Immutable Github Releases

Some software is distributed as immutable Github releases (this is for software supply chain security). One such example is Inno Setup.

Windows SDK

Windows SDK is needed for MSIX packaging. Windows 11 SDK includes Windows Performance Toolkit, Application Verifier for Windows and Debugging Tools for Windows.

Ingress and Egress Fees

Ingress and egress fees refer to the cost of data transfer into and out of the cloud.

• Ingress fees are typically zero - allowing users to upload data to Amazon S3 or Azure Blob Storage with no additional charge. 
• Egress fees are typically charged when data exits the cloud. These fees can differ significantly between providers and source and destination region.

Hosting on S3 will set you back $0 for 1 GB download per month, and around 1000 downloads of a 50MB file will cost you just under $5 a month.

Microsoft Store Policies

Microsoft Store (Windows Store) has policies on Product and Content, which developers must abide by.

There are a few rules around IAP - short for "in app purchases".

What is DXCore ... really?

Suppose you run wsl --version and see your DXCore version listed as 10.0.26100.  

This happens to be a similar version code to your Windows version. 

So, what is DXCore?

DXCore is the low-level engine inside Windows that talks directly to graphics hardware. It is the foundation layer that modern graphics APIs (like Direct3D 12) run on.

The IARC and Windows Software

The IARC is the International Age Rating Coalition, a global initiative to streamline age ratings for games and applications. Over 19m games and apps have so far been published using IARC. Developers must abide by the IARC Terms of Use.

Uploading App Packages to the Windows Store

There are a bunch of rules to follow when uploading packages to the Windows Store.

One hard requirement is a "Package URL" which is a versioned, secure URL pointing to the app package (MSI/EXE) hosted on your CDN.

An example could be https://windowscottoneyejoe/downloads/1.1/setup.exe

When a customer installs a package, the Store downloads the package from the URL. Good CDN practices should be followed - to ensure the URL is performant, reliable and available in your relevant target markets.

(Sidebar - Google have some great recommendations on CDN best practices (they also have their own commercial CDN products known as Cloud CDN and Media CDN, other vendors offer CDN services too, including CloudFlare).

Note: as your application versions evolve, you may need to update the package URL. This is done by using the Update submission option in Partner Center to specify the new package URL.