Microsoft released the then new Windows 2012 in 8, which was essentially the first modern operating system of the company that supported the Store new.
The Microsoft Store, at the time of Windows 8's release, had around 5.000 apps, which were supposed to be malware-free software and specially optimized to adapt to different screen resolutions, with support for touch screens.
The Microsoft proposal
Windows RT, the platform that Microsoft released as the base operating system of the Surface RT, was expected to make heavy use of the Microsoft Store, as the apps it contained were supposed to be developed to run on any device, regardless of screen size or resolution.
However, this promotion in the Microsoft Store applications failed and since then Microsoft has been trying to cope with the lack of universal apps (UWP) that have been developed for all modern devices running Windows and the latest Progressive Web Applications from Progressive Web Apps (or simply PWA).
The idea behind PWAs is quite simple: websites can be turned into apps, and in Windows 10 users can launch them from desktops, from a live Start menu tile, and receive notifications through the Action Center.
However, despite the obvious advantages that PWAs offer to users, developers have not released such applications.
And Google came.
With Update 70 of Google Chrome, the company browser has support for Progressive Web Apps. The company even uses an approach similar to that of Windows 10.
Web pages can be turned into applications that use native OS features such as desktop alerts and shortcuts. The difference is that these applications run in Chrome and do not need to be installed from the Microsoft Store, but directly from the official websites.
Contrary to Microsoft's approach, Google's promotion of the same feature for PWAs seems to work. At the same time, it will solve the problem of Apps in Windows 10.
It all's of course related to Google Chrome's market share. Google Browser currently runs on more than 60% of computers worldwide. This gives the search company the opportunity to conquer the targeting platforms (see Windows) with new features. Six out of ten users use Chrome, and every little new feature is more likely to go viral. The same thing will happen in the case of PWAs.
In Windows 10, releasing a PWA was not really a priority for developers because not everyone sees the Microsoft Store as the best place to launch new applications, this is not the case with Google Chrome.
Thanks to its impressive market share, Google Chrome can convince developers that PWA is essential because it would allow users to access their services more easily.
This technically means that PWAs are now a factor in choosing a particular service or alternative, as some users may simply use a particular product simply because it offers PWA.
Do you think that Microsoft chose to use its machine by accident? Chromium for Edge?
At the moment, there are not many PWAs with support for Google Chrome, but we expect a vertical increase in the coming months. Google is also trying to extend PWA support to Linux and macOS, giving developers another good reason to add the feature to their services: The SEO of the websites themselves.
When the above happens (it has already started to happen), Google will be able to solve a problem that Microsoft has been struggling to solve for years.
Google even managed to do it with just one pro updateletterbrowsing, while Microsoft still can't figure out a way to get developers to write for its platform.
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