Windows Store has smarts, unfortunately (sorta)

By | October 28, 2012

As a developer I appreciate this, but as a consumer I’m kinda bummed.

My cheapskate self took a shot while running the Windows 8 Previews from Developer all the way through Release Preview and I took every chance I could get to download and install apps I was even remotely interested in when they showed up in the Store. Why would I do this? Well, my thought was that once Windows 8 went to GA (General Availability, that is, available for everybody), these apps would likely become paid apps. And if they did, since I already downloaded the “free” version during the preview time, I’d get it for free.

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Fruit Ninja, for example, was free until shortly before last Friday. Since then, it’s gone to $4.99. I saw this update come through and though “no biggie”

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Foiled!

Again, good for the developers (like me), bad for the cheapskates (like me). So if you are experiencing some failed updates to apps you installed before Windows 8 went live, chances are this is why.