14 DAY TRIAL // A few days ago, an app called Word Online reached the store and promised to help Windows 8.1 users to quickly access documents, create new ones, manage the existing files, and do basically all things you could do with the help of Office Online straight from the Modern UI.
The application really seemed to be quite a terrific idea, even though it was basically an online interface brought in the Modern UI, but Microsoft considered it spam and decided to remove it completely.
A company spokesperson told us that Redmond had indeed deleted the app from the store, which means that Microsoft is indeed trying to keep high-quality items available for download and get rid of spam and clones that do nothing more than to try to steal people’s money.
At this point, there are 145,000 apps listed for download in the store, according to third-party statistics, and figures are very likely to grow even bigger in the coming months if the same trend is maintained.
Truth is, Microsoft is actually working really hard to convince more developers to launch their apps on Windows 8 and 8.1, as the company clearly needs the Modern UI to boost its consumer appeal.
In fact, the software giant has already prepared some significant changes for the future Windows releases that could bring the Windows Store a major boost, not only when it comes to the number of apps, but also to their quality.
According to people familiar with the matter, Microsoft is working to bring Android apps in the store and thus allow users to download them just like the regular Metro tools currently available on Windows 8 and 8.1. This would basically help the company compete against the Chromebooks and other devices that are gaining ground these days and are slowly becoming an alternative for the classic Windows computer.
If such a change could take place in Windows at some point, it won’t happen sooner than April 2015, the date when the new Windows 9 is expected to launch for all users worldwide. Running Android apps on Windows is already possible thanks to third-party applications such as BlueStacks, but Microsoft wants to this make this a Windows feature that would come with future releases of the operating system.
Of course, the company is yet to confirm this right now, but expect more details to be provided at the BUILD developer conference in April 2015, when the company is expected to officially break the news on the new Windows operating system.