Microsoft has recently opened up the Windows Store for any type of application. We should try to get the ThinLinc client in there, it will be good for visibility.
I found two things, the first seems to be a hard requirement and the second is more to avoid potential issues with the publication process: 1. We have to provide a translated description of the ThinLinc client, translated in all languages that we provide localization for in the product. Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/publish/store-policies#107-localization 2. The list of applications in Windows settings under "Add & Remove Apps" should(*) specify a publisher name (should probably be "Cendio AB"). Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/publish/msiexe/the-app-certification-process#avoid-common-certification-failures (*) For example Google Chrome does not have a publisher/company name below the application name. This leads me to believe that this might not be a hard requirement.
Screenshots and a super hero art that we want to use in Microsoft Store has been committed to our source tree in order to keep track of them.
Infrastructure for translated images are now in place.
Our first Microsoft Store submission failed because we missed a privacy policy. We now have a privacy policy in place, it might need a few more tweaks, but the general idea is done. The ThinLinc Client has now been resubmitted to the Microsoft Store. And thanks to the new translated images we have also made a submission for Swedish. Other languages will have to wait until we order them from Transifex (which we do before a new release). Note that no infrastructure is in place yet for the package description, key features, and other texts needed for the submission. These were done by hand for Swedish at the moment. See bug 7871 for this.
The ThinLinc client is now available in the Microsoft Store. It took a couple of submissions to get the details right (requirements, order of features, which logo to use) but all that should be finished now. I have tested installing the client from the store on both Windows 10 and Windows 11. All basic stuff plus local drives and sound work well. I have tested both "upgrading" from a nightly client installed the "normal" way and a fresh install on Windows 11. Two things remain before this bug is complete: * Internal instructions on what to do when we want to update the client package. * Investigate why the ThinLinc client can't be found from the web version of the Microsoft Store. A support issue with Microsoft has been opened regarding this.
Lastly, we also need to document how to retrieve statistics regarding client downloads from the Microsoft Store.
(In reply to Samuel Mannehed from comment #37) > Lastly, we also need to document how to retrieve statistics regarding client > downloads from the Microsoft Store. When trying to view the "Analytics" pages of our app in Microsoft Partner Center we get errors. A support issue was opened with Microsoft and the response was that this type of information isn't available yet for MSI/EXE apps. They also reported that it's unclear if that data will be retroactively available.
(In reply to Samuel Mannehed from comment #30) > Note that no infrastructure is in place yet for the package description, key > features, and other texts needed for the submission. These were done by hand > for Swedish at the moment. See bug 7871 for this. Infrastructure for this has now been implemented. And a PHONY Make target that prints these translated texts for a language has been added.
Created attachment 1031 [details] Poster art ThinLinc logo 1440x2160
Created attachment 1032 [details] Box art ThinLinc logo 2160x2160
(In reply to Samuel Mannehed from comment #36) > * Internal instructions on what to do when we want to update the client > package. Internal wiki instructions for updating Microsoft Store as part of the release procedure have now been added: https://intranet.lkpg.cendio.se/ThinLinc/WorkFlow/Release#Microsoft_Store Notes about how to handle changed metainfo strings have also been added to the translation routines on our wiki: https://intranet.lkpg.cendio.se/ThinLinc/Translations#Integrating_translations
(In reply to Samuel Mannehed from comment #36) > * Investigate why the ThinLinc client can't be found from the web version > of the Microsoft Store. A support issue with Microsoft has been opened > regarding this. We haven't gotten a response yet from Microsoft (aside from a confirmation that they reviewing our request). There's a risk this might take some time and I don't see much reason in waiting here. I tested searching again in the web version and still can't find the ThinLinc client. I think we're past the point where this could be seen as a cache issue at their end, it's been ~2 weeks now. This means this bug is resolved now. Tester should focus on verifying our routines. A quick test of installing and using the client from the store is also needed.
In Microsoft store, the english version of the text has a small typo. The feature text about Kerberos authentication has an extra space at the start of the sentence. The swedish version look good though, as well as the makefile output when creating these strings, so it is likely just a typo when moving the string into Microsoft store makefile command: > cd client/metainfo > cbrun i386 make sv_texts | less
Tested this bug and all functionality works fine, but I found some possible improvements in the Swedish translation of the Microsoft Store page. These have been handed over separately. ✓ New routine instructions - Followed the Microsoft Store routines [1], they were straightforward and the output of the makefiles fitted well for their intended use. Also looked through the notes added to translation routines [2] and they clearly explain what extra steps need to be done. [1]: https://intranet.lkpg.cendio.se/ThinLinc/WorkFlow/Release#Microsoft_Store [2]: https://intranet.lkpg.cendio.se/ThinLinc/Translations#Integrating_translations ✗ Check content of Microsoft store - Looked through both the English and Swedish version of the Store, the text format and translations mostly look fine. Only thing missing is fixing the typo in the English version and some minor touchups in the Swedish version. ✓ Install the client from Microsoft store - Tested installing when removing all cached register values to simulate a fresh install. Tested basic functionality in the session, works well. ✓ Win 10 ✓ Win 11
(In reply to Linn from comment #50) > In Microsoft store, the english version of the text has a small typo. The > feature text about Kerberos authentication has an extra space at the start > of the sentence. This was a copy-paste issue and has now been fixed in a pending store submission. (In reply to Linn from comment #51) > ✗ Check content of Microsoft store > - Looked through both the English and Swedish version of the Store, the > text format and translations mostly look fine. > > Only thing missing is fixing the typo in the English version and some > minor touchups in the Swedish version. This has now been fixed and the changes will be live once the current pending submission is accepted. Minor tweaks were made to two of the English strings too. Leaving as REOPENED until the pending submission is accepted by Microsoft.
The updated submission is now live.
I found a few minor things that should probably be fixed. Other than these, things look good. All of these concern the "Features" section. • 2 factor → two-factor • The abbreviation "OTP" is kind superfluous and complicates the sentance • Some things after the dash is in definite form and others are not. We should be more consistent here. • "regular logins" feels a little bit off here. Maybe we should use "regular authentication" (or other less informal wording) here instead.
(In reply to William Sjöblom from comment #57) > I found a few minor things that should probably be fixed. Other than these, > things look good. All of these concern the "Features" section. > > • 2 factor → two-factor > • The abbreviation "OTP" is kind superfluous and complicates the sentance > • Some things after the dash is in definite form and others are not. We > should be more consistent here. > • "regular logins" feels a little bit off here. Maybe we should use "regular > authentication" (or other less informal wording) here instead. Good points, fixed now in the source. I won't do a new submission right now, however, this will get fixed as part of the release routine when we look at updating Microsoft Store in a few months.
Then everything looks good. Closing.
Two additional commits were made on the topic of hyphens vs dashes, moving back to RESOLVED.
The changes introduced here replace the hyphen with a Unicode EN DASH. EN DASHES are generally used to indicate numerical ranges. The correct dash to use here is the wider EM DASH that is used for marking breaks in a sentence. Examples: EN DASH: 2019–2022 EM DASH: William — Software developer
I have replaced the EN dashes with EM dashes and extended the test to check for EN dashes as well. My changes are very small and the changes made in comment 65 look good. So let's close this bug right away.
(In reply to Samuel Mannehed from comment #49) > (In reply to Samuel Mannehed from comment #36) > > * Investigate why the ThinLinc client can't be found from the web version > > of the Microsoft Store. A support issue with Microsoft has been opened > > regarding this. > > We haven't gotten a response yet from Microsoft (aside from a confirmation > that they reviewing our request). There's a risk this might take some time > and I don't see much reason in waiting here. > > I tested searching again in the web version and still can't find the > ThinLinc client. I think we're past the point where this could be seen as a > cache issue at their end, it's been ~2 weeks now. Apparently, there are two versions of the Microsoft Store on the web: 1. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/search/shop?q=ThinLinc%20Client 2. https://apps.microsoft.com/store/search/ThinLinc%20Client?hl=en-us&gl=us&icid=CNavAppsWindowsApps It seems only no 2 supports showing Win32/EXE apps. Mozilla Firefox is however available on both versions of the web store, despite their app being Win32/EXE. Microsoft refuses to answer why it's like that, however. The ThinLinc Client is available here anyway: https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/thinlinc-client/XP8LWHQW3SMGRD?hl=en-us&gl=us&icid=CNavAppsWindowsApps
These screenshots don't match with our new graphical profile. At least they use our new fonts now, but they use a purple background, which doesn't match our style. The screenshots also feature the old ThinLinc client, they need updating. Lastly, translations in many languages don't fit the images. This should be easily fixed by wrapping the text, however. No need to ask for shorter translations.
Another problem was discovered. The font we want to use – Poppins, doesn't have support for Cyrillic glyphs. As a temporary workaround, we will continue using Roboto for the Russian screenshots. Bug 8200 was opened for the remaining issue that those screenshots use the incorrect font.
I generated and reviewed all 120 images: ✓ The new screenshots properly feature the new look of the native client ✓ The translations fit the images and wrap in the cases where the lines are too long ✓ The images fit our new visual profile, using our fonts (except for Russian), and our blue signature bottom graphic. One thing to note, I think the old Roboto font fits better in the scenario of these screenshots. Especially because we had a “Roboto-Thin” variant available. Our “Poppins-Regular” variant looks quite bulky here to my eyes. However, I recognize that this might be down to personal preference.
Created attachment 1144 [details] Poster art ThinLinc logo 1440x2160
Created attachment 1145 [details] Box art ThinLinc logo 2160x2160
(In reply to Samuel Mannehed from comment #30) > The ThinLinc Client has now been resubmitted to the Microsoft Store. And > thanks to the new translated images we have also made a submission for > Swedish. Other languages will have to wait until we order them from > Transifex (which we do before a new release). An updated submission for the 4.15.0 release has been submitted to the Microsoft Store today. This submission includes translated listings for English, Swedish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, and Turkish. Translated product names were also added. The translation for "ThinLinc Client" was already available in client/tlclient/po/. The updated version is awaiting review by Microsoft.
The updated version is now live on Microsoft Store. The new translated languages work excellently, and the new style of screenshot looks good and fits nicely in the UI. The web version of the store doesn't seem updated yet. But the store-app on Windows 10 and on Windows 11 are updated.
