Microsoft's page for downloading free wallpapers and themes is about to take an early retirement. Right now, you can navigate to a dedicated page to download hundreds of different themes ranging from "African Wildlife" to "Zune Zodiac." But a new message at the top of that page points people to the Microsoft Store instead.
"This page containing links to download Windows themes is now obsolete and will be retired soon. We recommend downloading the latest themes directly from the Microsoft Store for the best experience," says Microsoft. Despite the tech giant saying the page is obsolete, you can still download themes from the site, at least for now.
Another Microsoft Store mess
Normally, I wouldn’t mind themes and wallpapers moving from a free website to the Microsoft Store, especially since Microsoft is still offering hundreds of high-quality images for free. But this move seems to have been made in an effort to push people to the Microsoft Store. If that is the case, I question why Microsoft did not get the themes section of the Microsoft Store ready for prime time before retiring its old themes website.
The old website was organized into categories, such as 'Animals,' 'Automotive,' and 'Movies,' with each category expanding to display relevant themes. In contrast, the themes section of the Microsoft Store lacks categories.
As far as I can tell, the themes section of the Microsoft Store is listed alphabetically but with exceptions. There appear to be featured themes along the top of the page within the store, but that's only a guess. There isn't any clear indication why those themes are different than the rest that are simply sorted alphabetically.
If Microsoft wants users to embrace the Microsoft Store, the company needs to ensure that the store’s experience is on par with competing platforms. We've seen a similar story play out around gaming, where it's clear many prefer Steam, Epic Games, and other launchers over the Microsoft Store.
