Tag Archives: windows 8 developer preview

Windows 8 App Developers Blog Discusses Migration Of Apps On Consumer Preview

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With the release of Windows 8 Developer Preview back in September, Microsoft asked developers across the globe to start creating metro style apps for the new OS. With that, Microsoft also launched Windows 8 App Developers blog for all the information that was required to develop apps.

However,with the release of Consumer Preview, Microsoft made a considerable amount of changes, which certainly affected the apps which were build for Developer Preview. A new post on the Windows 8 Apps Developer blog sheds some light on this issue of migrating your apps which were build for Developer Preview to Consumer Preview.  According to this post, by following some simple steps you can easily migrate your apps from Developer to Consumer Preview compatible.

John Sheehan, Partner Architect on the Windows Development team mentions these guidelines to follow:

  1. Create a new project in Visual Studio and pick the template that most closely resembles the UI of your existing app.
  2. If the new Item Templates support the contracts and features you need, like the File Picker contract or the Search contract, use them instead of trying to reuse your existing code.
  3. After you reconstruct the basic elements of your UI using the new templates, migrate your visual and audio assets from your old project into your new one. Limit the additional code you bring into the project to just be the custom business logic that was at the heart of your app.
  4. Finally, begin to stitch your new UI (structured with the new templates) to your visual and audio assets and to your back-end logic.

By following these steps, you’ll naturally incorporate many of the changes into your app’s code.

Lastly, he adds,

“This post is meant to get you started, but it only covers a small sample of the changes we’ve made to the development platform. As I suggested throughout the post take a look at //Build to Windows 8 Consumer Preview in the Dev Center to get detailed info on how to migrate your app to the Consumer Preview. “

Windows 8 Developer Preview Expiration Date Gets Extended

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After its launch a couple of months back, Windows 8 Developer preview which was made available by Microsoft was downloaded by many across the globe. But in case you haven’t already noticed the build is supposed to expire on March 11, 2012. Similarly, the Windows 8 Server Developer Preview version is scheduled to expire on April 8, 2012. Although Microsoft has secretly released an update for both of those builds that gives more time on your hands to use and explore them in more depth.

According to an article by Microsoft, the download would be handled via the Microsoft Update feature in Windows 8.the step by step process to download this update has been explained in this post. When the update is installed, both the Developer Preview versions of Windows 8 and Windows 8 Server will have their expiration dates extended until January 15, 2013.

Once the Developer Preview version does reach its expiration date, Windows 8 will send messages to the user saying it will restart Windows every hour until a new product activation key is entered.Additionally, starting 14 days before the expiration date, you may receive the following notification on the desktop and in the Security section of Action Center:

This pre-release version of Windows will expire soon. Go to Windows Activation to purchase and install a released version of Windows.

It’s currently unclear so as to why Microsoft has taken this initiative to extend the Developer Preview version of Windows 8, especially now since the company is about  to launch the Windows 8 Consumer Preview version on February 29.

Microsoft: Windows 8 Developer Preview Download Hits 3 Million Mark

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Yesterday, Microsoft announced that,Windows 8 Preview download reached 3 million downloads  mark. This comes as no surprise for many of us as Microsoft’s Windows platform is the most popular and the most used desktop OS in the World,reports neowin.

Windows 8 developer preview was launched back in September and  has already reached the developers across the world. Also, many of its enthusiasts and general users are still wanting to get their hands on the latest operating system on offer by Microsoft. The new operating system brings a fresh new interface, a bunch of new features, greater performance for desktops and a brand new interface for tablet users called Metro.

The Metro interface will give tablet users a larger interface for touch screens, with a tile based operating system, similar to Windows Phone 7. Metro interface is said to be the defining point of this version of windows and Microsoft is keeping no stone unturned in its development. It has spent a great deal of the last year to speed up development of Windows 8 and the results definitely shows off  in the developer preview and the development seems to be moving in the right direction and the company is still innovating  to keep Windows enthusiasts at the edge of their seats.

Windows 8 beta will be released in the month of february 2012 along with the launch of its Windows 8 Store with free apps at the start.

Build Windows Contest for Windows 8 Store Developers

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Its Window’s time to gear up developers across the globe for their Windows App Store and so Microsoft has decided to lure developers and other enthusiasts by putting  up buildwindowscontest. Here developers can download the developer preview and start coding and creating their own metro-style apps.

Prior to creating your app users need to have a valid WindowsLiveID and also there are some important things to keep in mind like,

Submissions are due by Sunday, January 8 at 11:59pm PST. This gives you just over 30 days to design and develop your app. Finalists will be notified on Sunday, January 15. Finalists must update their app to run on a new, confidential Windows 8 build provided by us and resubmit their app before February 3 to be eligible to win.

You’ll need a Windows Live ID to sign in to the contest site and submit your app. You’ll also need the Windows 8 Developer Preview with developer tools in order to start building your app.

Our panel of judges is very excited to review the innovative apps you submit. The judges are:

  • Jensen Harris, Director of Program Management, Windows User Experience
  • Antoine Leblond, Senior Vice President, Windows Web Services
  • Jason Zander, Corporate Vice President, Visual Studio

You can also sell your apps with thorough transparency in the procedure.Your apps will be available to customers around the world. You write your app once, set the price in your local currency, and the Windows Store can make it available in the worldwide marketplace in 100+ languages.

So hurry up!! guys because,  The First Apps contest will select eight winning apps to be the very first apps in the Windows Store when it opens.  The winning developers will also get some goodies to help them build even better apps:

  • A Samsung Windows Developer Preview PC from the BUILD conference, so you can test your apps with touch and sensors
  • One year of Windows Azure, so you can build apps that feel connected and alive
  • A two-year subscription to the Store, so you can continue to update and improve your app

This is your chance to show off your great app and to be part of an exclusive group of developers invited to participate in the Store when it first opens.

Install Language Packs on Windows 8 using New Universal Language Installer

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Its been a fair amount of time since the launch of Windows 8 developer preview and many of its users often come up with different things which an average user would want to know. Many of the advanced users more than often share their knowledge and findings with others.

On similar lines, Winunleaked yesterday posted of  how users can install the win8lang files with this tool and perform single reboot. With the help of  WDP Universal Language Installer user will be able to chose from an array of languages and change it and reboot only single time.

How to change the language in windows after reboot (after this, reboot one last time) :

You can download the language packs according to your language preferences and Operating System version(32 bit or 64 bit).

Download Language packs from Here.

Windows 8 Improved Setup Experience Detailed

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Here’s the new addition to the ongoing series of informative posts on Building Windows 8 blog  by Microsoft,today they detailed the new and improved Windows 8 setup.

One of the biggest challenges to be faced was to convince the users to upgrade their operating system rather than buying a new hardware along with to upgrade from the earlier version of Windows to Windows 8,first thing they did right is to optimize the Windows 8 to run on lower hardware requirements so that users will not have to upgrade their hardware along with their software.

But the problem doesn’t stop then and there itself,because most of the users directly go on buying the new Windows based PC or Laptop preinstalled with a licensed copy of newer Windows version was to avoid the tedious Windows setup on their existing machines.So to counter those issues microsoft have made a lot of improvements to make the Windows 8 setup experience a pleasant one and not a tedious one,so that it would encourage the potential upgraders to upgrade their operating system and avoiding the waiting process to save money up for the costly hardware upgrade instead.

Talking about the Big improvements in the setup experience,taking the upgrade experience online,so no need to buy the upgrade Disks instead upgrading the newer version of Windows.So whenever you want to upgrade and purchase  your Windows operating system you can do it with a few simple steps right from your PC via the Web upgrade method.The web upgrade method involves “pre-key” the setup image for each unique user so that after downloading the setup over the internet you don’t have to enter the 25 digit  product key again while installing Windows8.The physical Disk upgrade is also available for those who prefer the old school way of upgrade.But this digital distribution is indeed  a big improvement for ease of installation.One more improvement is Integrating their  earlier Upgrade Advisor, Windows Easy Transfer, and Setup together to work seamlessly for Windows 8 upgrade.

Reducing the number of setup screens also plays a vital role in the enhancing the Windows 8 setup experience,less the number of setup pages/screens the user see less the confusion.

Here’s the sneak at what the Web Setup experience would look like:

1.The First Step would scan your PC for Compatibility checks and would return a summary like this.

 

2.The next screen would give detailed compatibility report about existing programs on the system and their compatibility with Windows 8.

 

3.Then the Download Manager screen would pop up with the Windows 8 download and other details such as estimated download timing and status of completion of the download.

4.After downloading the setup you get 2 options

  • Continue with the installation
  • If you want a dual boot system you have option as “install on another partition” which would allow you to choose the device to create a bootable media either the USB drive or choosing to create an ISO image which can later be burned onto a DVD-R.

 

5.Next screen you would get prompted to choose what personal data want to keep before proceeding with the upgrade.

As a result of this improved setup experience the maximum 60 screen setup of Windows 7 is narrowed down to 11 clicks in Windows 8 setup with 82% fewer clicks in the Windows 8 installation as compared to Windows 7.

Checkout the Demo of Windows 8 setup From USB Flash Drive,this setup experience is not available in the existing Windows 8 Developer Preview but will be made available in the final Windows 8 build.

Images and Video Courtesy Microsoft

[How To]Create a Windows To Go Pen Drive To Run Windows 8 From USB Drive

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Many of you might not be knowing this feature the “Windows To Go” Feature allows you to Run your Windows operating system right from your USB Drive,i.e you just have to plug in the USB Drive onto your PC and the operating system boots itself from the USB Drive.So you can have your Windows 8 PC in your pocket and whenever and where ever you go,you can run Windows 8 y just plugging your USB Drive to any PC.

So to run the Windows 8 Developer Preview right from your USB Drive what we need beforehand is to install the Windows 8 Developer Preview on the USB  Drive First. Windows8italia has created a nice tutorial to install Windows 8 on the USB Drive.

Here are Some of the Prerequisites for the Windows 8 USB :

  • First of all you would need at least a 16 GB USB Drive with USB 2.0 support(this is the minimum requirement)
  • It is highly recommended if you can avail yourself with the 32GB USB Drive with 3.0 support for seamless performance of Windows 8 Developer Preview on your PC.
  • Also make sure that you already have a system pre installed with the Windows 8 Developer Preview(either native install or even a Virtual Machine install would do).

Follow the Steps to Install Windows 8 on your USB Drive:

1. Insert or Mount the DVD/Image of Windows 8 Developer Preview on your System.

2. Download the Windows Automated Installation Kit  and install it .

3. After the installation copy the imagex.exe file from the C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools folder according to the system version you are running i.e either the 32 bit folder(x86) or the 64 bit folder from the above mentioned path where the file is located.Copy that file onto your Desktop.

4.Connect the USB Drive  to Windows 8, format the drive with primary NTFS Partition.You can either use Disk Management in Windows or if you are familiar with Command prompt you can run the following commands from the CMD prompt(running as administrator)

  • diskpart (start the partition management tool)
  • list disk (to identify the USB depending on size)
  • select disk 1 (assuming that the USB is seen as number 1)
  • select partition 1 (assuming there is only the partition 1)
  • delete partition 1 (assuming there is only the partition 1)
  • create partition primary (we create a primary partition)
  • format fs = ntfs quick (formatted to NTFS)
  • active (we set the partition as active to be bootable)
  • exit (we leave the diskpart tool)

5.After doing all of the above steps enter the following command in the command prompt.

   imagex.exe / apply D: \ sources \ install.wim 1 F: \

Things to  Keep in mind while you enter the above command:

  • The Imagex.exe path should be your Desktop path on which the file is copied as mentioned in the previous step 3.
  • The ” D:” mentioned in the above command corresponds to the Windows 8 DVD Drive letter or the Windows 8 Mounted Image Drive(virtual drive) letter.
  • The “F:” is nothing but the USB Drive on which you are installing the Windows 8 Developer Preview,so make changes according to your Drive letters while installing it on your PC.

(Since the copy process is a bit slow,it would take upto an hour to complete so be patient.)

6.The final step is to copy the boot files from the installation of the Windows 8 Developer Preview,enter the following command in the command prompt(running as administrator).

    bcdboot.exe F: \ windows / s F: / f ALL

(The” F:” Corrsponds to your USB Drive,so accordingly make changes in the above command).

7.Now you have successfully installed Windows 8 on your USB Drive,now you can exit the command prompt.

You can now directly Boot Windows 8 from your Windows To Go Drive on your PC,just make sure that you have set USB as your First boot device before plugging in the Drive in your System ,Enjoy Windows 8 On the Go :D .

windows8developerpreview

HP Confirms Windows 8 Tablet is On The Cards

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Rumors were all over the web about HP getting ready and testing out their TouchPads Running the upcoming version of Windows from Microsoft i.e Windows 8 since they’ve already dumped the WebOS and the TouchPads after the failure in the launch of the WebOS based Tablets.

So as the company gets back to the PC business, HP’s CEO in a conference call with LATimes analyst confirmed their plans about building Windows 8 based Tablets.This is some sort of a come back after HP dropped the Windows Phones launch idea last year for getting into the WebOS devices.But now as the WebOS future looks uncertain they are getting back in terms with Microsoft with their newly improved redesigned and highly optimized upcoming version of Windows 8 operating system based on Metro UI.

This is what Whitman said,

“We’re at the beginning stages of a new segment in personal computing,” Whitman said of tablets in the call. She also said that she doesn’t believe it’s too late for HP to succeed in the tablet market and that “the work we do with Microsoft is extraordinary compelling.”

Whitman said in the call that HP’s Windows 8 tablets would launch sometime next year and that the company would be narrowing its focus to help the company succeed not just next year, but also in 2013, 2014 and the future.

“One of my observations is that HP tries to do a lot of things,” she said. “And I am big believer in doing a small number of things really, really well — set them up, knock them down, set them up, knock them down.”

Having said that she also added that there won’t be any announcement for the time being,not until the end of november when the next earnings reports come out for the company.With this we have got some interesting biggies in the race to bring Windows 8 tablets,first samsung then we heard about dell windows 8 tablet rumors and now this,things are getting quite interesting in the Windows 8 front.

 

Microsoft Surface 1.0 Supports Windows 8 Developer Preview

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With the release of Microsoft Surface 2.0 due early next year,a new video has “Surfaced” showing Windows 8 Developer Preview running on Microsoft Surface 1.0.

Josh Blake from Infostrat has done a demo of the Windows 8 developer preview running on Microsoft Surface 1.0 at his place.

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yUH5O_MSR8]

From the video we can see that  Surface 1.0 is quite capable of handling Windows 8 Developer Preview.However, With the release of Surface 2.0 Scheduled next year,it would be interesting to use Windows 8 advanced versions and to feel the difference it would make using Surface 2.0.

Surface 2.0 Specs include:

  • It’s aptly named SUR 40 due to its 40-inch 1080p display which is capable of handling fifty simultaneous touch inputs, and is protected by the largest sheet of Gorilla Glass ever applied to a screen. The display uses Microsoft’s new PixelSense technology, which essentially infuses each pixel with both optical and infrared sensors that enable the screen to recognize fingers and other objects that interact with it without the use of cameras.
  • AMD Athlon X2 245e 2.9GHz processor and a 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6750 GPU, along with 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 320GB hard drive, while the Surface 2.0 software is built on top of 64-bit Windows 7 Professional.

 

Windows 8 BUILD tabs go on sale on eBay

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At the recently conducted BUILD conference,Microsoft decided to give its developers its new product the “Tablet”.So it was expected that some of them might land up on eBay and so they are,a couple of developers have put their tablets on sale.

If you are willing to pay hefty price for them then go ahead they are all yours.There are at least two of the devices currently up on eBay with a bid for $2700 on one of the auctions.

Image Courtesy[Ebay]

These tablets were only given to BUILD attendees and are not available for general public purchase, which is a unfortunate as they would most likely sell like hot property as many of geeks would like to load up Windows 8 on a tablet.

The device in itself is state of the art, running a Core i5 cpu, 4GB of RAM, 64 GB SSD, its spec list reads more like a laptop than a tablet, which is what Microsoft had most likely intended.

When coupled with the included Bluetooth keyboard and other accessories, the tablet quickly shows that it can function as a tablet, or as a full function PC.