Windows Marketplace restrictions stupid, ridiculous
The list of what applications are disallowed by the upcoming Windows Mobile Marketplace has just been revealed , and it makes us doubt for Microsoft’s sanity.
WMExperts published a full full list, but there is not a single one I can agree with.
Prohibited Application Types:
1. Applications that are or distribute alternate marketplaces for content types (applications, games, themes etc.) that are sold or otherwise distributed through Windows® Marketplace for Mobile.
So no apps like Didiom? No Guitar Hero apps that let you buy tunes from your phone?
2. Applications that link to, incent users to download, or otherwise promote alternate marketplaces for content types that are sold or otherwise distributed through Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
What?!? Microsoft scared of competition?
3. Applications that promote or link users to a website, or contain functionality within the application itself, which encourages or requires the user to purchase or pay to upgrade the application outside of Windows® Marketplace for Mobile.
More stupidity. So developers are forced to pay $99 per year for application upgrades ad infinitum?
4. Applications that enable VoIP (Voice over IP) services over a mobile operator network.
What?!?!?! Skype being banned!
5. Applications that sell, link to, or otherwise promote mobile voice plans.
Skype again?
6. Applications that display advertising that does not meet the Microsoft Advertising Creative Acceptance Policy Guide http://advertising.microsoft.com/creative-specs.
And why should I care about Microsoft’s standards?
7. Applications that replace, remove or modify the default dialer, SMS, or MMS interface.
Again, what’s wrong with alternate apps?
8. Applications that change the default browser, search client, or media player on the device.
Microsoft has GOT to be joking? They want to ban Google and Opera? PocketTunes? Kinoma?
9. Applications with an OTA (over the air) download >10 MB.
Does Microsoft think they are Apple? They have no podcasting solution of their own, will not have any ready for WM 6.5, and want to ban BeyondPod? Idiots.
10. Applications that run code outside Microsoft runtimes (native, managed, and widgets)
So what – now Mortscript is banned too?
11. Applications that publish a user’s location information to any other person without first having received the user’s express permission (opt-in) to do so, and that do not provide the user a means of opting out of having their location information published.
So no RecoveryCop? What if the user and the owner are two different people?
12. Applications that publish a user’s data from their mobile device to any other person without first having received the user’s express permission (opt-in) to do so, and that do not provide the user a means of opting out of having their data published. A “user’s data” includes, without limit, contacts, photos, SMS or other text communication, browsing history, location information, and other data either stored on the mobile device or stored in the “cloud” but accessible from the mobile device.
Again, the user and the owner are not always the same person.
Of note also is that Microsoft intends to kill the Today screen plug-in market as we know it.
It is a requirement that applications do not have:
- A Today Screen plug-in
- A Today Screen component
- Launch the Today Screen.
Microsoft do not have the luxury of crippling their Marketplace. Whoever decided to copy Apple’s restrictions word for words needs to be taken out behind the barn and shot.
What do our readers think? Let us know in the comments.
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“Microsoft do not have the luxury of crippling their Marketplace. Whoever decided to copy Apple’s restrictions word for words needs to be taken out behind the barn and shot.”
Full ack
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+1
What the hell is that ? A prison for mobile applications ? And we have to PAY FOR IT ?
They want to make sure WM users will learn how to NOT use marketplace but instead go online to get cab files ?
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I wonder how it’s possible to run code without Windows’ runtimes at all. Every interpreter, no matter if MortScript, .NET, Java VM’s, or any other, at some point has to invoke system APIs. Otherwise the program would only run on one device, as the alternative would be low level hardware access in ARM processor code (Assembler). (Well, OK, .NET sometimes seems to do that or at least use undocumented APIs… But any other vendor couldn’t do that without getting major compatibility troubles…)
So, the MortScript interpreter itself shouldn’t be a problem, it does use the Windows native API.
Offering scripts might be a bit more troublesome. But I can understand MS somewhat, as scripts wouldn’t run without having the interpreter installed. (Btw, what about eVB programs? The runtime’s not on every device…)
But what about bundles with MortScript.exe and a renamed autorun.exe? If that was forbitten as well, then what about other “bundled” parsers, like e.g. so many adventure games use (SCUMM probably the best known, but only one of many)? Or what about macros in spreadsheets, word processors, …?
Same problem goes for Java apps (J2SE) and midlets (J2ME) as well, btw. But maybe that’s intended that way.
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From what i see, Microsoft are idiots, the idea of a marketplace would’ve actually helped em get a better image in the market, and maybe even get more people to by winMo phones, but with all those restrictions, i doubt any dev would go use the marketplace in the 1st place. Since all the stuff all winMo actually care about are being banned, then why would i ever go to this idiotic marketplace?
Windows mobile if not for its robust and dynamic built, with the availability of all those nice tools our devs do, would be boring, bad and useless. So banning such applications means destroying the whole idea of obtaining a windows mobile.
If on windows 6.5 applications are banned or i would actually be restricted to download applications from anywhere except the marketplace? am so stopping windows mobile all over, and i bet all others would too, but hey, even if that happens, we’ll find out way around
Again, windows in all its forms is vulnerable and there is always a way in, so no matter what Microsoft does, prevent, bann blablabla, its all nothing that harms us, since we’ll find our way around it, the only one that is going to be harmed is Microsoft themselves, watch your market share decrease Microsoft, you’ll see.
Summary, the marketplace was SUPPOSED to be a good idea, but now, as in expressive photo in this thread, this marketplace is flushed in the toilet! As far as am concerned, am no longer interested in it at ALL.
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alot of these are no brainer, and i think your being too harsh
lets look at them
#1 – of course microsoft arent gonna let other people use there service to sell other software, how dumb would that be, youre dumb for expecting them too.
And Im sure guitar hero will be on there as the song packs will also be sold through marketplace.
#2 – same as above, they would be dumb to.
#3 – they want to make sure all user transactions are done through marketplace (ie. no hidden app charges), keeps it simple for the user (not all user are experts) and this is a bid to make it more new user friendly after all.
#4+5 – If they allowed these types of app then mobile carriers would refuse to allow the marketplace on their phones and networks which would mean marketplace woudld be on some phone but not others, therefore not being a standard issue app, which is kinda the direction they want to move away from.
#6 – a given, stops ads advertising adult material or other objectional stuff you may not want your kids veiwing.
#7 – again, this could be todo with the mobile carriers, if they have their own dialers on there own phones, they dont want em changing, so again they wouldnt carry the marketplace.
#8 – Im not sure, but this could be more like if the app changes the default without user consent.
#9 – This could be just the App size, you cant tell without more detail.
#10 – Im not sure on this one as Im not clued up on it enough, but i would expect its to help against viruses?
#11 + 12 – This is a given in my book, I dont want my phone calling home and telling its servers how i get to and from work.
(I would expect the owner of the phone to be considered the user of the phone in there book.)
Like I said i think you guys are just complaining for the sake of it. You cant honestly say you expected anything different.
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MoB Reply:
May 4th, 2009 at 11:38 am
It is nice that you speak for carriers and MS – but it is us (users) who are going to suffer more and more with this kind of restrictions being put into work. Since openness of the platform will no more be true for MS, WM will be no more than worse iPhone (which after all e.g. HTC is trying to achieve for at least 2 years
)
MS is an idiot… not that this is a news… we all know that.
Question – is mobile phone for carriers or for users? Huh? Stupidity rules the world.
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flatbushe21 Reply:
May 4th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
they have making alot of money being idiots sign me up any day. please, this article is nothing but a bunch of idiots who dont know how to run a business. imagine microsoft allowing #1 & #2, they would lose money if the allowed a work around for people to bypass marketplace. if you already know how to go to the apps website (ie. experts) and u dont wanna use marketplace just do that, who cares. why ask for a marketplace and then complain about it not allowing you to sell apps with links that wont use the marketplace for updates. are you people serious. how quick would the marketplace fail if they allowed that. No wonder those idiots make so much money. i would call them idiots for a lot of other things but not any of these thing in this article. typical wm users always complaining about something.
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just don’t ban xda dev, and everything would be fine
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Chris Reply:
May 4th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Amen brother.
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So what is the point of this, when you can easily go and download these restricted apps elsewhere, its pointless unless of course Microsoft are planning on attaching the device to the marketplace like Apple and making it the only way to install apps, now theres a thought and I bet that is what will end up happening, destroy the competition and eat all the pie yourself.
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Wow, am I reading Msmobiles or Wmpoweruser? This post didn’t make any sense. Either englsih isn’t your first language and you didn’t undrstand a single thing written in the pdf or you are just looking for hits (like msmobiles) by posting nonsense.
+1 for Jordan above me, atleast he got it right.
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admin Reply:
May 4th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Or maybe I am very angry. An open platform is one of the few things Windows Mobile has over the iPhone. Replicating Apple when it comes to a closed app store speaks of great stupidity.
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pauloke Reply:
May 5th, 2009 at 8:29 am
This is a buisness and it has to make money and be functional. Not for ‘experts’ but for the average user which MS are targeting. The type of user that wants an iPhone because others have it.
At least there is no word yet that they are banning installations using cabs or over activesync. Once they do that then you can complain. In my eyes this hasn’t really changed much.
You can probably still install VOIP apps but you carrier will still try to block you dont have the correct data plan.
This is not a big deal. I dont really see this changing things much. Thise with the know hoe will find out how to install what they want even if it is not listed on the marketplace.
Relax.
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At least we dont NEED this store to get applications on the phones.
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MICROSOFT – THE BIGGEST IDIOTS
So why they’re creating this fuckin Marketplace ? For apps like ms word, excell ? Or useless Internet explorer ? Thx god for having our xda-dev community 
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WinMo *needs* the app. store, to survive in the market. Otherwise it will become irrelevant. The app store therefore needs developers. And screwing it up for them will not help. I for one still plan to sell my apps with a link to my own online site. I think that’s perfectly legal and my site came first anyhow. It’s also added marketing.
I already paid my $99 over the weekend to Microsoft and have been put in a “pending” status while Microsoft reviews my application. So I still can’t upload anything. That and the fact that I now need to get an ITIN number.
Note to Microsoft: For every barrier you put up for developers to work with you, you lose at least 100 of them. You’re not that special, nor are you that smart. Get off your high horse and listen to the people.
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pauloke Reply:
May 5th, 2009 at 10:03 am
How about you get off your high horse. I dont believe MS owes you anything. They are here to make money and by the sounds of it to help you make money. You are going to sell your apps on their app store which will provide you the extra revenue that the app store brings you. They have taken the marketing burden away.
Now you complain. If you dont like it then sell your apps else where or list it on xda-devs and see how many beers you get.
I get tired of people complaining about non-issues. Some times having a service that has no restrictions is not to best way to do business. MS have other people to please as well including carriers, oems, etc. With Open OSes it is more complicated that it appears. They dont make their own phone so they have to keeps others on side as well.
Apple haven’t done so badly so why should MS.
Once again if you don’t like it then dont sell on there – like the 100 devs lost for ever barrier you so confidently state.
rant over.
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WTF? WMPOWERUSER in turning to be the new MsMOBILES! lol
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It is still going to be an open platform.
Market place wont prevent you from buying and installing apps from any of the current source you use today.
Its only an additional avenue which will make it easier for new user’s who arent used to windows mobile or even smartphones at all.
I dont understand why your getting so upset over this.
The terms and conditions are no worse than Apple’s iPhones or Googles android.
Except unlike the Apple Store, if you dont like it, you dont need to use it.
Remember, its only and addition to the current distrobution options, not a replacement to the current system.
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flatbushe21 Reply:
May 4th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
exactly, if u don’t wanna use it just do what u do now and don’t ask for an appstore. get real people, why do u act like microsoft doesn’t want to make money and they just wanna be friendly to people. lol.
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They are idiots, all they want to do is to bury Windows Mobile. Will they also want $99 for a free app?
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pauloke Reply:
May 5th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Stupid comment.
Yes they want to bury windows mobile. They were just pretending to develop windows mobile 6.5 and 7.
Also they want to invest millions of dollar just to enable devs to make money but they dont want anything in return.
We dont want the marketplace clogged by crappy free apps, not to say all free apps are crap.
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There are some valid concerns – personally I was hoping there would be apps that add functionality to the today screen as in its current form its very limited and doesnt show things like weather or favourite contacts. Barring access to the today screen means we are confined to looking at the default tabs.
Non replacement of the default SMS app rules out Fleximail (which Im sure Alex will be ecstatic about
) and may mean Webis wont be part of the marketplace. Likewise Coreplayer, whats the point of buying a superior media app when you cant have it as your default? And wasnt Kinoma one of their marketplace launch partners, this seems like a detrimental move to their application. And WM has always been touted as an open, less restrictive OS platform especially when compared to apple yet here is MS seemingly doing their best to turn WM into an apple clone.
Though as has been said there are other avenues to get these apps for the WM ecosystem to thrive it needs developer support and it seems some of these restriction wont be too welcome by some developers.
Maybe things wont be as bad as they seem on the surface but once again MS has demonstrated they really dont know what their consumers want and sadly its apparent to me that MS just doesnt have what it takes to compete in the mobile OS world.
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It’s been since the iphone was released that I defend windows mobile in conversations…now (if this list it’s true) i can’t do it no more.
Version 6.5 was a delusion:
You can’t browse the internet comfortably(IE sucks)
You can’t play media comfortably(media player still requires the stylus to navigate in media library, and the interface is slow and years behind competitors, even android’s very basic player works better and smoothly).
And I’m not going deeper than what a featurephone can do…
And now this marketplace??…it seems microsoft works hard on making things NOT right. One of the strongest points of winmo was the ability to tweak everything, to be free to do whatever you want. I am another windows mobile long time user waiting for Palm Prè..
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Ok so its a bit restricted, but so are all the others for other platforms. We do still have an advantage over iPhone, that is the ability to ignore the apps store and get our stuff from elsewhere, or install a different app store. As long as we arent in a worse position than the apple variant no one can complain really.
Microsoft HAS to do what the networks want, it cant ignore them.
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Ths is a classic case of expectation management and MS have done a bad job bringing the developers along the journey that they have to take.
Lets face it we all said that MS was more open than the alternatives and has been for some time but that along with the lack of product appeal has got them going backwards and their Market Share is declining. As a business person you would look at the competition and know that the definition of madness and eventual demise as a decent competitive platform is re3peating the same activity and expecting a different result.
MS had to lift their game and some of that meant being more restrictive than most developers would have expected from MS. But when you look at it they had little choice and remember this is version 1 of market place and some of this stuff WILL change.
Also as has been said this is actually better than the alternatives as they lock you in and YOU HAVE NO CHOICE let me say it again YOU HAVE NO CHOICE WITH THE OTHERS (unless you want to hack your device).
Don’t like market place, go somewhere else MS doesn’t force you to stick with Market Place, shame you can’t say that with Apple. If there ever was a bad representation of Big Brother Apple would be it.
So rather than bitching about it look at your alternatives and you are free to make your choice.
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glad i dont develop (yet) and glad this doesnt pertain to me. as long as XDA is around i could care less!
i have 6.5 already and i put new cabs on all the time.
why would i want to go to the market place…right now..anyway!
WORK IT OUT PEOPLE!
besides, we have all the resources “we” need…the market place will probably be for noobs
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Slow down. You are reading the restrictions in an overly broad and negative way. #1, if you are benefitting from the use of Marketplace then they don’t want you linking to another marketplace in order to circumvent the MS charges, which is fair. The Guitar Hero situation is potentially bad, but an in-game menu that allowed you to download songs would most likely circumvent the standard. #2 is an anti-competition restriction, but it’s typical, you don’t see ads for Jewel grocery stores in Dominicks for this very reason. #3, again, if you benefit from the services of the Marketplace then you can’t circumvent the charges or screw MS out of money it’s earned. #4, this depends on how mobile operator network is defined. Wi-fi may still be ok. It may also be included because the operators demanded it be included, not MS’s choice. #5, obviously an operator’s restriction, AT&T doesn’t want a phone that can advertise for Verizon and vice versa. #6, not familiar with the standards, but it may keep intrusive advertising off the apps, besides its MS’s Marketplace so they should choose how advertising is presented, that’s a standard in every industry. #7, this one may be fair to complain about. #8, they are not banning any of those services, they simply can’t have apps that automatically change the defaults. You can do it yourself if you want, it’s not that hard. I personally hate it everytime an app asks to change my default search provider with some sneaky checkbox during install, thank you MS. #9, this may be just limiting app size or may be per the operators’ request. #10, i’m an attorney, not a developer so don’t know much about this so it may be a legit complaint. #11, giving permission could occur at installation if necessary, but i think this is obviously to keep apps from secretly publishing a users info, which is very basic privacy law (please think before posting a complaint so foolish). #12, no owner even mentioned, and again it’s very basic privacy law
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… everybody is free to install apps that not on marketplace you can buy it everywhere and you can install everything … its much better than apple , where you can install only apple app store shit.
Marketplace is a fantastic opportunity for small developers to be found by costumers and sell products… the split for devs is much better than on platforms like handango, pocketland …
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Yikes. There are some legit points here, but they are few and far between. Looks like MS is trying to push towards “it just works” installations and minimize sketchiness. As long as they follow these guidelines and don’t pull any Apple arbitrariness, it should be pretty good. A few responses to your responses:
1&2: I can see that they don’t want someone to upload a program as an advertisement for someone else’s software service. You’ll notice this does not explicitly restrict a Guitar Hero program from having its own music add-on store. It says “alternate marketplaces for content types that are sold or otherwise distributed through Windows Marketplace”.
3: They don’t want bait-and-switch apps. If a user downloads an app, then has to pay $20 additional to use the full functionality, the user is going to go back to MS if there is a problem (or something is dodgy). It’s not stupidity, it’s ass-covering for all involved. If something dodgy is going on, MS can’t offer a full refund if the user is paying money out of the store.
4&5: You have a point, but this was so carriers don’t block the store. Since 99% of people buy a phone in a carrier store in this country, they had to throw them a few bones. Unlike the iPhone, you are perfectly free to download Skype yourself and install it on your own without restriction.
6: These are standard ad sizes and types. This is a GOOD thing for both designers/devs and ad companies. I seriously don’t see the problem here.
7: Carrier restrictions again. Again, you can download a new dialer or SMS client elsewhere and install it easily.
8: I want clarification here. I don’t mind if you can’t automatically change the default on install. That can cause a lot of confusion for a non-technical user. It’s not as easy a thing to change back as it is on a PC. I would not like it if you could not make the downloaded app a default at all through a non-installation process (like a settings dialog). Better yet, MS should make the default an easy thing to change.
9: This looks like install size, not total amount able to download using the app. Browsers would be in big trouble otherwise.
10: You just bought and installed a new $20 app. It uses some runtime library that isn’t on your phone. You launch it and it gives you an error. Most users would not be happy about this situation. Mortscript uses AFAIK the regular WM Win32 API and would be ok. We’re talking about downloading the equivalent of a Mortscript script that would required Mortscript to run.
11&12: This one is a good thing. An app should only publish info if a user allows it explicitly. Presumably RecoveryCop is installed by a handset user and not the thief. I seriously doubt MS will require an authorization every time RecoveryCop goes out to the Internet. It’s usually a one-time authorization and in theory will make sure that the app is only sending info authorized by the user.
The best part about these rules is that you don’t have to follow ANY of them to write or install a program on Windows Mobile. I don’t use any 3rd party dialers or SMS apps (beyond TF3D, which I doubt will be offered on the store), I’d be hard pressed to think of any 3rd-party apps that I use on a regular basis that would be affected by any of these rules. It’s not like MS is restricting software that replaces functionality of the OS (besides the dialer and SMS/MMS apps) or modifies/replaces the OS shell.
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They might as well cancel the hole “market place” idea if there going to have all of those idiotic restrictions for the developer.
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wreiad Reply:
May 4th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Or the developer can simply sell his apps SOMEWHERE ELSE like he’s beed doing all this time.
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I wouldn’t get so excited about those restrictions, it’s a bit too early for that.
But just in case, it’s good to know we have the XDA guys on our side…
(and if all of this doesn’t work, I’m carrying an iphone in my other pocket… you know… just in case…)
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I don’t see what the big deal is – I don’t use Windows Marketplace today (no one does) and I have everything I want on my Touch Pro (alternate launchers, Slingbox, plugins, media players, etc.). Windows Marketplace is just another Hanandgo as far as I’m concerned and if it doesn’t have the apps I want then I won’t use it, simple as that.
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Okay some of the restrictions seem silly (no Today screen plugins — WTF?), but it’s no different than any other market place. A lot of that is just CYA stuff. Admittedly, some of it is to promote their lock in their monopoly (bad, MS!). But, you know, this doesn’t stop you from installing the apps from some other avenue. It will probably never be as popular as Apple’s marketplace, but… you know… Apple’s marketplace is only as popular as it is because it is literally the only way to install apps on the damn iphone!
Think about the average user using MarketPlace. It’s certainly not me. 99% of my apps come from XDA or other hobby sites. None of those apps would be on MarketPlace anyway. But I’m sure there will be some silly 99 cent beer pouring app. And I’m sure it will sell. Remember the target audience.
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Life without walls eh?
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Im a skinner and developer, I love decorating and customizing for windows mobile. But If you makes us stop loving windows, that cant be help,
just dont make people shift to other platform, …
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The rage is a little misplaced. We won’t lose the ability to find and install our own software once Marketplace opens; marketplace is more about being a high-penetration marketing solution and user-friendly app acquisition solution for the “iPhone generation”. It is NOT the single source of applications that Apple Marketplace is. So they can and should be a bit restrictive; the last thing you want is marketplace to be complicated and have it hook users up with software that messes their phone up in some way.
They have to be particularly careful about this because it’s Windows.
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Guys, why are you acting like EJR on msmobiles who just likes to rave against anything MS & for whom nothing will be good enough (except fruit company & cyborg mob)? wmpoweruser is way better than that, you guys are not expected to rant irrationally about things!
#1 & #2 – Its logical, they wouldn’t want to promote other shop, why would they? There’s no point in allowing free download of app center for other shops from their marketplace so people go & buy stuff at other shop! And I think Guitar Hero & the likes won’t have probs since their sound packs could also be made available for download from marketplace (it will be illogical not to).
#1 & #2 & #3 – Yuri got it right above – unlike fruit company’s app center & cyborg app center, this marketplace will allow users to return apps & get a refund. Now if they purchase an app & then purchased its upgrade outside marketplace, MS won’t be able to refund any amount except what user paid there and the user won’t care where they paid, as far as they are concerned they bought the app in MS marketplace & they will want the full refund back from them! I don’t think you would like to chase 2 or more shops if you were such a user!
#4 & #5 – Again, this doesn’t sound good but like Yuri says, MS has to throw something to carriers as well since in US most people buy subsidized phones from carriers & so do many people in Europe. Carriers will simply remove the marketplace from the phones they carry or won’t push out any WM phones if this were the case. But since MS is not evil like fruit company, they don’t block people from using an app which means Skype, Fring etc can be downloaded from their own sites & used without a problem.
#6 – Well, their standards are pretty straightforward & not nagging. Also, you wouldn’t want your kids etc. to see adult ads (if you give them a WM phone), perhaps you wouldn’t want to seem them yourself when you’re searching & shopping for a biz app.
#8 – I don’t think they are wrong here, they would want people to use their own software. Next thing you might ask from them is to remove IE from Windows (desktop OS) & include Firefox or Opera in it, hehehe!
But they are not banning those browsers & music players. Thats the strength of WM, so many alternatives available. HTC already is shipping new devices with Opera as default & you can download & use them without a problem! Novice users frankly don’t care, they just use the default stuff as per what I’ve seen so they are also not gonna miss it. Besides – with IE6 mobile improving in the new version (hopefully by WM7), it won’t be an abomination anymore, MS seems to have waken up regarding its browser game (both on PC & PPC).
#9 – I agree with Yuri here too, browser or IM apps would be in a problem since they would easily download 10MB. Does seem like a restriction on install size. But because of this, the map & navigation apps which offer map packs will be in trouble as map packs can often go over 50-100MB.
#10 – I don’t think Mortscript would be in problem since its just a script parser which underneath calls Win API. It doesn’t interact with the hardware directly on low level.
#11 & #12 – This seems a bit confusing. I hope by “user” MS means “owner”.
Also, its not to say that these guidelines are final, MS can still change them on getting feedback from people. They did change that app upgrade policy which 1st required $99 for upgrades too & which was later changed to free app upgrades by developers after MS got feedback on that! So why this hurry to crucify them, they’re listening to feedback, they are not Apple guys so lets not treat them like Apple!
And no, I’m not a fanboy or associated with MS. Frankly I dislike fanboys of every type, be it Apple fanboys or MS fanboys because they go beyond the reach of reason & just like to drool over whatever their masters dish out. No, I wouldn’t abandon reason for anything (maybe can make exception for $1 bln cash, hehehe)!
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I took a day to rethink all of these before replying. I didn’t want to a “gut reaction” post. But I think the original article was written in anger, and needs a common sense reply…. Here goes:
“1. Applications that are or distribute alternate marketplaces for content types (applications, games, themes etc.) that are sold or otherwise distributed through Windows® Marketplace for Mobile.
So no apps like Didiom? No Guitar Hero apps that let you buy tunes from your phone?”
Have you used an xbox 360 lately? All song packs are downloaded through XBL. You can download them from within guitar hero, but the purchase does not occur outside the marketplace. It makes for a better experience and developers have proven that they can work with it and make *it* work. I agree with this restriction.
“2. Applications that link to, incent users to download, or otherwise promote alternate marketplaces for content types that are sold or otherwise distributed through Windows Marketplace for Mobile.
What?!? Microsoft scared of competition?”
Not scared at all. The fact that there will continue to *BE* other marketplaces that MS doesn’t want promoted is clear that they don’t plan on shutting out other apps (unlike apple.) If they feared competition then they could completely close down the platform. But an app-store app should try and promote the ‘unified experience’ that has made the competitors’ app stores successful, so this is a reasonable restriction as well. Lets say an app is approved in the app store, but then promotes plugins from elsewhere. And that ‘elsewhere’ doesnt vet plugins, and a bad plugin crashes the app. The user wants a refund for the app, MS loses money, the app maker loses money, *NO* good comes from this. Being able to exert quality control on the experience from app-store apps is common sense, and the only way to ensure that quality control is to not allow the app to ‘promote’ outside, unvetted code. Very much related to #1.
“3. Applications that promote or link users to a website, or contain functionality within the application itself, which encourages or requires the user to purchase or pay to upgrade the application outside of Windows® Marketplace for Mobile.
More stupidity. So developers are forced to pay $99 per year for application upgrades ad infinitum?”
If you rent a storefront in the mall, do you have to keep paying rent? Or condominium fees, for places that actually let you buy, etc etc. Of course you continue to pay $99 per year. Your app is getting accessible and benefits from all app-store promotions, just like a store in a mall would. Like any business, you can go buy your own plot of land, build, and not advertise. Or you can pay some money to be in the yellow pages, or you can pay big bucks for a very visible location. A recurring fee JUST MAKES SENSE.
“4. Applications that enable VoIP (Voice over IP) services over a mobile operator network.
What?!?!?! Skype being banned!”
From the app store? Sure. As other have pointed out, this is to help carrier adoption. You are right to say that it is unfair to compare WM to Apple, as WM should strive to be *BETTER.* But phones still need to be sold to be better, and the app store still needs exposure to be successful. Remember when apple was forced to pull the tethering app by AT&T? Making this restriction up-front only helps WM right now…
“5. Applications that sell, link to, or otherwise promote mobile voice plans.
Skype again?”
See #4. Nuf said.
“6. Applications that display advertising that does not meet the Microsoft Advertising Creative Acceptance Policy Guide http://advertising.microsoft.com/creative-specs.
And why should I care about Microsoft’s standards?”
You care because you want your app in MS’s app store. To revisit a previous analogy, many malls enforce strict advertising rules as well. Stores can’t crank music so loud that they can be heard everywhere else…even if it did grab attention and pull in customers. The mall has a desire to make the shopping experience appealing to the broadest audience. MS has a right to enforce advertising standards for apps that they are helping promote for the same reason. If you *don’t* care about your app being in the app store then this rule won’t apply to you.
“7. Applications that replace, remove or modify the default dialer, SMS, or MMS interface.
Again, what’s wrong with alternate apps?”
Nothing is ‘wrong’ with alternate apps. This is one I *almost* agree with you on. But MS doesn’t want apps that break their UI, understandably. And if they start approving app #1 and declining app #2 because they ‘liked’ one UI and didn’t like another then they fall into the criticism Apple is struggling with right now. The app approval process will be seen as arbitrary and unfair. Better to set an understandable rule set expectations. It is unfortunate, but necessary.
“8. Applications that change the default browser, search client, or media player on the device.
Microsoft has GOT to be joking? They want to ban Google and Opera? PocketTunes? Kinoma?”
The key word here is *DEFAULT.* Is it difficult for Opera to change their app so it doesn’t change the default?!? How often will this effect you? Want to know how I launch opera 99% of the time? I click on the icon I added to my today page. The default only kicks in when another app has a URL. Do I think MS could be a little less strict? Of course. But your insinuation that these apps will be BANNED is a bit extreme too. As the app store evolves, this is really a nitpicky issues that can be negotiatied.
“9. Applications with an OTA (over the air) download >10 MB.
Does Microsoft think they are Apple? They have no podcasting solution of their own, will not have any ready for WM 6.5, and want to ban BeyondPod? Idiots.”
Ummm…..this is where you jumped the shark and let your anger do all of your writing. It is fairly obvious that MS means the *INSTALLER* cannot be >10MB, a necessary limitation to allow a smooth installation experience from the app store OTA. Again, XBL enforces similar (albeit larger) limitations for XBLA games. And it all works well. Why do I accuse you of jumping the shark?!? BeyondPod’s install CAB is 572KB which is WELL below 10 megs. …c’mon…
“10. Applications that run code outside Microsoft runtimes (native, managed, and widgets)
So what – now Mortscript is banned too?”
Again it has been pointed out that mortscript still uses MS runtimes. It doesn’t do low-level hardware calls. Again, the app you chose as the counterpoint doesn’t even apply. Hence my feeling that by this point, your anger was controlling your fingers and not your brain.
“11. Applications that publish a user’s location information to any other person without first having received the user’s express permission (opt-in) to do so, and that do not provide the user a means of opting out of having their location information published.
So no RecoveryCop? What if the user and the owner are two different people?”
MS has always defined the ‘user’ as the purchaser. The user agrees to the EULA. The user installs the app. The user would opt-in to RecoveryCop. When you hand your phone to a friend across the table, do they have to re-agree to the EULA to use IE? Of course not. You state that there is a difference between a user and an owner, but that distinction only exists if you ignore how MS defines a user as they consistently have in their other EULAs. Just another example of pure undirected anger.
“12. Applications that publish a user’s data from their mobile device to any other person without first having received the user’s express permission (opt-in) to do so, and that do not provide the user a means of opting out of having their data published. A “user’s data” includes, without limit, contacts, photos, SMS or other text communication, browsing history, location information, and other data either stored on the mobile device or stored in the “cloud” but accessible from the mobile device.
Again, the user and the owner are not always the same person.”
See #11.
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wreiad Reply:
May 6th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Wow this was devstating
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very well said. thank you for enlightening us.
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this is very disappointing MS is shooting an arrow that is hitting back to their own asses..
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What annoy me most are those restrictions (such as the VOIP one) that fall into the “sucking up to US carriers” category. Carriers in the US impose draconian limitations compared with many other places: that is a contractual issue between the carrier and the customer, it should not fall to Microsoft (or Apple, who do the same thing) to impose limitations demanded by certain carriers on all customers whether they are or are not customers of those carriers.
It’s frankly absurd, and one of the reasons why I think the whole PDA/Phone convergence thing has turned out to be a horrible wrong turn.
Set our devices free.
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