Google today released a glorified Chrome installer on the Microsoft Store, acting as a way to offer Chrome through Microsoft's app store without having to adhere to its requirements for browsers. But it seems Microsoft wasn't too thrilled with this clever move, as the app, called "Google Chrome Installer", has been pulled from the Microsoft Store.
In a statement to The Verge, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the removal, stating "we have removed the Google Chrome Installer App from Microsoft Store, as it violates our Microsoft Store policies." Microsoft instead invites Google to "build a Microsoft Store browser app compliant with our Microsoft Store policies."
The policies governing the Microsoft Store state that any browser listed among its ranks must use Microsoft's own rendering engine. The "Google Chrome Installer" app got around this by simply acting as downloader for the standard Chrome desktop app. While that could potentially come in handy for people searching for Chrome on the Microsoft Store, it could be confusing to Windows 10 S users, who would be able to download the installer app, but wouldn't be able to install Chrome itself.
In the grand scheme of things, this isn't likely to have a huge impact, as anyone running Windows 10 can continue to simply use Edge to download the Chrome installer upon setting up a computer. As for whether we'll ever see a functional version of Chrome hit the Microsoft Store, that remains unlikely.
