back to article WinPhone 8 preview SDK limited to established developers

Developers who expect to get cracking on apps for Windows Phone 8 this summer may be in for a disappointment: not only will the final WP8 SDK not arrive until later this year, but the Preview edition due next week will be available to only a select few. At the Windows Phone Summit event in San Francisco this June, Microsoft …

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  1. Eponymous Cowherd
    WTF?

    Way to go.....

    First there was Windows Mobile. Quite a lot of developers wrote apps for it, quite a lot of people bought the phones. Then Microsoft pulled the rug from under them when they introduced Windows Phone 7. Windows Mobile apps wouldn't run on Phone 7. Devices running Windows Mobile couldn't be updated to Phone 7.

    Along comes Windows Phone 8, and MS do it again. 100% incompatible with Phone 7, no upgrade path and your existing Phone 7 apps won't work on your shiny new Phone 8 device.

    And, to cap it all. MS decide to restrict access to the SDK, so that, at launch, there is likely to be a magnificent paucity of available apps. Not that too may developers are likely to bother (i'm not). Twice bitten, and all that. Just wait for Windows Phone 9 and another incompatible update.

    1. Bob Vistakin
      Pint

      Re: Way to go.....

      Kin was ok though.

    2. Paul Shirley

      Re: Way to go.....

      Seems you forgot MS plan to transcompile the existing WP7 apps in their store to run on WP8... you just won't be seeing any magical new WP8 features used for a looooooonnnnnnngggggggggg time.

    3. Joerg

      Re: Way to go.....

      Exactly. Microsoft is a silly joke. And the MetroUI/ModernUI thing just plain sucks.

      All the restrictions they put it's the worst possible way of trying to clone Apple.

      They didn't understand anything about Apple success.

      This lame restriction on developers along with ripping their customers off with no backward compatibility it's proof of the fact that at Microsoft they don't have a clue about what they are really doing.

      They are just scared of Apple success. They have billions and they can't figure out what to do. And they do the worst possible things. And MetroUI is the worst of them all.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Way to go.....

        "Exactly. Microsoft is a silly joke."

        So silly in fact they are still one of the largest companies in the world. It, of course, goes without saying therefore that any stupid idiot can achieve that same level of market dominance and success.

        "And the MetroUI/ModernUI thing just plain sucks."

        Granted.

        "All the restrictions they put it's the worst possible way of trying to clone Apple. They didn't understand anything about Apple success."

        Oh but they did understand. They may not have got it right, but they understood. Be honest, they understand far more that you and I ever will. Hey, maybe they could hire you for your superior insight and wisdom?

        "This lame restriction on developers"

        Hmmm. Like Apple have never imposed 'lame' restrictions or imposed 30% taxation?

        "along with ripping their customers off"

        Speaking of 'rip offs' and overpriced products... Have you actually seen the prices of all thing 'i'?

        "with no backward compatibility it's proof of the fact that at Microsoft they don't have a clue about what they are really doing."

        Oh but they do know. Maybe they just don't care. But know they most certainly do.

        "They are just scared of Apple success."

        Maybe so, but probably not so much as you seem to think. But remember, Apple are mortally afraid of anything Samsung/Andriod - for good reason.

        "They have billions and they can't figure out what to do."

        They can. They do what they want. Always have done. Always will.

        "And they do the worst possible things."

        Uh huh. But then so do Apple, Samsung, Google etc.

        "And MetroUI is the worst of them all."

        In your opinion, my opinion and many others too. But just because I, you or we don't like it, that does not mean the hoi polloi won't. Time will tell.

        1. Joerg

          Re: Way to go.....

          You Microsoft employees are beyond pathetic.

          You have no shame, so arrogant and lame.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Way to go.....

            "You Microsoft employees..."

            A small challenge Joerg... Please present your proof that a Microsoft employee has posted above. Oh, what's that you say? You can't? D'oh!

            1. Tom 38

              Re: Way to go.....

              <tinfoilhat>Its hard to prove it when they post AC</tinfoilhat>

          2. MIc

            Re: Way to go.....

            @joerg I don't think you can back that up. If fact is you did find a pattern of arrogance is probably a function of being a dev and is consistent across all software shops.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Way to go.....

        You don't like WP7 so everyone in the world should not use it?

        Great, what next? you don't like classical music or jazz so that should be outlawed?

        I'm guessing you don't like books either? are you going to get those burnt like in Fahrenheit 451?

        I'm glad people like you aren't in charge of the planet. What is wrong with competition and tolerating difference? or should we start gassing people who you don't like too?

        I want real choice, not a choice of 100 Android flavours and versions.

    4. Andy Nugent

      Re: Way to go.....

      Windows Phone 7.x apps will work on Windows Phone 8. It's the other way around that may be a problem (if your app uses the new features or contains native code for example).

    5. Mark Allread

      Re: Way to go.....

      "your existing Phone 7 apps won't work on your shiny new Phone 8 device"

      Couldn't be more wrong my friend, couldn't be more wrong. If you're so well informed, forgive me if I don't take the rest of what you say very seriously.

    6. Giles Jones Gold badge

      Re: Way to go.....

      WP7 apps run on WP8. So I'm not sure what you're on about.

      1. Richard Plinston

        Re: Way to go.....

        > WP7 apps run on WP8. So I'm not sure what you're on about.

        That is not entirely true. WP7 apps will not run on WP8. What will happen is that WP7 apps can be transcompiled into WP8 apps.

        http://www.i-programmer.info/professional-programmer/i-programmer/4402-the-astonishing-tale-of-wp8-compiling-100000-apps.html

        """In the WP8 presentation we are suddenly told that Microsoft is going to do something amazing for developers.

        "All WP7 apps will be compiled to machine code before being delpoyed as WP8 apps"."""

        I am not sure how MS intends to test the results of transcompiling 100,000 apps, perhaps it simply won't bother and will just let many of them fail. Plus there may be WP7 'tricks', or hardware dependencies, that have been coded that simply break the app, or even WP8.

        1. El Andy

          Re: Way to go.....

          I am not sure how MS intends to test the results of transcompiling 100,000 apps, perhaps it simply won't bother and will just let many of them fail. Plus there may be WP7 'tricks', or hardware dependencies, that have been coded that simply break the app, or even WP8

          All Windows Phone 7 apps are written in .NET, so transcompiling is a non issue in terms of compatibility (the only difference really is that it happens server-side rather than JITting on the phone, speeding things up. As to hardware dependencies, the restrictions of hardware spec in Windows Phone 7 mean that's not really an issue at al either.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Way to go.....

        No WP7 apps will NOT run on WP8. Microsoft is going to recompile the WP7 apps to run on WP8. After that recompile, they are no longer WP7 apps.

        1) If you have a WP7 handset and bought apps, when you buy a WP8 handset, you will need to buy all new apps.

        2) Any app that you bought or use outside of the officially sanctioned Microsoft store will not be recompiled and thus, won't run on WP8.

        The fact is, there is no native support for WP7 apps on WP8.

        1. El Andy
          FAIL

          Re: Way to go.....

          1) No, you already bought those WP7 apps, so you'll re-download the one you want to your new WP8 phone, just like you do if you replace your WP7 handset today. It may well be a recompiled binary that you receive but what possible difference do you think that makes to an end user? The apps you bought on WP7 you will have available on WP8. That's the only thing people actually care about.

          2) Unsupported apps are unsupported. Er, WTF? So you've hypothetically gone down the route of breaking your phone to allow non-store apps to run and whomever supplied you those apps now decides not to give you a WP8 version without you buying a new one and you think this is anyone's fault other than your own?

    7. MIc
      Stop

      Re: Way to go.....

      Don't be a moron. All of the existing app in the marketplace will work on WP8.

      http://www.itproportal.com/2012/04/06/all-existing-windows-phone-apps-are-compatible-wp8-apollo/

      1. Richard Plinston

        Re: Way to go.....

        > All of the existing app in the marketplace will work on WP8.

        It appears that WP8 will not have Silverlight and XNA

        http://www.i-programmer.info/news/189-windows-phone/4559-windows-phone-8-sdk-leaked-no-javascript-apps.html

        """This seems to confirm the suspicions that, with WP8, Silverlight and XNA are no longer supported for future and on-going projects. This means that WP7.1 Silverlight/XNA apps are legacy apps Microsoft wants the way of the future to be WinRT, whether it is on the desktop or the mobile."""

        MS have said that WP7 apps in the marketplace will be transcompiled in order to produce a version that will allegedly run on WP8. It seems that it will have to build in the Silverlight and XNA support and/or hard compile these into the code.

        I repeat, the WP7 apps will not run on WP8, but there is a mechanism that will create pseudo WP8 apps from the WP7 apps, for at least many of them, and these will run on WP8.

  2. Jaap stoel

    Is there a reason to?

    I'm wondering what the reason might be for MS to decide to keep access to the SDK restricted.

    I mean you'd want people to be able to start developing content for your platform ASAP wouldn't it?

    1. Simbu

      Re: Is there a reason to?

      There are still aspects of the UI and OS platform that haven't been publicly announced.

      These could be exposed by an SDK, so MS will probably be getting people to sign NDAs and whatnot if they want access to an early SDK.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Is there a reason to?

      Obviously not.

    3. El Andy

      Re: Is there a reason to?

      There is seemingly some specific feature they're trying very, very hard to keep secret. Presumably because they're expecting a bunch of Android phones to clone it ASAP and they want to get the maximum head start possible. It seems to be related to the People hub, based on what those who've got near to the devices have said they were prevented from seeing.

      It's certainly curious.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One advantage to this, I suppose, is that they have more control over the types of applications that are available early on. This means less chance of 3rd party app privacy related PR issues. And of course they may not want their app store to initially be flooded with the kind of tripe that some other app stores have to offer.

  4. John Styles

    So...

    The product manager is called Todd Brix...

    ... and anyone who buys one will be on their tod with one of these bricks.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It already has over 100,000 apps

    As some have alluded to above, WP8 apps won't run on WP7 but the reverse is not true.

    At launch the vast majority (possibly all) of the over 100,000 WP7 apps will run on WP8. In effect it launches with the 3rd largest app selection already in place.

  6. P_0

    Actually, I never thought I would do it, but I might try my hand at Windows Phone 8 development. The new Lumia looks good, and this would be a good way to learn C# (or a flavor of it). Not a business decision, I don't know if the Win8Phones will ever take off, but I actually like the interface, better looking than Android interface pre-4.x, so this would be good as a hobby side project.

    Obviously I will have to wait for the SDK to be released to normal mortals, but I am quite interested now. Still, Microsoft has its work cut out, because outside tech websites, or tech sections of other sites nobody I know cares one bit about this. It could very well fly under the radar of normal society.

  7. Gil Grissum
    Pint

    Way to go Balmer!!! IDIOT!!!

    This guarantees that I never look at Windows Phone as a viable alternative to iOS. Great. I will be upgrading to iOS 6 this year and getting the features and functionality that come with it. Pointless to seek Windows Phone as an alternative. These idiots must be intent on no one gaining interest in those impressive new hand sets, that will arrive with an empty app store thanks to limited availability to developers.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A business opportunity there..

    ..to flog MS senior execs some expensive bulletproof footwear, I suspect.

  9. Christian Berger

    Seriously, who still cares?

    In a year or so, we will have decent browsers on mobile devices. Mobile Internet will also work decently.

    Just like with the "Multimedia CD" era of the 1990s, people will wonder why they should buy an app (CD-Rom) if the same functionality is also available as a website. Microsoft simply is to late in the game, they have missed it.

    Besides even for the classical app market there is no place for Microsoft. It's already taken over by Apple and Google. Microsoft has no killer feature, nothing to improve on those.

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