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