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Windows Store nixed Google Chrome 'app' hours after it went live

Installer merely redirected to the official source

Microsoft has bounced a Google Chrome Installer out of its Windows Store, just hours after making it available for download.

Google's "Chrome" app was a minimalist offering – merely sending the user to the official Chrome download app.

In a statement to the press, Microsoft said it had removed the Chrome Installer because it failed to "provide unique and distinct value", adding "we welcome Google to build a Microsoft Store browser app compliant with our Microsoft Store policies".

That's one of the key "principles" Microsoft identifies in its official Store Policies.

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Microsoft pulled the app within hours

Microsoft pulled the app within hours

Both Microsoft and Google's app stores are plagued by scammers. A million Android users downloaded a fake WhatsApp app recently, while a search for "Chrome" on the Windows Store reveals dozens of lookalikes and soundalikes.

So an official Chrome installer would at least take users to a legitimate Google app, not the fakes.

Windows Store search for 'Chrome'

Google may have been offering a solution to the "Fake Chrome" problem: the Windows Store is littered with lookalikes

Google has an official search app for Windows but continues to snub the platform by withholding big-name apps like YouTube and Google Maps. A Google Chrome app is forbidden by the Windows Store as it stands because it uses its own rendering engine:

Apps that browse the web must use the appropriate HTML and JavaScript engines provided by the Windows Platform.

Google's Chrome for iOS complies with Apple's equivalent requirement by providing a wrapper around Apple's WebKit libraries.

Microsoft has eased the path for apps to get into Windows Store, allowing packaged websites and lightly massaged legacy Win32 apps to be included. ®

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