14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has been struggling to deal with the lack of apps on its modern operating systems for several years already, and the company still can’t convince all developers to code for Windows 10.
And while Progressive Web Apps (PWA) were believed to be one possible way to deal with this, it turns out they are not, at least not right now.
A set of PWAs published in the Microsoft Store by a developer called 11K Studio got pulled earlier this week due to what may be trademark infringement. Some apps continue to be available, like Google Docs (as pictured here).
All apps were developed to provide Windows 10 users with access to Google services like Google Photos and Google Maps, but for a reason that wasn’t disclosed, they are no longer available from the Store.
As MSPU notes, this may not be necessarily related to Google not wanting its services to be offered to Windows 10 users, because after all they can access Google Maps from the browser anyway, but to the way these PWAs were implemented.
Trademark infringement
The developer used a frame to display ads in the same window with Google’s services, so 11K Studio attempted to make money out of Google using these Windows 10 apps. This is most likely the reason the apps got pulled, though there are also people believing that Google itself requested the developing company to remove them.
In the meantime, Windows 10 users who want to connect to Google Maps, Gmail, and other services can easily do that from Microsoft Edge, even on Windows 10 running in S Mode. Progressive Web Apps are still websites that mimic the behavior of a desktop app, so while they could lose some features, there’s not such a big difference after all.
It’ll be interesting to find out more about the reason behind this app removal, but for the time being, there still are ways to cope with the lack of Google apps. Microsoft itself could solve the PWA issue at some point in the future, though it remains to be seen how the method would be implemented in Windows 10.