Why isn't there an app store for my Windows PC? (Except the Metro crap)

General Questions
#1

Android, iOS, OSX, and most Linux distros all have some sort of centralized marketplace for software delivery. And I suppose Windows 8 does too, but only for the crappy metro apps with all their usability and interfarce woes.

Why isn’t there a good app store for normal (“Desktop” mode?) Windows programs? Sometimes I just want to find a good calculator, or IM program (hello, 90s), or maybe a cloud sync program, whatever.

It would be great to be able to search for that in one marketplace and then filter them by reviews and price, but right now I’d need to manually comb the internet, random websites, and what’s left of CNet or Tucows.

How come Microsoft doesn’t do this? And why don’t other companies (Steam)?

#2

The (Dutch) Microsoft website has a downloadcenter. Not sure about other languages.

It’s mostly filled with service packs and safety updates but I also found a calculator that’s supposed to do more than the regular calculator and there are many more programs to be found.

Looks like it’s strictly Microsoft products though.

#3

Right, the US one has that too, but it’s only for Microsoft programs, not the thousands of third-party apps.

#4

Well, the reason is because Windows ‘apps’ (which were/are still called ‘applications’) were/are still primarily sold in stores (real and online) as shrink-wrapped CD/DVD software. It’s only after the success of the smartphone ‘app store’ model that desktop PC software vendors are trying to switch to it. However:
[ol]
[li]Software companies are only distributing their products online via their own, separate websites, not thru any cooperative ‘app store’.[/li][li]The vast majority of these applications cannot be sold for only 99¢[/li][li]Because PCs are quickly being supplanted by tablets (which are just big smartphones) distributing their software via this method isn’t really ‘catching on’ faster than the desktop platform itself is declining.[/ol][/li]Essentially, after about 20 years, Apple has finally gotten its ‘revenge’ and surpassed the Microsoft Windows PC by way of the iPhone. Who’d have thunk it?