Windows 8 Dev Kit Only Does Metro Apps (Unless You Pay)

Windows 8 Dev Kit Only Does Metro Apps (Unless You Pay)

By Caleb Garling

Microsoft has said that the upcoming free version of its new Visual Studio 11 programming kit will only be used to build Windows applications with the new Metro touch interface that debuts with Windows 8. And some developers aren’t too happy about it.

Those wishing to build traditional desktop apps for Microsoft’s Windows operating system will have to use the for-pay version of Visual Studio 11, an older version of the free tool, or some other tool entirely.

The news was delivered last week, buried at the bottom of a webpage posted by Microsoft, but the developer world is just now waking up to the implications, as Ars Technica reported on Thursday.

“Visual Studio 11 Express for Windows 8 provides tools for Metro style app development,” Microsoft said. “To create desktop applications, developers need to use Visual Studio 11 Professional, or higher.”

Developers who build applications for Windows typically use Microsoft’s Visual Studio to code and deploy products, and though the full version of Visual Studio that sells for around $500, Microsoft has long offered a free version with a more limited set of tools. But the limits on the free version of Visual Studio 11 — the Visual Studio that dovetails with the upcoming Windows 8 — were unexpected.

More HERE

 

[Brink]

No-cost desktop software development is dead on Windows 8

In addition:

Microsoft wants Windows developers to write Windows 8-specific, Metro-style, touch-friendly applications, and to make sure that they crank these apps out, the company has decided that Visual Studio 11 Express, the free-to-use version of its integrated development environment, can produce nothing else.......


It gets worse

Just to make doubly sure that nobody will dare try to produce desktop applications without paying Redmond for the privilege, Microsoft has gone a step further than crippling Visual Studio Express. The Windows SDK for Windows 7 includes a C++ compiler and all the requisite bits and pieces to develop Windows applications. You'd have to do a bit more work to get things set up than you do with Visual Studio, as it's a little barebones, but it's enough. But that won't be the case for Windows 8: the Windows SDK for windows 8 will not include a compiler toolchain at all, lest any sneaky developers try to cheat the system and use it to write desktop apps.

There is no upside to this decision. It is immensely bad.....

Read more at:
No-cost desktop software development is dead on Windows 8 | Ars Technica

 

[GMan]

"There is no upside to this decision. It is immensely bad....."

Peter Bright is as intelligent as his name suggests. No sarcasm intended.

 

[tseven]

What the hell are they doing...they are drawing people AWAY from their operating system, not to it. Some people are fine with basics and only allowing ONE type of development when the operating system operates on two types of programs that that is a bad idea. This is just like that supposed boot up of only desktop that never happened basically forcing you to either create metro apps for them or pay to create desktop programs also for THEM. It seems like with this operating system they have been taking away privileges that should be basic like DVD playback and more functional user interface, etc.

 

[alphanumeric]

Somebody needs to step away from the toner! WTF is going on at Microsoft these days? Do they really think they can just do what ever they want and we'll just blindly follow along?

 

[SIW2]

Yes, they do think that.

They must know something we don't.

I expect the pricing will be incredibly low.

 

[legacy7955]

Hopefully the shareholders at MS are about ready to tar and feather Ballmer.

You can smell the disaster that is coming from a mile away, it looks like a critical error, on the part of MS.

 

[FuturDreamz]

I think Microsoft is basically saying that once Windows 8 comes out, Desktop mode is "legacy."

I don't know how this will turn out. All I can say is: Microsoft Office and 80% of Windows 8's components aren't Metro. How can the expect large producs like Adobe Photoshop and stuff to be ported?

 

[legacy7955]

I think Microsoft is basically saying that once Windows 8 comes out, Desktop mode is "legacy."

I don't know how this will turn out. All I can say is: Microsoft Office and 80% of Windows 8's components aren't Metro. How can the expect large producs like Adobe Photoshop and stuff to be ported?

Wow, so they are basically throwing away their entire enterprise customer base?

Insane! A corporate suicide if you ask me.

 

[FuturDreamz]

I think Microsoft is basically saying that once Windows 8 comes out, Desktop mode is "legacy."

I don't know how this will turn out. All I can say is: Microsoft Office and 80% of Windows 8's components aren't Metro. How can the expect large producs like Adobe Photoshop and stuff to be ported?

Wow, so they are basically throwing away their entire enterprise customer base?

Insane! A corporate suicide if you ask me.

To be fair, Adobe has been reusing code since Windows 95. According to graphics developer I know, it's due for a rewrite.

 

[mart4494]

Do they really think they can just do what ever they want and we'll just blindly follow along?

Yes they do, they are living in a bubble. They have seen Apple get away with it and genuinely believe they too can drive the market in whatever direction they like.

 

[legacy7955]

Do they really think they can just do what ever they want and we'll just blindly follow along?

Yes they do, they are living in a bubble. They have seen Apple get away with it and genuinely believe they too can drive the market in whatever direction they like.

Their delusion will be the death of them.

Apple and MS are two very different companies with EXTREMELY different customers.

The consultants and marketing people that came up with this angle should be FIRED as well, as the possibly the WORST CEO in the IT business currently Mr. Ballmer.

 

[FuturDreamz]

To be honest I don't see how this will be a super big problem.


Large companies are already using the pay version, if they're using Microsoft's SDK at all.
There are quite a few alternative SDKs available, which which still work fine.
Smaller developers are free to use last years version, IIRC

There are still plenty of ways to write desktop applications, even with Microsoft "encouraging" Metro-only development.

 

[Britton30]

It appears M$ wants me to use Metro no matter how crappy it is on a desktop. I still think there are far more desktop users than legions of people who are constantly on a mobile device of some sort. If the trend continues, hello Mac!

 

[mart4494]

To be honest I don't see how this will be a super big problem.

Maybe it won't be on it's own. But MS seem to be chipping away here and there at things. They removed WMC. Okay it was considered past it's sell by date by many but still in use by several folks I know. It seems to be all geared towards (paid for) downloaded apps and monthly cloud subscriptions. Okay it's their company (or their shareholders to be more accurate) so what they do is their business. It's also my wallet and what I choose to do with my $$'s is my business and MS seem to simply have dropped the ball over this.

 

[jygoro]

I would wait for official announcement from Microsoft before bashing them. This could be like Vista's "you can't watch non original Blurays" and Windows 7's "it will eat your mp3" all over again.

What I see here is a clear subdivision of Windows. There is the Windows everyone know and learnt to love (Windows 7, Desktop applications, Visual Studio 2008/2010) and the "new" Windows (Windows 8, VS2011, Metro). People's reaction seems like if the first one will disappear and that's not true. I find normal Microsoft wants to push their "new" Windows with moves like this. We are talking about the same people who used Windows XP for more than 8 years because "it just works". If you don't push that people to something new there is no more os business for Microsoft.

So right now if you want (free) programming Desktop apps keep using VS2008/2010, if you don't like Windows 8 keep using Windows 7. While there is choice, there is no problem for me.

 

[djshonrock]

if this goes like this, the desktop will disappear in the future...

 

[FSeal]

I can picture the future... At home I run 4-6 apps at once usually, at work it can be 10-14, all laid out on my dual monitors as I need them. Some overlapping, others not depending on the circumstances. In the "futar" where windows is all metro only I guess we'll need to have 6-14 separate monitors of all sizes with single full screen metro apps on each one! Ala the matrix maybe?

It'll be "awesome!"

Q.Q