Ask Paul: September 12 ⭐

Happy Friday! I finally had some time to wind down a bit between trips this week, but this weekend should be even better. So let’s kick it off a bit early. I need the time.
One more membership reminder
Last week, I wrote a bit about the membership transition and what you can do if you clicked through that banner that mistakenly appeared for some Alpha members or had other issues. I think I got through most of the subsequent support requests, but I also have this nagging feeling I might have missed something. And I know there are at least a few people I contacted via email how haven’t written me back.

The newsletter issue should be resolved by next week: The service we were using on the backend changed, so I’m going to send out a few tests soon and then resume that next week (or the week after if need be).

Also, we know that the Alpha badge isn’t displaying at all or inconsistently. There are some changes in the works, but we will get that sorted out too.

Apart from those things, if you are still having an issue related to the new membership system, please email me. I really do want to get ahead of this quickly and then move on to a broader transition and some new features (like this one that someone has already noticed in its early release). My end game, so to speak, is just making this all work well for everyone, you and me. There’s more work to do, but we’ll get it there.
? If an app fell in a store and no one bought it
helix2301 asks:

Microsoft announced that [it] has removed the one-time fees for its store, and developers no longer need a credit card. Do you think this is Microsoft trying to get more developers trying to entice people just wondering your thoughts on things.

The Microsoft Store has gone through many permutations since it launched as the Windows Store with Windows 8 in 2012. As originally envisioned, the Store was a front-end to a then-new mobile apps platform called Metro that was part of a broader initiative to bring mobile-like features to the PC. This was never going to work, and it didn’t, but Microsoft adapted many, many times over the years. The app platform changed repeatedly. But the Store changed even more.

Charting those changes is beyond my mental capacity this morning. But at a high level, the biggest changes were the steady increase in the types of apps one could offer through the Store, the steady dissolution of technical and licensing requirements to make the Store more appealing to developers who might otherwise only distribute on the web, and the ways in which developers got/get paid.

The original Windows Store offered developers the same 70/30 percent revenue split that Apple turned into a de facto industry standard despite it being completely unfair and arbitrary. But there was a twist, and this is the type of thing that competition brings to the market: “Successful apps,” meaning those that earned $25,000 or more in revenues, would see a better 80/20 revenue split. (There were...