Microsoft Removes Google’s Chrome ‘Installer’ From the Windows Store

Tom Warren, reporting for The Verge:

Google published a Chrome app in the Windows Store earlier today, which just directed users to a download link to install the browser. Microsoft isn’t impressed with Google’s obvious snub of the Windows Store, and it’s taking action. “We have removed the Google Chrome Installer App from Microsoft Store, as it violates our Microsoft Store policies,” says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.

Citing the need to ensure apps “provide unique and distinct value,” Microsoft says “we welcome Google to build a Microsoft Store browser app compliant with our Microsoft Store policies.” That’s an invitation that Google is unlikely to accept. There are many reasons Google won’t likely bring Chrome to the Windows Store, but the primary reason is probably related to Microsoft’s Windows 10 S restrictions. Windows Store apps that browse the web must use HTML and JavaScript engines provided by Windows 10, and Google’s Chrome browser uses its own Blink rendering engine. Google would have to create a special Chrome app that would adhere to Microsoft’s Store policies.

In other words, the actual app Google submitted to the Windows Store complied with Microsoft’s rules, but all it did was forward users to a download of the regular version of Chrome, which in no way, shape, or form complies with the Windows Store rules. I’m sure people do search the Windows Store for Chrome — people like using app stores to install and manage software, because they’re easy to use and trustworthy. But it’s ridiculous to think that Microsoft was ever going to let this fly. It often feels like Google is run by a bunch of teenagers who think the rules don’t apply to them because they’re in the gifted program at school.

★ Wednesday, 20 December 2017