Microsoft will discontinue Store for Business and Store for Education in 2023

Microsoft will close its software stores for business and school users in early 2023. The Microsoft Store for Business and Store for Education are closing so publishers can release their apps in the new Store for Windows 10 and 11.

The company writes in an update that it will stop the two Stores on Windows 10 in the first quarter of 2023. The Stores will not be implemented in Windows 11 before then either. Until then, users can still use the Stores to download free apps.

Microsoft confirms suspicions that many users already had. The company announced last month that it would open a new Store for both Windows 10 and Windows 11. Developers can offer Win32 apps and implement their own payment systems. It can also offer .NET, UWP and PWA apps.

The Store for Business and the Store for Education could be used by system administrators. They could use the Stores to make applications available within company and school networks. That was never very popular, especially since other third-party tools also enabled such software distribution. Microsoft says it plans to make such software management capabilities available through both the new Microsoft Store and the Microsoft Endpoint Manager and new Package Manager.

In the first half of 2022, administrators will have the option to roll out apps in the new Store to managed devices. The Package Manager is available for unmanaged devices. Managing applications via the Store will remain possible until the first quarter of 2023.