Kate & Co. in the Microsoft Store
KDE stuff and the Microsoft Store
Kate is in the Microsoft Store since 2019.
Since that time you can install it easily from here and the store will allow you to keep our application updated.
Kate is not the only KDE application there, other stuff uploaded under the KDE e.V. umbrella can be found here, this includes KDE Connect and Okular.
We have now better documentation and tooling for store submissions, the last update of Kate to 25.04 was, beside the local testing of the build if it is not broken in normal use, the press of one button.
Compared to my old guide from my first submission, that is really awesome, thanks a lot to all people that worked on that!
What if I don't like the Microsoft Store?
Naturally you don’t have to use the store (which implies some account you might not want and telemetry that you might want even less).
Alternate downloads are on our normal download page.
Or, if you want to be even more in control, and perhaps even willing to contribute, build it from source yourself, Craft makes that easy.
The Microsoft Store submissions are just a way to reach a larger audience. Some people might even not be able to install stuff from other sources, depending how locked down their Windows installation is.
Current Statistics
Below the current statistics of the published applications sorted by acquisitions, that means more or less means individual user installs.
Not that bad, over half a million installs for KDE Connect, close to half a million for Okular and a quarter million for Kate.
Current Ratings
The internal statistics of the store allow to see the ratings over the whole publishing time. They look good, too.
KDE Connect Ratings
Okular Ratings
Kate Ratings
The Future?
We will need to update the versions in the store, Kate is now on 25.04, more to follow hopefully.
We need help with fixing Windows only bugs, too. Just a random one for Kate can be found here.
Comments?
A matching thread for this can be found here on KDE Social or r/KDE.