Microsoft announced on Tuesday that its app store for Windows 8, called Windows Store, is now open to all developers who wish to submit apps. Previously, the software giant had been metering developer submissions to the store.
“We’re very excited to announce the last significant milestone in the rollout of the Windows Store before the general availability of Windows 8 on October 26,” Microsoft senior vice president Antoine Leblond writes in a post to the Windows Store for Developers blog. “The Store is now open for app submissions from all developers – individuals and companies – in our supported markets, and we’ve added 82 more app submission markets! Now, developers from 120 markets can publish Windows Store apps.”
Additionally, Microsoft revealed that subscribers to MSDN Visual Studio Professional, Test Professional, Premium, Ultimate, and BizSpark will receive a free, one-year Windows Store developer account as part of their MSDN benefits. This account normally costs $50 per year and allows developers to submit apps to the store.
Developers interested in submitting new Windows 8 apps (or what Microsoft’s developer documentation calls “Windows Store apps”) should visit the Windows Store Dashboard to sign up, reserve apps names, and configure their accounts. Remember that the Windows 8 developer tools—which includes Visual Studio Express for Windows 8, Blend for Visual Studio 2012, and more—are free, and that Microsoft provides exhaustive documentation for building and designing new Windows Store apps at the Windows Dev Center.
