Microsoft Opens Office Store

Microsoft has declared the Office Store open, meaning those running the Office 2013 preview can now integrate various web-based services into their productivity software.

A number of “cool apps” can now be tested out with the preview versions of Office, SharePoint or Exchange. Microsoft introduced the customer preview release of its Office 2013 productivity suite last month, and has been busy talking up its cloud-related features.

“We’ve built the store so you could integrate the very best of the web with the powerful features of Office and SharePoint,” said Microsoft’s Vivek Narasimhan in a company blog post. “We’ve also focused on making it really easy to get, install and use apps.

“All apps that are listed on the Store get extensively validated so users can trust them. Since these apps are all based on web-standards, they load straight away – there’s no need for IT to pre-load them. If you use a new machine, just sign-in with your Microsoft account and all your apps will be there.”

Powerful controls

Microsoft has also built in “powerful controls” in the Office Store, allowing IT departments to set policies on what workers can and can’t buy. An App Catalog will also allow businesses to integrate in-house apps or source them from partners and then distribute them to employees.

For developers, the Redmond giant has promised a simpler process for uploading apps than that offered by its rivals. “We know this area has been a source of great pain on other app stores so we have made our policies unambiguous and ready for you to get acquainted with early on in the process,” said Narasimhan.

Thanks to a new framework, developers can also add their own code to enforce licensing agreements. “It gives developers the ability to include code in their apps to enforce their legal use. The app license framework itself does not enforce app licenses; it provides APIs and services to retrieve, verify, and then act on license information,” Narasimhan added.

Microsoft will keep 20 percent of every transaction over the store, 10 percent less than Apple or Google take for purchases over their mobile stores.

Apps currently on the Office Store include one for Twitter integration and another to bring LinkedIn functionality to Sharepoint deployments.

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