With the Windows 8 store still expanding, there are several apps I would DIE to have (okay, not “die” but would like to have nonetheless). So, in the next coming weeks, let’s hope that developers jump on these ideas so we can enjoy our quality app hunting!

Word Processors

I was a bit disappointed with Word 2013 Preview due to its lack of Modern UI capability but we should see that when the official version comes out. Despite that, 2013 offers a great experience and when in full-screen mode, it’s just a beast for writing. However, what I’m looking forward the most is distraction-free word processors such as FocusWriter, OmmWriters, and many others, translated to Modern UI. The only good text editor that runs in Modern is MarkPad and that thing is a beauty. It consumes the entire screen, there are no toolbars, taskbars, or anything however they CAN be accessed via right-click, charms and in other ways. There’s also a competitor TrimWord which seems to be of similar nature but more versatile in terms of UI.

I feel like text editors and word processors have been heading this way for a while, especially over the past couple of years where “full screen writing” has become a norm, a way to silence your facebook notifications, update notifications, and generally eliminate any flashing icons that other applications try to warn you with.

Official Apps

Official apps are usually the best due to the diligence of developers and the time and money put into them. The current Instagram and Pandora apps are okay but they’re visible inferior to the browser (and even mobile!) experience. I’m sure we’re all looking forward to seeing:

pandora

instagram

twitter

facebook

And more, in their full glory. Due to the new notification system, these apps will be able to ping us about updates whenever necessary, which is a great step up…from..well…nothing because Windows 7 never had anything similar! 🙂

Just as a side-note, the current pandora app CAN be controlled via an overlay that shows up whenever you change the volume. You can view the current song, change it, pause it and what have you. I hope other apps take advantage of this!

Web Development Apps

These will be plentiful. Distraction free editor. Emacs port. Sublime Text port, and who knows what else. These will be very much fun to use 🙂 If you think about it, it’s been heading there for a while now -> full screen editors. And this is a great way to get there! As far as distraction-free writing goes, we all know that’s what writers want. Well, right next to them, all lined up, are developers and designers. Again, this is a continuing

Emulators

I can imagine that many devs will jump the gun and create gameboy emulators, playstation one emulators and more. It was a craze for the Android phones so I don’t see why it wouldn’t be for Windows 8!

Secondary Stores

For all the either naughty stuff or stuff thrown out of Windows 8 Store. Can’t wait to see these pop up!

Video Players

VLC Player for Modern UI? Sounds great, especially with a custom folder explorer, play lists and so on 🙂