Microsoft opens Windows Store for Business signups ahead of launch

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
last updated

Microsoft appears to be inching closer to the launch of its Windows Store for Business for Windows 10. The company has now published a new web portal for the store, allowing IT administrators to start signing up to use the business-friendly app administration service.

Once live, the Windows Store for Business will allow administrators to easily manage and deploy apps to their teams. According to the new webpage for the store, administrators can assign, reclaim, and reassign licenses, control updates, push apps to individuals and groups, and manage app discovery in a private store.

According to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, who first reported on the new web portal, the Windows Store for Business is set to arrive with the Windows 10 Threshold 2 release, which is due out this month. Plans could change, of course, but there's a chance IT administrators could have some new tools on their hands for deploying apps as early as next week.

Source: Microsoft (opens in new tab); Via: ZDNet

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. 

41 Comments
  • "Windows store for business for Windows 10""
    ...... Hahahaha, silly Microsoft.
    ......
    There's such thing called "trimming the fat"... The ecosystem can be so big that things are hard to discover... I don't see why this is necessary when we already have a unified store for W10.. Just use that for everything! One stop shop... SMDH
    ..... Eliminate confusion, consolidate resources, spread awareness thick❕...
  • Sorry, enlighten me what's "silly" about it?
  • I was making fun of the long name, but that's not really the full name MS gave it, rather just what the article says... Wouldn't be surprised though..
  • But the rest of your comment is when you're confused
    Businesses do not want one unified store, for security reasons. IT managers have always checked applications before allowing the organization personnel to use it. This is one of many reasons some businesses have not switched to W10 yet
  • This is part of the ongoing war between IT dept and the rest of an organization.
  • Good point...
    Then, doesn't that mean that MS is discrediting, and undermining, the security integrity of W10, and the W10 store❓❓❓
  • No. The whole point is to limit and control not just what your employees put on their machines, but also limit/cut the chances of your internal programs leaking to the public. Or even to people below the targeted pay-grade for that matter.
  • Yeah, we know that.. Ok. You said go away, so practice what you preach...
  • That was in response to your reply down below.
  • Whatever... Just stop.. If you wanna pick a fight then ignore my post. You know who I am, by now... You obviously don't understand why I'm asking what I'm asking, and can't deal with it, so chill... Don't really care if you do either. There's plenty of fans here who can answer questions, and chat, without being a little thumb thug.... Lol.
  • What's your problem dude? I answered your question. But down below, you either missunderstood mine (question), or just didn't know the answer. Seemed like the latter, because your answer isn't technically possible. It's IoT running W10 core, not a full blown version.
  • I can't argue with you on two different topics, on the same post... Lol.. Please choose one to lash out at me. Hahahaha!
  • No. It has to do with applications in general, and not Windows 10. Microsoft cannot check every single app out there to see if there could be a potential security threat from it or a way a hacker could use it to harm a computer. Applies to Modern Apps like it applies to Win32 apps, or I'm pretty sure Ms-Dos apps. It's the same for Macs as well and any system out there.
  • Well, I get that, and that makes perfect sense.. I just figured MS might have a separate "section" in the store accessible by the like.. IDK. I guess when I hear Universal/Unified I take it too far.. Whatever, it's probably all the same server group anyways... Lol.
  • Haha ok I guess they could do that, but IT managers would probably prefer to manage what gets into their systems themselves, rather than having Microsoft making the decision for them. Different companies also have different levels of security, so I'm not sure how much that kind of store is feasible.
  • This is a good thing, and something that no other app store even considers afaik. Of course, full blown EMM solutions are going to provide the greatest control, just having the option like this is great. So shake your damn head all you want...
  • Great advice.. I'll shake it till I'm playing with it...
  • if you read the original article, this store for businesses provides a systematic way to deploy, update, bulk license and push apps to individual devices. I can't see how this is a silly/frivolous thing.
  • That isn't a silly thing.. I was talking about... Nevermind....
  • Ok, I actually just got home from a Microsoft event today and one of the sessions was about the business store. The purpose of this store is for organizations to better control the apps installed on their devices. It will look like one store to the end user. The administrator will be able to push the required apps to the devices, push the updates for the apps and it will be where they will have their organizations private apps stored as well. The admins will even be able to revoke licensing. Overall, this will be great for system admins.
  • The way you explained that sounds exactly what I'm talking about... Sounds like they are literally using one store, rather split off into two segments, but appearing as one for the end user (employees)... Or two separate stores that link together for the employee to be more familiar with.. It's like that "one stop shop" I mentioned earlier. Much easier to manage for IT, and users.. Nice!!!... Cool. Thanks for clearing that up. I guess my point was one store overall, and that is ultimately what employees will see.
    ......
    Good to see there's at least some fans left here that can have a mature conversation, and come to a reasonable conclusion... What event was that that you attended????
  • A single period would be sufficient for the end of a sentence.
  • Could this be used to push apps/updates to IoT devices in the wild, running my apps? Or would I still have to use the usual route?
  • Probably both...
    But, why not just use the W10 unified store❓
  • Omg dude, just go away. You obviously don't know what i'm talking about. Have you ever even seen an IoT device before?
  • You gotta seriously be special, or a kid.. Everyone knows what your talking about.. And, how are you gonna tell someone to go away when you commented on their post first?.. Lol. Ok... Then you still continue to comment.. Right!! I got you...
  • I'm gonna assume you're using the app (hard to see who's replying to whom), because you replied to my comment. This is a separate branch from above.   And if you knew what i was talking about, you'd know that IoT devices can't just access the regular W10 store. Apps and their subsequent updates are pushed using IP
  • Ok.. You're right. I missed that. My bad.
  • Lol, *shakes hand. Passes over a beer*
  • Damn.. Been arguing with you for years... I'm too old for this shit... Lol!
  • Sorry, but I "get it". This will be a great method for IT to manage our in-house W10 app(s)
    Sideloading is nice if devices are all on the same subnet. But we have 32 locations. Using the store portal will be sweeet!
  • This actually seems like a really big deal.
  • This is huge for enterprise and the universal app platform.. If businesses embrace deployment of universal apps internally, it's not a huge jump to go to development and then external publishing.
  • Exactly. Microsoft knows what they are doing. They aren't always right, but they are successful in so many ways that the "individual" customer is often totally unaware of.
  • Now if that store would allow me to use it as a distribution place not only for Universal apps, but also for click once desktop application deployment, I'm a very happy camper.
  • Win32 app is supported in the Windows Store, it's part of the bridges
  • IMO, a simple thing that MS could do to improve it's attractiveness to developers, would be to do a major cleaning out of the store. Start by getting rid of apps that haven't been updated in years, apps that haven't been downloaded in months, apps that currently have X active users, etc. Part two of this is that new app developers would actually have a shot at having their app seen and used by the millions of windows phone users that are hungry for quality content. Ironically, this is something that neither the superior Apple Store nor Google Play can offer because they already have an overabundance of apps. Even good ones get lost in the mix and aren't able to find an audience. On the other hand, a newly introduced windows phone app that is merely decent would likely be showcased by MS (and Windows Central, etc) and would probably attract more downloads than any other platform.
  • So that would also work for universities and schools?
  • Uh, yes
  • This would be a really good store platform if you could only provide Win32 applications in there as well... Thats what the business is using! 
  • Those gimped, trashy "apps" in the store are worthless to my organization. We run real software applications for design and simulation on our workstations. I'm not interested in junk "apps" that try to turn my computer into a mobile "device" for "sharing" my "stuff." Why can't Microsoft make an operating systems for the grown-ups  anymore? Instead, they're obsessively focused on catering to ADHD tablet-toting poking-and-swiping hipsters who do nothing useful with their "devices" other than check email and visit Facebook.