He’s 100% right in my opinion.
Micro$oft is trying to force into selling their stuff in the Windows App store.
And destroying Steam would force to come to them.
Very Orwellian if you ask me.
But we have a Solution! Linux. (Maybe)
But Valve is destroying Steam themselves already anyway…
I don’t think that’s likely, given all of the non-gaming Win32 apps that Windows must support they can’t move those over to the store.
I think some of the things Microsoft is doing is to make Xbox more of a PC type thing, and to get people to buy their games digitally rather than physical copies since they make way more money that way–the new deal where you get the PC version of the game with the Xbox version is only for digital purchases.
They’ve been testing the waters for this kind of thing for years; they rolled out the .NET Framework 15 years ago, though it’s adoption for consumer-facing applications was not as widespread as they’d hoped. They rolled out Windows RT and the Runtime four years ago, but nobody bought platforms using it because it wouldn’t run unsigned software and locked you into the store, and no developers used Runtime because it offered them nothing except said vendor locking. Now they have UWP which basically rolls .NET and RT into one package; the aim is the same, but they’re approaching it more slowly and cautiously this time - they want to lock all customers into using their store and installing approved / signed software only.
His argument is also predicated on wanting to adopt UWP. I don’t think this is too likely, unless UWP is a much, much better API, and no one else creates an open-source variant (that wraps win32) that is better.
MS would have the usual bad publicity to overcome.
does have one very good point though: MS is the gatekeeper. They have been for decades. It is likely only a matter of time before they really try to exploit that position, as Apple is doing. There are more gatekeepers today than a decade and a half ago. I’d also be very wary of Google.
I think he’s just paranoid.
Microsoft should release UWP core source code with specs to give better transparency.
It’s not as crazy as it sounds, one of the reasons valve has been making a push for linux via steambox is because they see the same thing coming.
I’m much more worried about UWP failing. Without it and a well stocked first party store for basic apps Android/Chromebooks and iOS will over time totally push Windows out of the home and light office markets, a process that is already under way. I do not think gaming and Steam is enough to keep Windows alive in the home market.
Also, Microsoft sabotaging Win32 to get to Steam is more than far fetched as aptly described by Ars Technica:
Adding this from another thread. Looks like MS has a UWP branch of UE4…lol
Sweeney thinks Microsoft will make Steam “progressively worse”
This is About http://www.pcgamer.com/-sweeney-thinks-microsoft-will-make-steam-progressively-worse-with-windows-10-patches/
I don’t know if this is a duplicate. But my question is, how exactly can microsoft destroy win32 protocol within windows10, cause win10 comes with win32 full features right? just like windows 7 or xp.
So how exactly can they ‘phase out’ win32 within windows 10 and force all of us to windows store only? Did Boss read some leaked info about Microsoft that we didn’t read yet? Gotta wait for Microsoft wikileaks 
.
Or he was just talking about future Windows releases where Microsoft actually will be able to remove win32 altogether, if they want to do that. I am asking this because the information that I have says Microsoft can’t just remove win32 support within current build of windows, that’s not possible. But I will admit I am not an expert.
I am moving your thread to Off Topic.
I just installed win10 and decided to try forza apex that Microsoft offers for free. I was a bit disgusted when they forced me to reuse my old xbox live account from like 2006 with my old ugly avatar and my old friend list I didn’t really wanted to have back.
xbox live for windows/ uplay / battle.net / origin / steam… this is too much.
ok but the subforum where i posted said
The alternative is a a monopoly. Having a range of delivery platforms is a good thing imo.
I don’t believe there’s any real risk of Win32 being broken, it’s their bread and butter. They’ll encourage the average non-technical user to use the Store which I think is fine, the mobile market has shown that people like a curated experience with updates taken care of etc. It’s certainly preferable to having a system tray bogged down with separate update clients.
Has it? Or has there just never really been an alternative?
Anyone that doesn’t like curated app stores is free to buy an Android phone and not use the Play Store. The number of people that choose that option gives you a pretty good idea of what the average consumer wants.
Given that Android phones are considerably more common than iPhones, but app revenue from the app store is considerably higher than the Play store, you may have just disproved your own point.
“Slowly, over the next five years, they will force-patch Windows 10 to make Steam progressively worse and more broken. They’ll never completely break it, but will continue to break it until, in five years, people are so fed up that Steam is buggy that the Windows Store seems like an ideal alternative. That’s exactly what they did to their previous competitors in other areas. Now they’re doing it to Steam. It’s only just starting to become visible. Microsoft might not be competent enough to succeed with their plan, but they’re certainly trying.”