Prediction: The developers will come for Windows 10

[rhapdog]

Today, Yusuf Mehdi, The Corporate Vice President for the Windows and Devices Group at Microsoft, tweeted:

So Windows 10 has seen 6 times the number of app downloads PER computer in less than a month than Windows 8 has had for the last 3 years. Get that? Three years of people downloading apps for Windows 8, and Windows 10 has done 6x that per computer in less than a month.

That is bound to get the attention of developers. Any developer that looks at the Windows App platform as something where people aren't going to download apps is pretty much blind from this point going forward. Universal Apps are catching on to the public. Now that they run in a windows alongside desktop apps, they are more familiar, less intrusive, and more inviting. People are wanting them. Developers are going to want to provide them.

Apps are coming in the not-too-distant future. They are closer than I would have otherwise believed.

 

[someone2639]

I guess you could say the downloads SEEM FASTER!

 

[ven07]

I don't doubt that more users will be downloading, but the question still remains.. Will developers take the leap :/

 

[Spectrum90]

Today, Yusuf Mehdi, The Corporate Vice President for the Windows and Devices Group at Microsoft, tweeted:

So Windows 10 has seen 6 times the number of app downloads PER computer in less than a month than Windows 8 has had for the last 3 years. Get that? Three years of people downloading apps for Windows 8, and Windows 10 has done 6x that per computer in less than a month.

The "3 years" part is not in the tweet. He's probably comparing the same time range, the first few weeks since launch.

 

[davidofmidnight]

I wonder how are they define "Download?" Is it user-initiated downloads, like I did when I got the Wunderlist Beta, or does it count upgrades like mail/cal which I "downloaded" a couple times, although I called that updating.

 

[rhapdog]

I wonder how are they define "Download?"

Obtaining or acquiring a license for an app would be how they have to consider this. They keep up with just a list of what you legally own, if you look at your "purchases" associated with your account. All your apps you have downloaded will appear there, and all free apps will show $0.00 costs.

I have personally obtained 9 new apps for Windows 10, which are apps I wasn't already running on Windows 8 because I hated the full-screen issue. Having them windowed makes them convenient to use for me. I also picked up Word, Excel, and PowerPoint Mobile, which count as 3 more. I'm sure that's what a lot of people are getting as well, and when they search for those, they see other apps that look interesting and download. Win-win.

 

[ven07]

I'm sure that's what a lot of people are getting as well, and when they search for those, they see other apps that look interesting and download. Win-win

Guilty! Another thing I would like to see in the store is the "just updated" section. It was there for a bit then it wasn't, but I really liked it and could see it working as a motivation for devs to push out updates. The first thing I check (or used to check -_-) when downloading apps, are the last updated dates. If a developer updates "regularly" (every two months works for me as well) then I have no problem, supporting them. I tend to avoid apps that haven't seen an update for one year :/ Sometimes I still end up downloading them, just to see if the functionality it has, is worth keeping it or not

 

[rhapdog]

The first thing I check (or used to check -_-) when downloading apps, are the last updated dates.

Guilty of that myself. However, keep in mind that just because an app hasn't been updated recently or often doesn't necessarily mean abandonment or poor quality.

I have a program that I use that hasn't been updated since 2012, yet it is something I use every day and can't live without. It wasn't updated for Windows 10 because it doesn't need to be. Some apps, if written properly to start with, can have the functionality they need up front without bugs, hence they don't need fixing. Unfortunately, that's not usually the case in the Windows Store apps, as many developers are just wanting to give us a bad port from Android or iOS and not at the store ever again. I do think that Microsoft's plan to make the porting easier will help with that particular issue, though, as the ones who at least went to the trouble to port once, will probably port much more often.

 

[harharharris]

When people get a new OS, they're bound to install more than a few new apps for it. We probably have more must-have apps and an overall userbase today than we did when Windows 8 came out so this is a pointless comparison.

 

[rhapdog]

When people get a new OS, they're bound to install more than a few new apps for it. We probably have more must-have apps and an overall userbase today than we did when Windows 8 came out so this is a pointless comparison.

This is 6X more apps than Windows 8 did in 3 years per device. Those same apps are on Windows 8. They've had 3 years to download them. Why didn't they? What are the must-have apps that were not on 8.1?

I don't see the comparison as pointless at all. Apps are finally popular because they can be run in windows and no longer take over the full screen by force. Developers will notice.

 

[ven07]

Why didn't they?

Lol had people messaging me and being astounded that w10 has it's own store Just had to tell them about the universal aspect of it, but I guess the universal bit only counts if you have wp?