> Why doesn't the README file explain what this repository is doing?
It explains exactly what it's doing.
"Microsoft Store package for Windows LTSC."
It provides a Microsoft Store package for LTSC builds, and an install script that allows it to actually work. Windows LTSC builds don't have Microsoft Store preinstalled, and Microsoft offers no official way to re-enable it.
> Windows LTSC builds don't have Microsoft Store preinstalled
No, it's not that it isn't "preinstalled", the Microsoft Store is literally not supported on LTSC, by design. LTSC was never intended to run the Store. The original use case for LTSC was for ATMs, industrial control equipment, hospitals, and the like, where IoT wasn't appropriate, where you needed the ability to run full desktop applications.
> Microsoft offers no official way to re-enable it.
Yeah that's because the Store was never supposed to run on LTSC. It's not supported. Why would they offer an official way to re-enable it? The whole point of LTSC is that it doesn't include the store.
If someone cobbled together an ugly hack to shoehorn it in, by definition it could break at any time.
If by "customer" you mean "way of making money", I agree, since I didn’t pay for it. OTOH, I have been running LTSC on my desktop for years because it's the best edition of Windows, and I haven't had any issues with the Store, which I had to install manually, thus far.
To be fair, the headline could have been better worded. The convention for something like this is
“Show HN: Title of Repo”
I could understand how one might not understand what the aim of this post was. Maybe the ensuing conversation could have been handled better, but I would certainly include the parent comment in that indictment.
The store is also an app on windows and is sometimes an hard dependency to install apps that only exist on the windows store without having to jump through many hoops. It's usually part of windows itself in the regular retail builds of windows, but LTSC which is meant for enterprise and embedded system does not include it. Installing it is not straightforward which is what this repo provides.
There's no source code, it's a just a bunch of binaries and an install/uninstall script.
Edit: I should clarify that the link provided in the repo is not the microsoft store that the apps refer to. This would be a better link https://apps.microsoft.com
I don't think there's anything nefarious going on here but to someone just quickly looking over the page it has the impression of being an official Microsoft project, given the gratuitous use of their trademark and zero mention of it being a "community" effort.
It explains exactly what it's doing.
"Microsoft Store package for Windows LTSC."
It provides a Microsoft Store package for LTSC builds, and an install script that allows it to actually work. Windows LTSC builds don't have Microsoft Store preinstalled, and Microsoft offers no official way to re-enable it.