Microsoft's decision to remove the registration fee for individual developers publishing to the Microsoft Store is more than a pricing change — it's a clear signal that the company intends to make the Store a lower-friction, broader distribution channel for independent Windows software creators...
app publishing
app-publishing
commerce
developer-tools
discoverability
electron
electron apps
enterprise distribution
external billing
external-billing
government id
id-verification
identity verification
indie developers
individual developers
intune integration
microsoft store
microsoft-store
moderation
msix
msix packaging
non microsoft billing
onboarding
onboarding flow
partner center
platform-economics
privacy
pwa
pwas
store discoverability
uwp
win32
win32 apps
windows
windows apps
zero-fee
Microsoft’s recent narrative — that an AI-first Azure is building an unassailable moat while Windows 11 becomes an “AI platform” — is both materially true and rhetorically optimistic; the data underpinning the claim is strong, but the timeline and some headline figures in the popular bull case...
