Windows Store Changes Affect Organizations

Changes to the Windows Store for Business allow organizations to purchase applications in volume. Also, changes to Windows 10 mean that some organizations will have to deploy Windows 10 Enterprise to control employee access to the public Windows Store. The changes may help entice commercial developers to write applications for Windows 10 and publish them in the Windows Store. However, advanced features for business application purchases, such as the ability to use purchase orders, are not yet available in the Windows Store, and not all businesses will welcome broader employee access to the store.

Easier Business Purchases

By default, developers will be able to make their applications manageable by using the Windows Store for Business for volume sales. The Windows Store for Business is an organization-curated and controlled private tenancy of the Microsoft-hosted Windows Store, allowing organizations to manage their Universal Windows Platform (UWP) applications.

When a software developer publishes an application to the Windows Store, it will be included in the catalog of applications made available to organizations for volume acquisition using credit cards, unless the developer deselects the option to “Make my app available to organizations with Store managed (online) volume licensing.” Application licenses will be managed through the Store’s online licensing system. There are also options to support disconnected or offline licensing of applications so that organizations can deploy applications to devices that rarely or never connect to the Internet.