In a new blog post, Microsoft details the app licensing process for Windows Store in the upcoming Windows 8 operating system. Microsoft wants to provide a single licensing mechanism across all apps so there is a consistent experience for customers.
“The Store’s app licensing model centers on the idea of providing customers with access to all of their apps on all of their Windows 8 devices. It gives customers control over their apps and keeps them connected to those apps across the multiple PCs that they’ll use over time. They can get updates for apps, write reviews for them, reinstall them on a new PC, and share them with their families,” Microsoft states in an official blog post.
The licensing process for apps also includes built-in protection against piracy, so developers can start a business around creating apps for Windows 8 PCs. This new process ensures that there is a consistent experience when downloading an app and maintaining those apps from all developers.
The Windows Store is tied to your Microsoft Account, which allows a user to see a history of apps installed and reacquire those apps, if needed, on up to 5 other Windows 8 PCs. The license for those apps are also saved on your PC and updates to those apps will be seen for download when available.
Users can also buy or try Windows 8 apps in the Windows Store. “Our licensing model has built-in support for trials that developers can set up for their apps with just a couple of clicks. We built this into the platform because we knew it was a fantastic way to encourage customers to sample and (hopefully) acquire many apps,” Microsoft adds.
You can read the full blog post here.
