Technology Leading Info Blog: Microsoft demos Windows Store, coming to Windows 8 beta in February

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

Microsoft demos Windows Store, coming to Windows 8 beta in February

Well well, we knew Microsoft had something in store for us at its Windows Store Preview event tonight, and it just revealed the look for its Windows 8 app-selling portal. It sports a new Metro-like UI, and comes with some new content from Disney, digital books and magazines, plus games like Cut the Rope are on tap, too. Bing's on board to index the whole store catalog and make all the fresh content easy to find, and the setup allows company websites to deep link to app descriptions in the store. There's also a mechanism for integrating app purchases from company websites built directly into the store infrastructure as well.

Of course, the new Windows Store isn't just for consumers, enterprise apps will also be available to fulfill your every business need. IT admins can deploy apps in a local version of the store, so that everything stays nice and secure on the internal networks. Not only that, but some secret sauce ensures that both enterprise and personal apps can be managed seamlessly on that slick new Windows 8 slate of yours. As for developers, Microsoft takes the now standard 30 percent cut of every app you sell in its store, but once you've sold $25,000 worth of software, that drops to 20 percent. For those interested in the full rundown of Microsoft's new app outlet, there's a video explaining its features and PR below and a Windows Store Blog will be hitting the web soon. The Windows Store is set to open its digital doors in late February of next year, with the Redmond crew only accepting free apps submitted by invitation only. So, if you're one of the chosen would-be Windows 8 devs, you better get cracking.

Gallery: Microsoft Windows Store preview