Will it be possible to install an app to the Surface without passing from Microsoft App Store?

Question

I am planning to realize apps to be used from Surface Win8 new tablet.

Will it be necessary to pass from the new Windows App Store (as it happens for iOS) or will I be able to distribute the .exe without passing from Microsoft?

Livia

Answer 1

As far as I aquired information. There are assumptions that the standard Surface have no Desktop mode. That means the pad will be purely comparable with Android and iOS. The Pro version will instead also be delivered with desktop mode also. In normal terms "full Windows 8".

If that's the case, you can install and run Metro specific applications on Standard, or better described "Applications developed under WinRT". But with Pro version, also windows desktop applications like classic Office and such.

[UPDATE]
Based on a few QA from Microsoft, they are going to make differences in Windows 8 versions. They are going to offer distribution of apps outside the store. This is an extremely important point in example to business line use, and intranet purpose. Though, they are about to make this available to an Enterprise version of Windows 8.

"..Only the Enterprise version of Windows 8 will have the capability to 'Side Load' Apps. Side loading bypasses the Windows Store to install custom Enterprise Apps within an organization.."

I feel the answer is a little of "Yes, you are able to distribute the apps outside the store" and "No, for public or world wide use, you have to go through the Windows Store". As a distributor, it appears to be a work-around. Though, the recipients of this "side-loaded app" have to be aware of that work-around. This is a citate from Microsoft Developer page,

Preparing other PCs Some business users might not use a PC that supports enterprise sideloading. Common reasons for this are that the edition of Windows that their enterprise uses doesn’t support this, or the IT admins do not manage the PC. This scenario is becoming increasingly common with the growing trend of personal devices used for work.

To enable sideloading of a Metro style app onto a PC: Set Group Policy for “Allow all trusted apps to install”. If you cannot use Group Policy, then you can set this through the following setting: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Appx\AllowAllTrustedApps = 1 Verify that the app is signed by a CA that is trusted on the target machines Activate a special product key by using a script on the target machine to enable sideloading. We'll go into more detail about how the IT admin will acquire the product keys in an upcoming blog post. The product key only needs to be install and activated once on the PC.

From link: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore/archive/2012/04/25/deploying-metro-style-apps-to-businesses.aspx

For Business purpose, it appears to be a kind of package distribution where you can select which enterprise users should be eligable for which Windows 8 - metro - applications.

Rend

Answer 2

My understanding is:

• Surface RT: only Metro apps can be installed, and only from the Store (compare to iPad)
• Surface Pro: Metro apps can be installed from the Store, regular apps can be installed from anywhere (compare to a Windows 8 PC).

Note that is only from I gathered by reading tech blogs, not coming from an official Microsoft source.

Sleep

Answer 3

Direct distribution of Metro style apps are possible, the licensing and deployment ways are very much similar to the iOS. You need to have developer license to develop and deploy in windows store, here you can separate business target or direct distribution.

I think the way that operate is to minimize the issues and to have full control over the app. Every application that deploys must certified by windows store.

Refer the link here for more details.

.exe executable files:

you should be able to install and control exe like in PC environment. but you need to have full Windows 8 operating system for this.

If your application is domain and network dependent then you must make sure that your tablet operating system is Windows pro (8 or 8.1), otherwise it can't join in domain.

I would recommend rather than tangling with metro style apps, develop WPF application that looks like metro style app.

microsoft might come up with an update soon, as the above information is valid as on date 6/02/2014 and as per my knowledge.

Spheno