Its long time since Microsoft gave developers a store to publish their apps and make them easily accessible to users and to have more control over permissions that an app requires. However, developers don't seem very happy about this and seem slow to move to the Microsoft store.
Software, not Apps
The new icloud app by Apple is a great example of what people want on the MSwin store. However, if you look on other apps like Adobe Photoshop that is very-very limited in comparison to the real thing, and Autodesk sketchbook that has functionality a lot like the software but still has features missing from the software edition. Not talking about the Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and many others that are not available.
Although from an app perspective they work perfectly, There is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp, and others but all these can be run on a browser very smoothly considering the power of a browser on windows devices. Users don't need only apps on windows as they have iOS and Android devices for that. Users want full software with full functionality. Microsoft needs to encourage developers starting with a new software Department in the MSwin store where the high-end apps capable of professional work will be kept. Currently, there are games and apps departments in regards for softwares
The next step is to allow users to send requests to developers to make feature or change request. Users can see all the requests, upvote requests, and all the stats will be visible to dashboards of Publishers who will bring changes considering requests.
Microsoft Windows Store as a store
The Microsoft store is not the first, Users have Apple Appstore and Google Play store and many unofficial stores. Taking about Microsoft store as the software it has many flaws in designing and functionality.
Design Flows
These simple design flaws can be easily pointed out by anyone
On the left of the picture above, the non-standard size of icons might not be a big deal for some but it really is. It is not only irritating to eyes but also shows a lack of attention to details when creating this product. I hope designers can understand. Also, the blue background in search results looks ugly and the icon of Onenote (particularly in this search) is not of the same size as other icons
Search Bar
Next is the search bar. When the user input something to search, the page of indexed results hides the search bar and when a user clicks on the search button it shows again with the word inputted,
Additional unnecessary and irritating step for the user.
Indexing
Futhermost when I click on the publishing company of an app. All the published apps of that company show up but in a very unorganized manner. Example when clicking on Microsoft Corporation it shows Windows apps, Windows themes, Edge extensions, and even the Language experiences. The results need to be filtered or categorized by type. Otherwise the results page looks bit mixed up with everything
Uninstalling
The main purpose of having a store is to easily find, install and uninstall apps but unfortunately, the uninstall button is missing from MSwin store. I hope they bring an option to uninstall an app from the Store.
If you have any other improvement idea. Don't forget to mention in the comments