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Microsoft to end its Android apps on Windows 11 subsystem in 2025 (www.theverge.com)

submitted 8 months ago by misk@sopuli.xyz to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[–] ThePantser@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

So they are not pulling the feature from Windows right? We will still be able to side load?

[–] maynarkh@feddit.nl 18 points 8 months ago (2 children)

If you currently use Android apps from the Amazon Appstore, then you’ll continue to have access to these past the support cutoff date, but you won’t be able to download any new ones once Microsoft makes its Android subsystem end of life next year. On March 6th (tomorrow), Windows 11 users will no longer be able to search for Amazon Appstore or associated Android apps from the Microsoft Store.

[–] Concave1142@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago (5 children)

I have not looked for stats but I'd love to see what the actual usage of the Microsoft Store is. I know I have never found a use for it and went as far as disabling the MS Store via GPO because I got tired of seeing it and for learning experience.

I have never found a reason, for myself, where I would need to use the MS Store... ever.

[–] Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Meh, there are a few decent apps on there I use where the distribution is easier or solely through the MS Store. EarTrumpet for better audio management from the taskbar, PaintDotNet, Custom Context Menu for Win11 to add context menu entries. Maybe a few others. It's not something I open often but it's not entirely without use. It would probably be better if it wasn't full of garbage apps/books/etc

[–] foggy@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

not sure about the android stuff but MS store has good functionality in certain instances. For example, if you have a Bluetooth xbox controller that's acting up you can use the Microsoft Xbox controller app to sort it out really easily/intuitively.

Also works great for getting subsystem for Linux OS installs without a lot of fuss provided your machine is capable.

[–] MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

For example, if you have a Bluetooth xbox controller that's acting up you can use the Microsoft Xbox controller app to sort it out really easily/intuitively.

Just did that this week to get a new controller set up with my Steamdeck, works great.

[–] warm@kbin.earth 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Proprietary Microsoft apps dont really count towards the stores usefulness, they are obviously going to try and shoehorn you into their store their stuff.

Most other apps on Windows are usually distributed manually through executables or installers.

[–] QuadratureSurfer@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

I have rarely used it.

I used it for some Microsoft product that you had to buy to be able to view the thumbnails of iPhone pictures natively in Windows Explorer.

I also used it for setting up WSL with Ubuntu or some other Linux Distro.

[–] maynarkh@feddit.nl 2 points 8 months ago

You needed it for WSL last I used WSL, which was admittedly 5 years ago. It was a weird thing, having to ask our sysadmins to get us access, as Docker needed it at the time. Its front page was mostly Candy Crush calibre stuff even then.

[–] pycorax@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I use it for a couple utilities since they do auto-update. I also used to install Firefox and Discord from there since it's faster than going to the website and downloading the installer manually but now with winget, I found that more convenient.

It seems important for as I've seen it being used in updating some system components so disabling it outright might not be a good idea.

[–] Gumus@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Why not use winget or chocolatey instead? They allow for auto updates and have much wider library. Winget can even pull from msstore if necessary. There's even a convenient WingetUI that consolidates them and others (winget, choco, scoop, npm, .net, pip, etc.) to a single app manager.

[–] pycorax@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

I already mentioned that I am. My only issue with winget is that it doesn't update automatically, you need to do it manually and the list of updates includes a lot of apps that you didn't install through winget sometimes so it becomes a pain to exclude some apps. Winget UI seems interesting but I personally find it quite ugly.

[–] ThePantser@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That doesn't answer the question. Sure we will be able to use them past the cutoff date but do they have plans to remove the subsystem in the future through an update?

[–] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

My prediction is "probably yes", given the other nonsense they've done.

Though I added it to Win10 via a package from github. Win10 did require to be a certain patch level. I would assume the underlying architecture that's required won't go away (Android is an API on Linux after all, and we have WSL too), so we should still be able to use something like this.