Devs Flay Microsoft For Withholding Windows 8.1 RTM

CWmike writes "Windows app developers are taking Microsoft to task for the company's decision to withhold Windows 8.1 until mid-October. Traditionally, Microsoft offers an RTM to developers several weeks before the code reaches the general public. On Tuesday, however, Microsoft confirmed that although Windows 8.1 has reached RTM, subscribers to MSDN will not get the final code until the public does on Oct. 17, saying it was not finished. Antoine Leblond, a Microsoft spokesman, said in a blog post, 'In the past, the release to manufacturing milestone traditionally meant that the software was ready for broader customer use. However, it's clear that times have changed.' Developers raged against the decision in comments on another Microsoft blog post, one that told programmers to write and test their apps against Windows 8.1 Preview, the public sneak peak that debuted two months ago. One commenter, 'brianjsw,' said, 'In the real world, developers must have access to the RTM bits before [general availability]. The fact that Microsoft no longer seems to understand this truly frightens me.'"

Comments

so pony up, Microsoft want agile extreme only

[iggymanz]

so Microsoft wants only the agile and extreme to survive, while the slackers get left behind. makes sense to me.

Re:so pony up, Microsoft want agile extreme only

[93 Escort Wagon]

Sounds more to me like Microsoft is making consumers be beta testers for all of the 3rd party software out there, and putting a much higher support burden on the independent software developers since they can't test their software on the released OS until the public does.

You're exaggerating the burden. What are the odds that any single independent developer has managed to sell their app to all three people who own Windows 8?

Re:so pony up, Microsoft want agile extreme only

[MightyMartian]

What you've written is a little long, but if we etch it really small, it ought to fit on a tombstone in the Graveyard of Famous Last Words.