Microsoft Adopts 10 Principles for the Microsoft Store

Microsoft has released 10 principles for their Microsoft Store on Windows 10. It appears to be done in response to Apple’s recent decisions regarding their App Store and Epic Games. Microsoft states that the 10 principles build on the ideas and work of the Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) to promote choice, ensure fairness, and promote innovation on Windows 10 and the Microsoft Store on Windows 10.

The 10 principles include:

• Developers have the freedom to choose whether to distribute their apps for Windows through our app store. We will not block competing app stores on Windows.
• We will not block an app from Windows based on a developer’s business model or how it delivers content and services, including whether content is installed on a device or streamed from the cloud.
• We will not block an app from Windows based on a developer’s choice of which payment system to use for processing purchases made in its app.
• We will give developers access to information about the interoperability interfaces we use on Windows, as set forth in our Interoperability Principles.
• Every developer will have access to our app store as long as it meets objective standards and requirements, including those for security, privacy, quality, content and digital safety.
• Our app store will charge reasonable fees that reflect the competition we face from other app stores on Windows and will not force a developer to sell within its app anything it doesn’t want to sell.
• Our app store will not prevent developers from communicating directly with their users through their apps for legitimate business purposes.
• Our app store will hold our own apps to the same standards to which it holds competing apps.
• Microsoft will not use any non-public information or data from its app store about a developer’s app to compete with it.
• Our app store will be transparent about its rules and policies and opportunities for promotion and marketing, apply these consistently and objectively, provide notice of changes and make available a fair process to resolve disputes.

There has been an ongoing legal battle between Epic Games and Apple which started when Epic Games created a direct payment option in which Epic Games lowered the prices for consumers who used it. Apple responded by terminating the Epic Games account on the App Store.

Microsoft’s 10 principles are a clear signal to software developers that Microsoft is not going to make the kinds of decisions that Apple has been making. I think this is a good thing. However, as a Mac user, I have concerns that this will result in even fewer developers making their video games Mac-compatible.