Windows 8 Store - am I missing something, or this LESS manageable than the iPad?

[AngryTechnician]

ms seem to be moving from that model to a script every damn thing in powershell model

I'm glad it's not just me that thinks that. The amount of Exchange stuff I have to do in PowerShell is infuriating.

And yes, you can distribute certificates via Group Policy. It's probably the easiest part of the whole process, actually.

[gshaw]

It seems the problem with the whole MS vision at the moment is that everyone is going to drop their (shared) business \ enterprise computers for 1:1 BYOD tomorrow with no overlap in between. The management issues for everything from Start Screen to Metro Apps seems to stem from this as it all seems to be "per user" rather than "per machine"

Yes this might be the way it will go over the next few years, starting right now but the transition doesn't happen overnight and leaving out large chunks of enterprise management features will not go down well seeing as it's the only thing holding back their main competitor (Apple)

Very odd decision imo, is there a similar rambling blog post that might explain the logic in the same way they did to justify the Aero > Metro changes?

[sted]

Very odd decision imo, is there a similar rambling blog post that might explain the logic in the same way they did to justify the Aero > Metro changes?

being a synic i suggest that aero went so people noticed that after upgrading their pc was faster lol

[VeryPC_Tom_M]

I think they were claiming yesterday that the .appx method was "more flexible" than an MSI... I don't know if I believe that, until I see it however!

[gshaw]

I think they were claiming yesterday that the .appx method was "more flexible" than an MSI... I don't know if I believe that, until I see it however!

I guess it's more flexible in the same way that deploying Office 2007 onwards through an EXE and clunky XML file is more efficient than using MSIs

[RabbieBurns]

Is anyone else trying to get a multi-user windows 8 up and running?

Im tearing my hair out..

It doesnt help when you contact the support for one of you softwares, who have made a nice windows 8 app in the store, to find out how to get the .appx to use sideloading and they say no.

Good afternoon Rabbieburns,
At this point in time we are not able to supply you with an .appx file for distributing the application. 
I apologise for any inconvenience. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us via phone or email.
Kind regards, 
Mr Supportl McWhatever, ClickView Technical Support

So the only way to have a widows 8 app available for all users, is to sideload the .appx with scripts. But the .appx are non-existant.

Whats going on ??

[sted]

Is anyone else trying to get a multi-user windows 8 up and running?

Im tearing my hair out..

It doesnt help when you contact the support for one of you softwares, who have made a nice windows 8 app in the store, to find out how to get the .appx to use sideloading and they say no.

Good afternoon Rabbieburns,
At this point in time we are not able to supply you with an .appx file for distributing the application. 
I apologise for any inconvenience. If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us via phone or email.
Kind regards, 
Mr Supportl McWhatever, ClickView Technical Support

So the only way to have a widows 8 app available for all users, is to sideload the .appx with scripts. But the .appx are non-existant.

Whats going on ??

i THINK if you add it into our base image and sysprep you can deploy that way ut not 100% and means rebuilding pcs for 1 app anyway

[AngryTechnician]

So the only way to have a widows 8 app available for all users, is to sideload the .appx with scripts. But the .appx are non-existant.

Whats going on ??

This is exactly what I think we all knew was going to happen. If left up to the publishers, they are not going to put the extra effort in, it's as simple as that.

I would love to hear what @eduAnt from Microsoft has to say about this, given that when he popped in to the forums in September he was asking "What are the Top 5 challenges for schools"!

[RabbieBurns]

I dont have a problem going an extra mile and writing scripts etc to do what we need...

the problem I cant get round is where do these apps come from.

[SYNACK]

The app files are stored in c:\Program Files\WindowsApps which is locked down to trusted installer by default but I'm just cracking it open now to see if there is any appx goodness in there.

[SYNACK]

Right, no appx files but the actual programs do appear to be extracted in there, may be possible to repack them with App packager (MakeAppx.exe) (Windows) but it seems like a hell of a mess. Perhaps https snooping while downloading the appx from the windows store would be less hassle, not that, that is overly quick and easy either.

edit: image of register app, includes the cert and manifest by the looks, might be possible
registerapp.png

[RabbieBurns]

perhaps we will have to rely on the pirates and their want to copy paid for apps to allow us to figure out how to deploy the free ones?

Windows 8/2012 sideloading crack

[AngryTechnician]

edit: image of register app, includes the cert and manifest by the looks, might be possible
registerapp.png

Presumably only the public key, not the private key (unless someone has been monumentally thick) so you'll have to self-sign. Other than that you may be on to something here.

Still utter rubbish that this is what we might be looking at as a deployment method for the next few years.

[SYNACK]

perhaps we will have to rely on the pirates and their want to copy paid for apps to allow us to figure out how to deploy the free ones?

Windows 8/2012 sideloading crack

That looks like where I was getting to but much more advanced and actually tested. Sad that it again comes down to pirates to make these things tenable for legitimate users. Its insane. The only ones who get punished are the honest users and the usability of the software in question.

Presumably only the public key, not the private key (unless someone has been monumentally thick) so you'll have to self-sign. Other than that you may be on to something here.

Still utter rubbish that this is what we might be looking at as a deployment method for the next few years.

You'd probably want to use a private key anyway as you are sideloading and will need to push a trust for it, there is even an app for sideloading now
http://canbilgin.wordpress.com/2012/...app-installer/

Hopefully MS will get their stuff together eventually.

[thom]

I also attended a Windows 8 camp and although not entirely clear, this is what I picked up on.
* Side-loading is only for "in-house" apps
* Enterprise software should be purchased through the developer, not the store. They will then email you a "deep-link" to access a special enterprise version of their software. Whether they ask you to enter a license code/key or not is up to them

It is still necessary for each user to have a Microsoft Account (aka windows live/msn/hotmail) to open deep-links and install themselves. I guess you could add these links as shortcuts to the user's desktop's, via Group Policy Preferences