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Google published a "Chrome browser" app in the Windows Store on Tuesday, but it simply opened up a Google Chrome download page in the default Windows browser. Most users would then have been able to download and install the Chrome browser, except for the minority of Windows 10 S users who are restricted to downloading Windows Store apps which must use the EdgeHTML rendering engine rather than Blink. Microsoft was not amused at the stunt and removed the "app" from its Store later that day:
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.
Most Windows 10 machines don't run Windows 10 S, so Google probably won't create a special version just to get its browser listed in the Windows Store. Google can't just package its existing desktop app into a Centennial Windows Store app, either. Microsoft is explicit about any store apps having to use the Edge rendering engine.
Related: Microsoft Adds Store App-Only Restriction as Option in Windows 10
New Windows 10 S Only Runs Software From Windows Store
Microsoft Knows Windows is Obsolete. Here's a Sneak Peek at Its Replacement.
First ARM Snapdragon-Based Windows 10 S Systems Announced
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Arik on Wednesday December 20 2017, @02:59PM (36 children)
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Wednesday December 20 2017, @03:44PM (35 children)
This. Fuck the Windows Store. Fuck it with a big, fat splintery wooden dick.
The Windows store is for idiots who don't know how to download directly from a web site or install from physical media because they were raised by iPhones.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Pino P on Wednesday December 20 2017, @03:58PM (31 children)
If a school issues a Windows 10 S computer to each student, is each student an idiot? If a company issues a Windows 10 S computer to each employee, is each employee an idiot? If a relative buys a Windows 10 S computer as a gift for someone, is the recipient an idiot? Is every owner of an Xbox One console an idiot?
A desktop application downloaded from some website can see, disclose, and modify everything in the user's profile.* By contrast, a UWP application is sandboxed to see only those documents that the user chooses to make available to it, making it more difficult for the application to abuse the user's trust.
For desktop applications from a well-known publisher, such as Google Chrome, a knowledgeable user will know from which site to obtain a clean copy and will be inclined to trust the publisher because it has a lot to lose. This isn't quite so true of applications from a smaller publisher, such as a hobbyist or startup. What should the operator of a lesser-known website from which desktop applications can be downloaded do to make the website and applications appear trustworthy?
Since when do most new desktop and laptop PCs still come with an optical drive? I thought those started to be left out a decade ago.
* "Profile" is the name in Windows for a home directory.
(Score: 5, Touché) by aristarchus on Wednesday December 20 2017, @04:53PM (13 children)
Why, yes! Why do you ask?
(Score: 4, Touché) by c0lo on Wednesday December 20 2017, @05:04PM
He is in the possession of multiple Windows 10 S computers, obtained by different means... and he panicked.
(grin)
(just kidding, no actual, intended or implied malice)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday December 20 2017, @06:51PM (11 children)
Because I anticipated that you would follow "yes" with a list of practical measures that you expect people in each situation to take in order to demonstrate that they don't have "idiocy", or severe to profound intellectual disability relative to others of the same age.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Wednesday December 20 2017, @07:08PM (10 children)
Short list:
1. Don't run Windows.
2. Run Linux.
Done.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday December 20 2017, @07:42PM (9 children)
For this purpose, does Android/Linux count as Linux? Does Chrome OS/Linux? Or do you refer specifically to GNU/Linux? Because I haven't seen GNU/Linux laptops in showrooms for a long time.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by aristarchus on Wednesday December 20 2017, @08:34PM (8 children)
When did you ever? Silly Windows user! You think there is some necessary connection between the OS and the hardware? Other than an illegal monopoly or obfuscation by a corporation with pretty shells? Free software. You don't have to buy it. In fact, some corporations have done their damnedest to make it nearly impossible to see a GNU/Linux laptop in a showroom, or even to be able to buy a laptop without a pre-installed computer virus and surveillance system.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Pino P on Wednesday December 20 2017, @09:50PM (7 children)
Several years ago, I purchased an Eee PC 900 with GNU/Linux at Target.
Of course there is. It's called drivers. Otherwise you get things like the ASUS Transformer Book T100TA [debian.org] where half the stuff is broken after GNU/Linux is installed.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by aristarchus on Wednesday December 20 2017, @10:01PM (6 children)
Rather like Win8, then? Why is it that drivers are not available, or even that the APIs are not freely available? Could it be licensing threats by monopolistic software companies? My solution: do not buy hardware that is broken. Proprietary drivers means the hardware is broken. Only an idiot would buy something like this, and anyone accepting such a thing as a "gift" is equally an idiot.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Pino P on Wednesday December 20 2017, @10:39PM (5 children)
A preinstalled operating system on a device will at least include drivers for the components of that device. Thus a Windows 7 PC included Windows 7 drivers, a Windows 8 PC included Windows 8 drivers, and a Windows 10 PC includes Windows 10 drivers.
Assuming your definition of "broken" as "incompatible with free drivers": In principle, I agree. But in practice, from the inside of a showroom, how can I tell whether a particular laptop is broken? Product displays in major electronics showroom chains such as Best Buy don't have any clear indication of whether or not a particular laptop is broken, nor is it printed on the packaging.
What new, non-broken 10.1" or 11.6" laptop is good for running GNU/Linux and the applications I use regularly (some of which are free applications for Windows that run correctly in Wine)?
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Wednesday December 20 2017, @10:47PM (4 children)
You want me to do your research for you? Google is your friend. One example:
https://laptop.ninja/finding-the-best-linux-laptops/ [laptop.ninja]
Not nearly the issue it was before the Microsoft Monopoly cracked.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 21 2017, @05:53AM (3 children)
Why the FUCK is there a .ninja TLD?
(Score: 4, Funny) by aristarchus on Thursday December 21 2017, @06:07AM
I would think it is rather obvious: they defeated the pirates. Probably hired by the MPAA, or the RIAA, or the Tokugawa Shogunate. Ninjas! Forking mercenaries!
(Score: 4, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday December 21 2017, @06:28AM (1 child)
It's dark web, duh. You can't see it unless you know it's there :D
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 22 2017, @06:30PM
Just because I know there's a monster under my bed doesn't mean I can see it. That's what the flashlight is for.
(Score: 2) by pendorbound on Wednesday December 20 2017, @05:09PM
Yes. By definition. I might make a possible exception if they're late-stage comp-sci (might...) or if they've successfully hacked the school's computers to change their grades and evaded detection. Otherwise, idiots. No question.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Wednesday December 20 2017, @05:22PM (2 children)
If they happily put up with it then yes, they are idiots, and probably should stick to their toy cell phone for looking at pictures of cats. Any school or company issued computer should already be locked down anyway, so Windows 10s would not matter. It would be absolutely silly to lock everything else down and yet allow arbitrary applications from an on-line "store". If anyone gave me a Windows 10s computer, they would get a fist in their face because that would be totally useless to me. Xbox speaks for itself. :P
Right, because useless little "apps" filled with advertising and ways to leach money from your wallet and anticompetitive rules are so much better. That is part of my point, people who are not cell-phone pussified idiots should have little trouble discerning if the software they obtain is legitimate. So no one has ever abused trust in a fancy-shmancy locked down store? That is what this story is actually about!
There is no reason not to have one. Just because manufacturers cut corners and leave things out doesn't mean you can not or should not add them. Personally I find archiving certain kinds of data to optical media incredibly useful as one erroneous write will not erase the entire thing, and it is all under my control unlike crap in teh cloudz. And around here isn't like Japan where eveyone has a T-1 line to their PC.
[Hugs my pile of 5.25" floppy disks]
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday December 20 2017, @06:39PM (1 child)
"Beggars can't be choosers. You're grounded for a month, son."
What video gaming platform should you drag out when you have friends over who didn't happen to bring a PC with a copy of the same game that you want to play? Or are tabletop games preferred in such a situation?
What steps do "people who are not cell-phone pussified idiots" take toward "discerning if the software they obtain is legitimate", especially when it's a niche application from an individual developer?
I agree for smaller data sets, especially with par files for ECC. But if you have dozens to hundreds of GB of photos or especially videos, swapping 4 GB discs in and out of an external DVD+R burner becomes less practical than buying an external HDD.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Thursday December 21 2017, @05:46PM
And how is that even a choice? If I can't do what I need to do, then I still can't do what I need to do.
I see, by your standards I'm just supposed to ignore my needs and conform to your consumeroid masses.
Sort of like a school cafeteria where only approved Coca-Cola beverages are allowed, under penalty of losing funding. You have a health problem that prevents you from consuming high-fructose corn syrup beverages? Tough, why are you not just conforming? You might not have a direct say in the matter, but you would be an idiot not to try and get out of that situation.
Hmph. If I need a door stop, then by your Windows 10s standards, I should not be allowed to drive over to Home Depot and buy a REAL one, and under absolutely no circumstances should I be allowed to cut my own from a block of wood. Instead I should just make do using a crushed Coca-Cola can like everyone else.
I suppose you need me to spell this out step by step using only words that can be found in the Sunday newspaper and with no more than two syllables? You kids these days just want everything handed to you with no responsibility, no research, no thinking, and no understanding. You make me sick. How much is Statya Nadella paying you to troll for him?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 20 2017, @05:49PM (7 children)
Most likely, but the greater issue is that schools would do such a thing to begin with. Parents, students, and teachers should all be passionately fighting against such injustices. It should be illegal for schools to force students to use non-free proprietary user-subjugating software, since it does not allow education, independence, or freedom; schools should promote all of those ideals. If the Free Software schools need does not exist, then schools should collaborate to create it so the entire world can benefit, instead of being dependent upon corporations.
Also, there is no good evidence that giving everyone a computer actually improves the quality of the education being provided, and some evidence that computers can serve as a distraction for classes that normally would not use them. So it's also quite likely just a waste of money in general.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday December 20 2017, @07:04PM (6 children)
Should it also be illegal to force students in a literature class to read post-1922* novels, short stories, or poems? Those are typically just as non-free, proprietary, and reader-subjugating.
Schools are "dependent upon corporations" for hardware on which to run free software. How should a school corporation secure the production of reasonably small and rugged laptops designed to run (say) Trisquel GNU/Linux? Then watch high school graduates not be able to find a job to pay their way through university because people with LibreOffice experience technically "don't know Word."
Would you prefer to require students to handwrite their research papers instead of typing them?
* Assuming current U.S. law. For other industrialized countries, substitute literature whose author is alive or died after 1946.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 20 2017, @08:39PM (2 children)
Baldfaced lie. Who do you work for? How much do they pay you to spread this kind of disinformation? Shills like you are about as effective as internet advertisements. I, for one, will redouble me efforts to persuade all and sundry, especially in businesses that I own, work for, or patronize, to dump all Microsoft products. They drew first Blue Screen of Death!
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Thursday December 21 2017, @12:24AM (1 child)
Jobs exist that don't require skills in the MS Office suite. More jobs exist that do require these skills. I don't like using MS products, but it's preferable to being poor.
I know that there will be a few replies saying something to the effect of "well, I don't use them and I'm doing fine!". Good for you. Your job is probably different to mine. We can't all perform the same jobs.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday December 21 2017, @09:53AM
If you can use LibreOffice you can use Microsoft Office, and vice versa. If one is unable to handle the minor differences between the two they should hire someone else who can. Most users do not use any of the features that might cause an issue between the two, or even realize they are there.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday December 20 2017, @09:24PM (1 child)
You would think so, but ironically they aren't, really. We still tolerate libraries lending books, also resale of used books, and of course physical books don't come with 'licenses' of dubious validity and expansive restriction; so in practice this is hardly an issue.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday December 20 2017, @09:56PM
If you read a short story, and then years later you write a short story that is accidentally "substantially similar" to the earlier short story, you have infringed copyright in the earlier short story. This is established precedent in the U.S. since Bright Tunes Music v. Harrisongs Music, 420 F. Supp. 177 (SDNY 1976). How is that not "user-subjugating"?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 21 2017, @08:49AM
I have yet to see a single one that dictates which brand of eye-glasses the reader is required to wear (including those with perfect vision).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 20 2017, @06:36PM
I just love it that there are still things that Soylentils can all agree on, both bloodthirsty antifa and involuntarily celibate alt-righties. Windows brings us all together!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Arik on Wednesday December 20 2017, @09:18PM (1 child)
"A desktop application downloaded from some website can see, disclose, and modify everything in the user's profile.* By contrast, a UWP application is sandboxed to see only those documents that the user chooses to make available to it, making it more difficult for the application to abuse the user's trust."
A false sense of security is not a good thing.
ANYTHING that you download and run can potentially do anything to the machine. ESPECIALLY if you're running Windows.
"What should the operator of a lesser-known website from which desktop applications can be downloaded do to make the website and applications appear trustworthy?"
Provide the source.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday December 20 2017, @09:46PM
Not all kinds of application are amenable to being released as free software from day one, particularly things like video games, players for rented movies, and privately developed tax document preparation tools. Would an arrangement to distribute proprietary software in source code form similar to the following be acceptable?
Besides, the Underhanded C Contest [wikipedia.org] demonstrates that source code can hide malware.
(Score: 1) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday December 21 2017, @02:44AM (1 child)
If a company issues a Windows 10 PC to their employees without making them a local admin, the Windows Store enables them to install applications instead of being stuck in a locked down image.
... unless they disable the Windows Store too, which is really annoying.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 21 2017, @08:56AM
So, the Windows Store enables them to break company policy. Got it.
Those companies that don't make employees local admin are generally a subset of those that don't allow employees to install anything, but requires them to request any software they need from the IT department.
I.e. any company that cares about software licenses.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Wednesday December 20 2017, @08:00PM (1 child)
Users downloading installers directly from web sites is one of the reasons that Windows 95 was such a playground for malware.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by Arik on Wednesday December 20 2017, @09:20PM
Downloading arbitrary binaries and running them is simply an additional risky practice added on top of a fundamentally insecure system. Putting the binaries in a 'store' does not change this situation, it simply encourages inappropriate trust among the more naíve users.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday December 20 2017, @10:21PM
I would extend that to "Windows is for idiots": it is a gaming system only. Anything beyond games? Idiotic.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---