Windows Metro Style Design

On August 1th 2011, Microsoft launched Windows 8. Along with the launch, the company also launched hopes of trying to salvage the declining market share of PCs. Windows 8 promises a much better user experience geared towards making significant changes to the Operating System itself and also rendering the OS to mobile devices, touch-based screens, and tablets. Primarily, the launch was meant to be an answer to rival the likes of Android and Apple’s iOS.

So, what does Windows Metro Style Design entail? What’s with the new app store and how does Windows 8 present itself to developers?

Under the Hood

The new Windows 8 Interface features a touch-friendly, shell and user Interface, Microsoft’s “Metro” design language, an attractive “start screen”, and a Windows app store. Windows’ Metro language and Windows 8 itself runs off modern technologies such as USB 3.0, NFC (Near Field Communications), Cloud Computing, a built-in antivirus, and app synchronization between multiple devices.

Metro style apps come with the brand new user interface, plenty of emphasis on UI chrome, full screen UX/UI, flat colored “live tiles”, touch-centric capabilities, multi-tile view, and much more. It can be packed and distributed through the “Windows Application Store”. Microsoft, as expected, makes it possible to download it in various languages.

Windows 8 Metro Style Apps: A great Opportunity for Developers

It’s inevitable that all new PCs and window-based tablets will move to Windows 8. As that happens, Windows apps will be the mainstay on each of these hardware units sold. According to Erik Sherman of Inc.com, Windows 8 did have a slow start but it doesn’t mean that the behemoth release will be forgotten. In fact, it’ll be a slow but steady ride for Windows 8 and Windows RT (tablet-version of Windows 8).

So, how big is it? Erik alludes to statistics, which reveal that more than 100 million Windows devices will be shipped each quarter. The estimated market is purported to be 200 million by the time this New Year draws to a close.

Of course, size does matter (not withstanding revenues). According to Ingrid Lunden of Techcrunch.com, Windows 8 Apps are particularly strong in serving local markets with the apps. More than 10% of the apps in top 300 rankings are specific to countries. Windows 8 has shipped out more than 40 million licenses already and it continues to grow while a number of developers have already crossed the $25,000 mark to get that juicy 80% profit-retention model that Windows offers.

Changes Galore

Windows 8 boasts of anew and hybrid technology featuring a much faster start-up through UEFI integration and the all-new “Hybrid Boot” mode (hibernating the Windows Kernel during shutdown to hasten subsequent boot up processes). It has a new “File Explorer” (you might know it better as Windows Explorer), an overhauled Task manager, and much more.

Further, Windows 8 comes with much stronger safety and security protocols in place including authentication procedures tailored for touchscreens, antivirus, SmartScreen filtering, secure boot, and parental controls.

Applications Powering New Era of Development

Sticking to the Windows environment for now, Windows 7 only had desktop applications for developers to play with. Of course, Windows 8 will carry on the traditional desktop app development but it also has “Metro Design” now which opens up avenues for building apps which you can develop using .Net, C #, VB, C++, HTML, XAML, and Direct 3D.

Metro style design allows you to access accelerating hardware, right out of the box so that you can tune your apps and provide a consistent effect across the platform. The “Connected Standby” feature lets metro applications update even when the computers sleep.

The Growing Windows Store Opportunity

Majority of users worldwide still use Windows and as such, the Windows 8 App store is no kid on the block. Metro app developers have thunderous potential as far as scope and reach are concerned. The reach spreads into 200 countries and more than 100 languages. Windows also has an aggressive pricing model by allowing you to retain 80% of the profits off app (and in-app) purchases by up to 80%.

Windows also has a strong appeal to specific local markets unlike Android apps, which tend to be more general and Apple App store which tends to focus mostly on U.S and other developed markets. Overall, Windows has a far greater reach globally and that means even more exposure to your apps developed on the Metro style for Windows 8.

Build apps and Leave it to Windows

Metro Style design for Windows 8 has a “share Contract” feature where developers who build metro applications can communicate, tweak, and make changes to apps even if they haven’t been developed or even if these apps aren’t live yet as long as applications support the Payload Schema.

Also, developers can go with Windowss “Win as one” model and use the entire Windows eco-system along with the features of Windows 8.

Compatible, All the Way

Metro Style apps are more like widgets, built on Microsoft’s new API. They are cross-platform compatible. Even apps built with the standard x86 – in the old fashioned way – can still work on Windows 8 but they might not be considered as metro apps. If you are a developer, please note that metro apps use the cloud more than ever for data storage. Metro apps are also required to stay open (never quit the app unless you can reboot it with the task manager).

Everything you need. One Place

First requirement to develop metro style apps is to download Windows 8 license. After that, head toDownloads for Developers and get your tools. Then work to get a developers license, choose your programming language of your choice from javaScript, C# and Visual Basic, C++, DirectX, Visual Studio 2012, etc. While building metro style apps for the Windows 8 store, focus on simplicity. Sport a clean and open layout for your app, get the information hierarchy right, and make direct interactions with the user possible.

For developers, it’s another income stream, another business opportunity, a whole new market to venture into, and a spectacular absorption rate thanks to the sheer market share of Microsoft’s Windows.

How are you going to capitalize on this opportunity? Knowing what you do and flexing the skills you have as a developer, how difficult is it to develop great apps based on metro style for windows 8? What do you think about the opportunity metro style apps present to you?

WINDOWS 8 New Slider Views

Not Just About Metro

I'll take you on an app tour shortly, but first I want to mention some features built into Windows 8 that improve on earlier editions of Windows. The Metro interface and the Microsoft store have garnered considerable scrutiny, but other aspects of Windows 8 may be more important to users who are considering upgrading. Though most of the Windows 8 sales volume will come from the OS's inclusion on new systems shipped with the OS, PC users who are considering upgrades naturally want to know whether the pain of upgrading will pay off in better performance and broader functionality. Here's a brief rundown of "under-the-hood" improvements to Windows 8:

• Smaller memory footprint: Windows 8 uses memory more efficiently and requires less memory to run. This is important for systems like Ultrabooks, which often ship with 4GB of nonupgradable RAM, some of which must be allocated to the graphics frame buffer.
• More-efficient performance: Windows 8 and its underlying subsystems consume less of the CPU's resources than previous incarnations do. That's important for ultraportables and tablets, whose CPU performance may lag behind that of higher-end systems.
• Reduced disk-space requirement: As solid-state drives become increasingly common, disk space for user files will be at a premium.
• HyperV integration: This advance is crucial for enterprises and businesses that rely on VMs to run work apps in a world where people want to bring their own devices to work.
• Built-in SkyDrive integration: Cloud storage is now an integral part of the operating system.
• Improved multimonitor support: Among Windows 8's features for handling multiple monitors is the new ability to adjust and set the location of the task bar.

Most of these differences, with the possible exception of improved multidisplay support, won't have special appeal to desktop PC power users, but they will have major a impact on the effectiveness of mobile systems, which often ship with constrained memory, CPU, and storage.

App Improvements

Unhappy Windows users criticized the limited functionality of earlier incarnations of Windows 8's included Metro apps. The latest release's included apps--Music, Mail, Video, and News, among others--are much more polished, though a few rough edges remain.

TO KNOW MORE SECRETS ABOUT WINDOWS 8 GO HERE---> Windows 8 Secrets

TO DOWNLOAD NEW WINDOWS 8 Full  version -->Wndows 8-The Complete Guide

Windows 8 to offer built-in malware protection

Microsoft's Michael Angiulo (left) and Steven Sinofsky show off Windows 8 at the company's Build conference on September 13.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft is including a beefier version of its malware protection in Windows 8.

The company is tweaking its Windows Defender tool, which has been part of the last few versions of Windows, by essentially adding some of the more robust features from its free Security Essentials product. Launched in 2009, Security Essentials has garnered generally positive reviews but requires a separate download, while the built-in Windows Defender has lacked certain key elements as a defense against malware.
At a demo of Windows 8's security at Microsoft's Build conference on Tuesday posted by The Register, Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live division, said that "we've taken Defender, and we've actually built a whole new range of protection, all the way up through anti-malware, antivirus, all that is built into Defender."



Beyond strengthening Defender, Microsoft is working to improve security from the boot level.
The demo at Build revealed a new feature called Secured Boot. Michael Angiulo, corporate vice president of Windows Planning and Ecosystem, showed off the feature by trying to boot up a computer with an infected USB stick. Instead of loading Windows, the computer detected the malware, stopped the boot process, and displayed a warning message that the system had been compromised.
Depending on the effectiveness of the new Defender and the other security measures, the news could be good for Windows 8 users but not so good for third-party antivirus vendors, according to Sophos consultant Graham Cluley. In a blog post yesterday, Cluley acknowledged that anything encouraging people to protect their PCs with the latest antivirus software is a plus, especially since too many home computers are still being assimilated into botnets.
But if PC owners have effective, built-in malware protection, will they still shell out their hard-earned dough for security software from Symantec, McAfee, and others? If not, Cluley doesn't sound like he'd be too sorry.
"Frankly, it's their own fault," he said in his blog. "The two big security hippopotamuses have had years of opportunity to gobble up the end-user market, and yet still millions of home users were infected by malware, spyware and pop-ups each year."
Cluley believes that third-party vendors may react to the new security in Windows 8 by cutting the prices on their own products or even accusing Microsoft of "anti-competitive practices."

Why Windows 8 isn't an iOS copycat

Windows 8 running on a desktop, just as it can run on a tablet, or notebook computer.

(Credit: Microsoft)

This week saw the latest step towards the release of Windows 8, the next major version of Microsoft's operating system that represents one of the biggest changes in the history of the platform.
At its Build conference on Tuesday, Microsoft spent more than two hours on stage detailing its next OS. While the software isn't expected to make it into consumer hands until sometime next year, we now have a clearer picture of how Microsoft is positioning it to an industry that's shifted its purchases (and affections) from desktops to notebooks, and now portable devices like tablets and smartphones.
In short, Windows 8 is Microsoft's big answer to that broadening landscape: a product that can power nearly all machines, with an interface that can adapt along the way. That right there is one of the biggest differences between Microsoft's vision of computing and Apple's, which created a separate OS to power its portables, while keeping the desktop OS for its Intel-based machines.

Microsoft has traditionally released a new version of Windows every few years, but tablet users are now accustomed to more frequent feature updates. For proof of that, you can look at the iPad, which launched without multitasking and a number of other features the iPhone had, only to get it later with a software update. Android users face a similar future, with the promise of additional software updates.
Comparatively, Microsoft has saved those big feature updates for major releases, and charged for them too. This has created a cycle where developers in the Apple camp can depend software updates to build on top of: Mac OS X developers have come to expect a major update every few years, with iOS getting updates every year.
What does that mean for Windows 8 though? Will the lucrative tradition of releasing a major update every few years continue, while the Metro interface is left untouched, or does Microsoft intend to update it more often to keep up with the Joneses? Therein lies one of the potential drawback of trying to provide everything in one package. It's also something to watch considering how closely connected Windows 8's Metro interface is tied to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 software, which so far has followed the speedier update trend.
The major thing Microsoft has going for it with Windows 8 is how much more open it is to letting third-parties make adjustments to the operating system itself. On the non-Metro side of Windows this is unchanged, with backwards compatibility for apps, a bevy of third-party plug-ins, and software that can run behind the scenes to custom-tailor your computing experience. What's unclear is how that will shape up on the Metro side of Windows 8.
During the Build keynote, we saw that users could extend what can be done from within an app based on other applications you had installed. In that case, it was a sharing app letting a user share the Web page they were on in IE10. But how much deeper Microsoft will let third-parties go with that customization? That wasn't(Credit: Microsoft)

One other big question that remains is whether Microsoft can woo developers to its platform with the promise of scale. Windows president Steven Sinofsky pitched the 5,000 developers who were at the Build keynote on the merits of building on Windows 8, based on the fact that there "could be 400 million people when this product launches."
Yet, even at 400 million, that could be a splintered group for developers to target. For instance, an application built for touchscreen tablets will only be aimed at those with the newer portables, which represents a smaller group (read: less revenue potential) and one with potentially different buying habits than desktop users (read: they might not pay as much per app). Then there are high-end games, which would be unplayable on the newer tablets for lack of a beefy CPU and graphics card. Yet those two things can sit side by side on Windows 8, Microsoft says.