does microsoft asks money from developers to publish apps?

[adam rock]

does microsoft asks money from developers to publish apps?
what kind of certification process does it include and how is it different from android?

 

[Kasper M]

You need to buy a developer licence and then you can send as many apps to the windows and windows phone store as you like.. As long as they pass certification, on windows and WP all apps are tested by humans and go through quality control, on android it is done quickly by a machine, therefore all the crap and trojans on android..

 

[Ashish Saraf1]

does microsoft asks money from developers to publish apps?
what kind of certification process does it include and how is it different from android?

They infact sometimes pay the developers to publish their app

sent either from my Nokia Lumia 820 or HTC Desire HD

 

[Markham Ranja]

You need to buy a developer licence and then you can send as many apps to the windows and windows phone store as you like.. As long as they pass certification, on windows and WP all apps are tested by humans and go through quality control, on android it is done quickly by a machine, therefore all the crap and trojans on android..

Yes, machines are crap at identifying malware. We should all immediately uninstall our antivirus programs, and read application source code to identify malware. Because that is of course what MSFT testers do...

The level of fanboyism, it's over 9000!

 

[Kasper M]

Correct Microsoft also as part of the certification run the app through machine checks, but a human layer on top is always 100 times better,, you can see alot of the time when things are shady or wrong even when a machine cant..

 

[xandros9]

Correct Microsoft also as part of the certification run the app through machine checks, but a human layer on top is always 100 times better,, you can see alot of the time when things are shady or wrong even when a machine cant..

but malware stems from the freedoms that Android gives. (like desktop Windows) not necessarily from the methods of certification as you imply.

 

[adam rock]

if microsoft charges for licenses and the quality check is serious then why are there so many fake apps on wp store?
instead of charging the developers microsoft should make it free of cost like android so that young app designers with new ideas can surface and bring quality apps for the store

 

[Pete]

Well, the open framework of permissions for Android does allow for malware to be written, and code test routines can test for malicious intent and trap for it, but it'll be governed by defined rules. A malicious developer, given understanding of the test tool, can contrive code that bypasses those checks and thereby exploiting a vulnerability.

Microsoft moves further by having experienced developers peer review the code and can better judge what the code is actually doing. There may be cases where a developer will be able to create a malicious app using the framework/dev tools provided by Microsoft, but there's very little chance of that passing through the certification checks and being sent to the wild. To date, there have been no cases of malicious WP7 for WP8 apps being released through the Store.

There's plenty of low quality apps of course, but that's a whole different story...

 

[adam rock]

if there is an open framework of working on wp apps then it can prove crucial for wp business.
yes android users also face malicious content but thats the thing they have so many good antiviruses available for free that they practically have no worries.
i use android phone and download all kinds of junk but i never worry about the malicious content because there is a free antivirus on board.
on the other hand my windows phone lacks even basic apps.
there are about 200000 apps on wp store but i dont think even half of them are geniune,and even in that remaining half most apps are just repeating themselves in different forms like a thousang news apps a thousand apps for nokia beamer and all those things which really matter like a decent media player are missing

 

[Pete]

If Windows Phone ever gets to the stage where an anti-virus app is deemed necessary then I'll immediately get rid of it and go back to using an old fashioned phone.

Windows Phone is secure, that's one of the foundation stones of the platform, even if that rigid structure is what frustrates many users.

You have a choice about what eco-system you want to run with, so do that. The looser the system, the more risk there is.

Openess isn't crucial for WP's success.

 

[radmanvr]

I got a virus on my Android phone. I've never gotten any on Windows Phone. I do not know their process. I just know that just happened.

 

[adam rock]

about your last comment my friend"Openess isn't crucial for WP's success".....all of us know that windows phones are not doing so well on the ground level.
there were posts on wpcentral that microsoft is considering allowing android apps on windows phones,that my friend shows their desperation.
nokia who is microsoft best friend in the mobile wars dropped an android bomb on them.
microsoft would be deluded if they think closing all doors would make them a safe os but in reality if all the doors are closed people would just stop entering from the flap they have left open for them.

 

[Markham Ranja]

I got a virus on my Android phone. I've never gotten any on Windows Phone. I do not know their process. I just know that just happened.

It's been shown that whereas many forms of malware exist for Android, most if not all of them can harm the user only if the user has specifically bypassed the OS safeguards. To wit, rooting the device or allowing installation of APKs from non-Play Store sources are most common.

 

[adam rock]

about your last comment my friend"Openess isn't crucial for WP's success".....all of us know that windows phones are not doing so well on the ground level.
there were posts on wpcentral that microsoft is considering allowing android apps on windows phones,that my friend shows their desperation.
nokia who is microsoft best friend in the mobile wars dropped an android bomb on them.
microsoft would be deluded if they think closing all doors would make them a safe os but in reality if all the doors are closed people would just stop entering from the flap they have left open for them.

 

[Markham Ranja]

Well, the open framework of permissions for Android does allow for malware to be written, and code test routines can test for malicious intent and trap for it, but it'll be governed by defined rules. A malicious developer, given understanding of the test tool, can contrive code that bypasses those checks and thereby exploiting a vulnerability.

Microsoft moves further by having experienced developers peer review the code and can better judge what the code is actually doing. There may be cases where a developer will be able to create a malicious app using the framework/dev tools provided by Microsoft, but there's very little chance of that passing through the certification checks and being sent to the wild. To date, there have been no cases of malicious WP7 for WP8 apps being released through the Store.

There's plenty of low quality apps of course, but that's a whole different story...

Yep, that's the point. Google doesn't release any materially useful info about Bouncer (their app scanner). So malware developers can't do what you said.

Also, I very very much doubt that there are actual developers at MSFT who actually spend time reading source code to check for exploits. That sort of job, if done properly and in detail, will take at least 0.5-2 days for an app of medium complexity (1000-5000 LoC), and may take weeks for really large apps (which may be 100K+ LoC). There are far more useful things that such programmers could be doing.

The real reason why WP and iOS are secure is that they ONLY accept cryptographically signed installers. You can bypass this on iOS by jailbreaking, but so far bypassing the signed app requirement on WP has proven to be impossible. This is why WP is the most secure mobile OS, not because of any testing/QA process.

 

[Pete]

You mean this article?

Microsoft creating ‘open source’ framework for gaming, formed a new team for iOS, Windows Phone and Android | Windows Phone Central

If so, you may want to read the article, not just misinterpret the headline.

Or this one

Nokia X and X+ announced, runs Android apps | Windows Phone Central

Which is about a customized version of Android.

Neither article indicates that WP8 will run Android apps.

 

[foxbat121]

Microsoft charges developers $19 per year (used to be $99) to have a dev account active. Google changes $25 for life IIRC for an Android dev account. You must have an active Dev account to publish apps. Then, for paid apps, both Microsoft and Google take a big chunk out of it (IIRC, it is about 30%) before they reach devs,

The only reason there is no malware on WP yet is purely due to the lack of market share. Yes, even malware creators shun WP platform. There is no such thing as fool proof marketplace. That's the same story why malwares are non-existent on Mac a decade ago.