Windows uninstallers and cleaners became a whole industry by itself.

Scoop is, I believe, the best solution we can hope for.

The MSIX format is supposed to support everything MSI currently does soon, and has preview support for even Windows 7.

> However, the core problem with Windows software is there isn't a primary software repository for all approved and tested software, like there is for -nix platforms. Ideally that's what needs to be fixed first before yet more client-end installers get created.

This is certainly a goal of the Microsoft Store, to be a central/primary software repository for Windows software. Sure, it has the "ugliness" of also including all the fun monetization things that -nix can often ignore because FLOSS doesn't necessarily have to worry about paying the bills in quite the same way. But it seems silly to me to turn down the usefulness of a "primary software repository" simply because it also doubles as a retail store for proprietary/closed-source software.

Beyond that, there probably isn't a huge demand for a command-line installer or other package manager. Most consumers wouldn't know how to install via the command line, and most enterprise environments will have images with necessary software preinstalled or push them out through SCCM or other such management interface.

All of these attempts at alternate installers really only seem to appeal to developers, but in the scheme of things, there are other more pressing concerns even for them.

Is there an apt-like command line interface for the microsoft store?

scoop uses portable binaries provided from the original source. For many people that's good enough.

Maybe chocolatery is more to your taste.

EDIT: I forgot that it can also verify checksums, there is obviously value to that.

Good riddance.

Having been doing Windows development since Windows 3.0.

I have been hit by such errors, which on my case were caused by .exe installers.