Hands-on with Microsoft Store on Windows 11: UI overhaul and speed improvements are nice; addition of much-needed apps like Zoom and WinZip is a promising start
Tom Warren / The Verge :
Context & Ripple Effects
Three weeks after Microsoft's Windows 11 announcement promised a rebuilt store alongside the new Start menu and Teams integration, The Verge's Tom Warren has put the new Microsoft Store through a hands-on test. His verdict splits the promise from the polish: the UI overhaul and speed gains are real, but the more consequential change is catalog-level.
The arrival of staples like Zoom and WinZip targets the store's longest-standing weakness — that mainstream Windows users had no reason to open it when every major app shipped via its own installer. That follows the broader Windows 11 preview arc covered earlier in the hands-on with the refreshed UI and Snap Layouts, which set expectations for exactly this kind of incremental-but-visible improvement cadence.
First-order effects
- Windows 11 preview testers can now pull everyday apps like Zoom and WinZip directly from the store instead of hunting down vendor installers, making the store usable as a first-stop channel during the beta period.
Second-order effects
- With Microsoft demonstrating that marquee desktop apps will list in its store, holdout publishers face pressure to follow before Windows 11 ships — otherwise they sit out the one storefront preinstalled on every new Windows PC at launch.
Third-order effects
- If the catalog buildout keeps pace, the Microsoft Store shifts from an afterthought toward being Windows' default distribution layer, changing how software reaches hundreds of millions of PCs — though the eventual release review flagged promised features like Android apps missing, so the store's momentum depends on delivery beyond the UI.
The trend: Microsoft is rebuilding its store's speed and catalog to make a first-party storefront the default way Windows users get their apps, one marquee listing at a time.