14 DAY TRIAL // Developers have started giving up on their Windows 8.1 apps, and today another big name is joining this list, leaving Microsoft’s old (but still supported) operating system with fewer choices in terms of Windows Store downloads.
The Weather Channel app would be pulled from the Windows Store, and this means that users who are still running this particular OS version would no longer be able to install the app. It’s not clear, however, if the app continues working on devices where it’s already installed.
As MSPU notes, those who are still on Windows 8.1 can obviously switch to their browser to continue using The Weather Channel, but on the other hand, features like the live tile and lock screen notifications are lost.
Full focus on Windows 10
While developers are pulling their Windows 8.1 apps, it’s pretty clear that the focus right now is on Windows 10, the operating system that Microsoft itself is betting all-in on at the moment.
Windows 10 doesn’t necessarily have an app problem, but the Microsoft Store itself still isn’t seen as the main destination for apps by users who install it.
Pulling apps from the Windows Store on Windows 8.1 shouldn’t be such a big problem considering the declining market share of this OS version. Windows 8, the core OS that Microsoft launched in 2012, reached the end of support in 2016, and many users upgraded to 8.1 and then to Windows 10.
Microsoft offered the upgrade to Windows 10 completely free of charge in the first 12 months of availability of its latest operating system. This helped boost adoption of Windows 10 and the same time upgrade users from older OS versions projected to reach EOL in the coming months and years.
More developers will probably give up on their Windows 8.1 apps in the coming future, and users running this platform will sooner or later have to upgrade to Windows 10 as well.