s move is mainly to restrict bad developers from using other authors’ free or open source software to pay to deceive users. Part of this update also confirms the new policy that if open source and free products are generally available for free, they can no longer be sold in the Microsoft Store, and publishers can no longer place unreasonably high price tags on their products. But developers of open source and free applications can charge for their products in the Microsoft Store, as the developers of Paint.net do.

In addition, this policy update on the Microsoft Store also strengthens the scrutiny of counterfeit software, which means that no third-party application can imitate Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge or other developers’ products, which is helpful for developers who want to go wrong and make money. Nice hit. These major changes will help improve the overall quality of the Microsoft Store and the safety of its customers.

Microsoft’s move hits the nail on the head, and if Microsoft enforces these policies, many apps will be removed from the App Store. However, many developers and users said that “it is better not to overuse”, it can be seen that users have endured these fake software and paid listings for too long.

Detailed rules:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/publish/store-policies

The text and pictures in this article are from InfoQ

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