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Microsoft Releases Windows 8 Developer Preview

Posted by Soulskill on from the it-will-confirm-all-of-your-unfounded-opinions dept.

New submitter Tonyd0311 writes "Microsoft has just released the Windows 8 Developer Preview in both x86 and x64 formats. The download includes an SDK for Metro-style apps, and 28 example apps. It also has 'developer preview' versions of Expression Blend 5 and Visual Studio 11 Express."

30 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. Too late by PowerCyclist · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If I wanted to develop smartphone apps, I would go with one of the more established platforms like iOS or Android. Windows 8 just doesn't have the market share for phones ....What, it's for desktops? They can't be serious.

    1. Re:Too late by Pengo · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Really?

      Our small group has developed a few mobile apps, and we've done well enough on markets that don't have Apple's huge user base. Building a reasonably decent app for us have sold well when ported to Palm's market. Though now it's all but dead, the windows market will make a lot of people a lot of money before critical mass lands. Pushing prejudice aside, and not taking into consideration some groups already considerable investment in the marketing strategies and loyal customer base for the iOS platform (which is my personal favorite environment to build for), it's silly to call a company like microsoft too late to the game to make a business selling applications on.

      Decent money is being made right now on the windows market place, even with a low usage base, and with the sheer mindshare they have of folks that are windows programmers not wanting to re-tool over to MacOS to write iOS apps is going to create a decent ecosystem of applications, which is what will truly drive the demand for their handsets.

      I haven't sat down and wrote software personally for WinMo7, but I watched a guy on our team re-write a Android app that we have on the market in Visual studio in about 1/5 the time it took to write a similar application in XCode for Mac, and that was fumbling through C# and a new toolset. Overall to compare the development environment that Win7 programmers enjoy, you could almost call it penis envy.

      Yeah, I know this is Slashdot, and I have invested MANY years into Linux/Java and more recently iOS/ObjC.. but I'm pretty shocked how nice it appears to work in Visual Studio, and more importantly how effective a decent programmer can be using the tools even with absolutely no experience working with it. If MS can get the handsets to the masses, they will I believe really give Apple a serious run for its money.

      That said, automated reference counting (garbage collection) in iOS5 and the new Storyboard layout in xcode is a godsend for productivity. It's definitely going to bring ObjC to new higher levels of productivity for experienced iphone devs, and reduce the barrier to entry for new programmers wanting to pick it up and learn it. What an interesting time we live in! We're seeing the true benefit of competition reward us as engineers by giving us GREAT choices in platform development!

      I would hate a world where Apple is running unchecked or being stuck with buggy android phones as the only platform of choice .. and we all know what life was like when MS was the only real game in town.

      Long live competition! Let's hope all the major players do well and prosper.

    2. Re:Too late by North+Korea · · Score: 2

      As it stands Windows 8 is still in its infancy. The build in Microsoftâ(TM)s demos is 1802, a pre-beta and not feature complete version of the OS. Microsoft needs to balance the need to show off Windows 8 to developers with a need to keep it under wraps until itâ(TM)s done as to not spook end-users. The result of that is the situation at BUILD, where Microsoft is focusing on finished features while unfinished features are either not in the OS or are going unmentioned. For comparison, at PDC 2008 the Windows 7 interface was not done yet, and Microsoft was using the Windows Vista interface in its place.

      You shouldn't assume anything based on that beta preview. It's not complete and it's missing complete features, the ones being start menu. This beta is mostly for tablet manufacturers and app developers so they can start experiencing with the new Windows. When Windows 8 will be released, and most likely in the upcoming betas, it will have all the usual things in desktop too. Do you honestly think that Microsoft would abandon their largest market area, ie. business users for something that only works with tablets?

    3. Re:Too late by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Oh if you want a slim Windows 7 you should try to get a hold of a copy of "Windows Tiny7" and give it a spin. They really need to hire the guy that makes the Tiny series to work for MSFT, because I've tried WinFLP and WinEmbedded and frankly it stomps the living hell out of both of those while being more compatible with existing programs than either of those.

      How slim are we talking? Try a Win 7 that runs like a champ on a 1.4GHz with 512Mb of RAM, and which flies low on 1Gb or more. It idles at just 254Mb of RAM and the speed level is just pure insanity. But that is the thing about ALL of the Tiny series, just truly insane speed. His Tiny2K uses 49Mb of RAM, TinyXP uses just 65Mb of RAM, Tiny2K3 just 78Mb, and TinyVista which is the closest he has gotten to bloated uses around 380Mb.

      But I have to say I think I'm just gonna sit this one out. Windows 7 runs great and with it being supported until 2020 I just haven't seen any real compelling reason to jump on Windows 8. If they have another one of those $50 upgrade deals I may buy a copy simply to play with in a VM but I can't see actually wanting to spend any time in metro unless I was running a tablet. Metro on a desktop? Just seems like a majorly dumb idea from the company whose current CEO seems to make the PHB in Dilbert look like Steve Jobs.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  2. Windows 8 by North+Korea · · Score: 3, Informative

    I tested it earlier today and I think it looks great. The boot time is insanely fast, the metro UI is better than I thought and you can still easily change to the normal Windows shell. On top of that developers can target both Windows PC and the upcoming Windows tablet markets with their apps. Overall I got a very good impression of Windows 8.

    1. Re:Windows 8 by Dyinobal · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ya I trust all the news I get from North Korean sources too.

    2. Re:Windows 8 by North+Korea · · Score: 2

      Ah, slashdot, where giving a honest opinion about Microsoft's product will get you modded down for troll if you say anything good about it.

    3. Re:Windows 8 by Microlith · · Score: 2

      If you honestly believe that Microsoft even notices Slashdot

      Shockingly, I expect they do. However, I expect that "North Korea" is a plain old troll.

  3. Whew! by Black+Parrot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was starting to worry that we'd have to go a whole 12 hours before we got another Windows 8 story.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    1. Re:Whew! by igreaterthanu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Hey at least it's not about Bitcoin. ;)

      --
      I dream of a nation where a man is not judged by his skin color but by an number assigned by a credit rating agency.
    2. Re:Whew! by Ihmhi · · Score: 3, Funny

      Did you guys hear that Windows 8 will have a Bitcoin mining application built into it? You can also refinance your mortgage and buy Uggs boots.

      --
      Random Thoughts From A Diseased Mind (Not For Dummies)
    3. Re:Whew! by bonch · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, can we please go back to the daily cycle of Linux, Google, piracy, and random gadget stories? Two stories about a major overhaul of the most popular desktop operating system in the world is way too much.

  4. Re:The real question is by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes.

  5. To be fair to MS by Space+cowboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They at least are showing there is more than one way to develop a touch-enabled and touch-optimised smartphone. I'm on the fence as to whether it's the correct UI for the desktop, but anything that makes life simpler for the few relatives still holding out and not going Mac is a boon to me.

    Redmond definitely didn't "photocopy" this UI, and I like the look of it - fresh, well thought out, and novel. You're not taking away my iPhone just yet, though :)

    Simon

    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
  6. Win8: way better than expected by RiBread · · Score: 2

    So, in June the marketing guy says to me "you should go to the Microsoft dev conference this year", and mind you this is one week after I've finally cut over to Linux as my primary OS.

    Well. as I sit here reading Slashdot on my free Samsung win8 tablet, I have to say I'm impressed. This thing may not be an iPad but it sure is better than the android tab I brought with me!

  7. Re:Time-out? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 3, Informative

    It will expire on 3/11/2012. So 6 months, as usual for Windows pre-releases.

  8. "Metro." They did this before. by RyanFenton · · Score: 2

    I remember back when this "Metro" was called "active desktop". Your family members would gunk up their desktops with a dozen widgets, then go hunting for more until their system was useless. On my own system, it has always been one of the first things I disable, as it serves no real purpose, and complicates the use of traditional applications in various 'interesting' ways.

    Windows cannot be simply limited to an app store, so half the banner ads on popular websites will quickly become devoted towards offering persistent applications on your system - also known as spyware - now tailored to fit into a giant box in the center of your screen.

    I don't need my icons to take up 1/16th of my screen - it's a rather bad use of what I'd like to be productive time. Even with various media-consumption pads and consoles, I find it a horrible design to limit my view to a random assortment of large candy boxes.

    And I really, REALLY don't think this heralds any positive new era of application development. A whole new layer of specialized docking, with its own special UI process, making cross-platform work that much more of a mess... I don't mind the learning the complexity, it's just the reasons for the added workload seem to be more to feed Marketing than actually accomplish something meaningful, which always holds some existential angst.

    Ryan Fenton

  9. Walled garden by Adrian+Lopez · · Score: 4, Informative

    Too bad software made for Windows 8's default "Metro" interface will only be available through Microsoft's App Store. Win32 programs will still be available from other sources, but Metro apps will not.

    --
    "In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
    1. Re:Walled garden by SeaFox · · Score: 2

      I count that as a feature. Let's keep all that crap together in one place so it's easy to avoid.

    2. Re:Walled garden by Alex+Belits · · Score: 2

      No, it's not.

      Even if Microsoft, against all expectations, produced a usable OS, it still must be destroyed, because Microsoft always cuts off all possible directions of progress unless Microsoft is in full control of them.

      --
      Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
    3. Re:Walled garden by Alex+Belits · · Score: 2

      First and foremost, Microsoft is not entitled to anything -- neither "selling shit", nor being immune to other people's hostility toward it. If it seeks to destroys whole areas and branches of software development, it's everyone's right to defend those areas against those attacks.

      Second, Microsoft seeks power over users, and the whole free software movement is against giving such power to anyone, least of all notorious abusers such as Microsoft. Deal with it.

      Third, Microsoft's actions are nowhere close to ones of any honestly operating business. They were convicted monopoly abusers when last time anyone bothered to investigate them, and Microsoft behavior now is not any better than it was then.

      Fourth, and most important -- what you posted is a Microsoft standard talking point. You either work for Microsoft, or stupid enough to parrot their copy/paste marketing. Either way, shut up (and optionally die in a fire).

      --
      Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
  10. Re:"Metro." They did this before. by ADRA · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This think of this as a good thing. All native desktop environments are going to the big harry fad of tablet computing. WHEN the fad fizzles out and people stop buying consumption devices and companies realize that they have to to start making -productivity- tools again, their desktop platforms will be dead and anyone developing interesting and usable UI systems will be doing so on the web instead.

    --
    Bye!
  11. Re:"Metro." They did this before. by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2

    Oh, the irony. Do you know what Active Desktop is called today?

    KDE Plasma Desktop.

  12. The answer is ... by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2

    yes.

  13. Re:Best part about the new interface, by bonch · · Score: 2

    You are right; 2012 will definitely be the Year of Linux on the Desktop(tm) because Windows 8 comes with a new Start menu.

  14. Yeah, except it wasn't by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Maybe if you got your head out of MS fanboy land for a while you would have noticed that the general opinion about KDE4, Gnome 3 and Unity is NEGATIVE on slashdot. There was no praise and now that even the old stable desktop gnome has gone there is a lot of protest.

    So your idea of funny is that people who protest about useless gunk on Linux desktops also complain about useless gunk on the Windows desktop...

    Don't quit your day job to do standup... oh you don't have a day job. Funny that.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  15. Desktop PCs by black3d · · Score: 2

    Words fail to describe how truly and completely awful the interface, task switching and metro UI are for normal Desktop PC usage.

    If I hit Search, I want my regular search box, one click away from the app I was already using. I do *NOT* want to then after searching, have to click START to return to the metro UI, then DESKTOP to bring up the Windows desktop, then click my program to get back to where I was. Nor do I want to hit the Application Scroller button and rotate through to the correct application. Might be great on a tablet PC where you can just "hold a finger down" and bring up a task list (no idea if you can, just presuming they'll follow something Mac-like in that regard). But on a desktop, this is truly hideous.

    If the interactions I've experienced in testing so far even remotely resemble the end-product, I'll be giving Windows 8 a miss. In that case, if Windows 9 is similar too, I'll finally be forced to kick the Windows habit I've had for 15-odd years.

    --
    "The true measure of a person is how they act when they know they won't get caught." - DSRilk
  16. Re:"Metro." They did this before. by Hadlock · · Score: 2

    You don't need icons to take up 1/16th of your desktop; however I think if I spent more than a few seconds, I could dig up several studies that 90% of consumers use less than 8 applications on a daily basis (internet, facebook, twitter, email, instant messaging, word, excel, calculator - or similar! take your pick!).
     
    Win8's metro/active desktop won't be for the power user, but this is definitely the direction things are going to head for consumer laptop/netbook/tablets in the future. This is the appliance interface your mom wants to see when she turns on her computer. Power users will still need a "real" desktop of course, but this style interface wasn't designed for them. Apple has proven that large icon based app navigation works, which I think is why Microsoft is willing to throw their weight behind this. This is one of the few things I've seen Microsoft do in the consumer space in the last decade that wasn't a complete disaster. To top it all off, they've given a nod to you and I, the power users, and allowed us to turn off the sparkly new crap and use our old desktop system how we need it.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  17. ... and the hype for Windows 8 has begun ... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 2
    Microsoft will be using all its grassroots capability to hype up Windows 8 here on /.

    .
    It is going to be Windows 8 all the time here.

    The problem is that Microsoft software always looks best before the official release. What we see of Windows 8 before the launch will be carefully orchestrated and controlled by Microsoft. Even Windows Vista looked good before the launch.

    Think about it....

  18. Tablet interface by LtGordon · · Score: 2

    The move towards tablet-style interfaces as a default makes me cringe. And seriously, the shut down option being hidden by default? C'mon, GNOME devs.

    Oh, wait? Were you guys talking about Windows 8?