After announcing Windows 10 S, the Surface Laptop, and other new services at its #MicrosoftEDU event yesterday, Microsoft is still not finished. Indeed, Build 2017 is just around the corner and more announcements are very likely. Recent documentation shows that the company is changing the name of the Windows Store to the Microsoft Store.
Recently updated documentation for the Windows Store for Business shows there will be a name change. It seems that Microsoft is rebranding the store across Windows 10. At the moment, this is showing up for the Business and Education versions of the store.
However, with the documentation in place, the Windows Store could become the Microsoft Store across all Windows 10 versions.
From what we can tell, this is not a mistake and the change will be made. Of course, Microsoft Store is already used for the company’s web portals for buying media and products. It could become confusing trying to differentiate the two.
Although, the company did quietly merge Microsoftstore.com with the Windows Store on the web which is found here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/b/home.
It is at least mildly annoying when Microsoft renames things like this and it can be confusing. The main documentation for Microsoft Store for Business and Education says:
“Welcome to the Microsoft Store for Business and Education! You can use Microsoft Store to find, acquire, distribute, and manage apps for your organization or school. You can also work with developers to create line-of-business apps that are only available to your organization. IT admins can sign up for the Microsoft Store for Business and Education, and get started working with apps.”
Renaming
As mentioned, this is only happening to the business and education customers of Windows 10. However, it seems likely that this could be introduced for the regular Windows Store. Unless Microsoft wants to further confuse the matter.
One this worth thinking about is if the company is trying to differentiate education and business away from the Windows Store. This could mean Microsoft selling hardware through the Microsoft Store for business and education.
If that is the case, the Windows Store for normal Windows 10 users may remain the same.
