14 DAY TRIAL // Google has never been a big supporter of Microsoft’s modern apps, now called UWP apps, so aside from a rather useless search app, the company never released Windows 10 versions of its apps in the Microsoft Store.
Today, however, a Google Chrome installer showed up in the Microsoft Store, allowing users to start the installation of the company’s browser without having to manually load the official website to get it.
It goes without saying that this isn’t the full version of Google Chrome, but only an installer that serves as an easy way to download the browser. Google itself mentions in the Microsoft Store listing that this installer won’t work on Windows 10 S, the Windows 10 version that’s specifically restricted to apps in the Windows Store without permission to install Win32 software.
Windows 10 S can be upgraded to Windows 10 Pro should anyone need Win32 software, including Google’s browser.
Google Chrome as UWP app
While this could make many think that Google might launch a UWP version of Google Chrome, this is certainly not the case, though this could come in very handy to Windows 10 S users. This particular version of Windows 10 is particularly aimed at the education sector, so by launching a Microsoft Store version of Chrome, Google could make sure that its browser grows here as well.
As WindowsLatest notes, Google also has an Xbox One YouTube app in the Microsoft Store, but the installer is quite an important addition given that it’s specifically aimed at PCs.
For the time being, however, Google Chrome remains a desktop-exclusive program, and the arrival of the installer in the Microsoft Store is pretty much the first important step that the search company makes towards Windows 10.
It’ll be interesting to observe how and if Google plans to benefit from the growth of Microsoft Store, though right now, several large companies show no interest in building UWP apps.