Case Study: Bringing Dr. Tax for Windows to the Microsoft Store using the Desktop App Converter

Each Swiss citizen must submit a tax declaration once per year. Today most people rely on software to produce their completed taxation forms.

Ringler Informatik AG is the leading provider of such software, thus making Dr.Tax one of the most deployed PC desktop applications in Switzerland.

Dr.Tax is available as a standard installer on the official product website. A typical win application is not the best experience for Windows 10 users, but of course Ringler Informatik didn’t want to rewrite all the code to create a new Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app and to leverage Windows Store capabilities.

With the support of the Microsoft AppConsult team and Microsoft DX Switzerland, Ringler Informatik was able to bring the Java based Dr.Tax application to the Windows Store by using the Desktop App Converter tool.

Thus, by having Dr.Tax published to a trusted Store like the Windows 10 Store, a better installation and purchase experience is available to Windows 10 users.

Last but not least, although Dr.Tax is already very well known, the store publication provides even more visibility.

In Mr. Ringler’s own words:

"The Desktop Bridge set of technologies enabled us to migrate our popular Java based app to the Windows Store. Distributing our app through this channel clearly enhanced our users’ installation and updating experience. Moreover, in the future, as soon as a paid version of the app will be available, we may leverage the out of the box billing system provided by store, providing our customers with an even better experience."

For more technical details on how the solution was implemented, read the full article.