Best Open Source Apps in the Windows Store

let's finish this series of lists with the best open source applications that we can find in the Windows store. Although it never achieved the popularity of the package managers in Linux distributions or the Apple app store, this tool is a very good way to find, install and keep applications up to date.

In the other lists my goal was to find little-known apps. Since this may be more of interest to those who are just getting into the world of open source, the titles on this list will be familiar to most readers.

This year the presence of open source programs in the Microsoft store was under discussion. Having detected that third parties were taking advantage of free licenses to sell applications, Microsoft initially prohibited charging for this type of program. This hurt legitimate developers looking to fund their work in this way.

Luckily, the wording of the terms and conditions was modified.

In this case Microsoft was not the bad guy. He was trying to put an end to a practice that it consisted of taking the source code of an open source program. package it as a universal Windows app, rename it and sell it in the store.

The most notorious case was that of LibreOffice, which was being sold for $2,99 ​​and was supposedly going to the coffers of The Document Foundation. But, the PTO was never entered.

Other victims included ScreenToGif, PhotoDemon, Captura, and OBS Studio.

Practices ranged from charging for the app to charging for enabling extra features.

Best open source apps from the Windows Store

To find the programs that we mentioned, you just have to open the application store (The launcher is in the bottom bar) and put the titles in the search engine.

The difference between normally installed apps and those from the Windows Store is that these are intended to be used on all devices manufactured by Microsoft.

The big problem with Windows is that people could download applications from any source, this not only encouraged piracy, but also constituted a serious security problem. In some cases these programs asked for administrator permissions, many times for legitimate reasons, but sometimes not.

When an application is granted administrator privileges, it is free to install malware, delete important data, log keystrokes, or damage your computer in multiple ways.

In the case of Store apps, All have limited permissions. They are executed within the so-called "sandbox", that is, they only have access to limited parts of the operating system.

Gimp

To say that it is a free and open source Photoshop is to underestimate this powerful image editor. It may not have the complete collection of Adobe program tutorials, but it does have the necessary tools for any home user, and if you are a professional user you can develop the tools you need in the Python programming language.

VLC

In the old days, in order to play certain audio and video formats you had to download codecs from a separate source. VLC came to fix that since cThus, there is no format that can resist this all-terrain audio and video player. Although you can no longer play YouTube videos, it is possible to do so with other online multimedia content.

It can also be used to view and stream webcam content and audio input and convert between formats.

Chalk

The Gimp is the best known design tool, but according to those in the know, for those who want to make digital art the best option is Krita. Krita is developed by artists and allows for everything from concept art to comics.

Blender

Blender is the best tool for creating, modifying and animating in 3 dimensions. It can also be used for video editing.

OBS Studio

It is an application for video creation and streaming via major streaming services.