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Windows 8 from a Developer's Perspective Post-BUILD

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Carol Haynes:
Not being a developer (and not really understanding all of the issues) does this mean that the desktop apps are also going to be affected by these changes or is it just the Metro crap that I have intention of using?

Will a compatibility layer be included (so that all the old libraries are still there) or is it going to be a clean break?

If it affects the whole of Windows I can't see it getting adopted at all as a desktop OS. There are a lot of people still using software from years ago (Win XP is still ubiquitous, and I even still see Windows 2000 and 98 machines out there, even on Windows 7 Office 2003 is still common) and I can't see many people being willing to restock their entire application library. Smaller developers will have little incentive to build/redevelop two versions of software to stay with windows 7 users and earlier and take on windows 8 too. Business is going to be particularly reluctant to move - especially if they have any bespoke software. Many are sticking to XP now because of the perceived difficulties of moving to 7 (however unreasonable those perceptions might be).

But I do have a big problem with only receiving 70¢ for each buck I do make.
-40hz (October 10, 2011, 01:46 PM)
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The government already takes about that much...  :o
-wraith808 (October 10, 2011, 02:08 PM)
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They still will - so that means you will lost 50% of your income. It's all Jobs' fault.

f0dder:
Addendum - proposed box art for Windows 8 leaked:
 (see attachment in previous post)
 ;) 8)-40hz (October 10, 2011, 12:58 PM)
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Hehehehe, nice one :)

It seems that once Apple opened the box below, there's no way to close it again...
Windows 8 from a Developer's Perspective Post-BUILD


But I do have a big problem with only receiving 70¢ for each buck I do make. Grin

(Assuming you still need to buy the development tools like you did when .NET and Visual Studio ruled the roost. If the dev platform is offered for free, that would be a different story.)-40hz (October 10, 2011, 12:58 PM)
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No, that would be assuming the development tools are free - Microsoft is going to take the 30% Apple cut of everything sold on the windows market.

Eóin:
I've no problem with MS taking a 30% cut through their marketplace. I do however have a big problem with the marketplace being the only way to install Metro applications. I really hope that some consumer body or competition regulator steps in. Of course I wish they'd do that for Apple too.

Carol- I've played with the Win 8 preview, the Win 7 style desktop is still there and fully open, only Metro style apps are getting locked down. In fact, all in all I like the feel of Windows 8.

Carol Haynes:
Sorry I didn't really mean that - will the Win8 desktop be reliant on the new WinRT api or is the desktop OS just going to be a win 7 upgrade. From what I read it looked like Win 8 was going to be based on WinRT in which case it will break most if not all current applications. Or have I got that totally wrong?

I was under the impression that the current Win8 preview only really previews the Metro bit and that the desktop environment hasn't really been modified to reflect cplans YET?

40hz:
I was under the impression that the current Win8 preview only really previews the Metro bit and that the desktop environment hasn't really been modified to reflect cplans YET?
-Carol Haynes (October 10, 2011, 03:07 PM)
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Hard to tell at this point. A lot of chaff is mixed in with what wheat there is.

As it stands so  far however, it looks like there will be two entirely different user spaces on Win 8. And AFAICT there doesn't seem to be any way to communicate or share between them without going to the cloud or some other intermediary networked staging space.  The problem is that most sysadmins, power users, and devs realize this isn't a situation that can be allowed to continue indefinitely. So once something has to be let go, which will it be: Metro or desktop?

Most people are betting it's the desktop that Microsoft ultimately plans on kicking to the curb.  Add on the potential for locking down hardware to a specific computing platform and it gets even more alarming. It will be Apple all over - except this time it will affect a far large user base than Apple's little game preserve.

And I wouldn't count on government intervention or oversight to prevent or even moderate this trend in desktop computing.

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