Jun 07, 2011

Windows 8 & Future of .NET

Microsoft has made the official announcement on Windows 8. As demonstrated at the D9 conference, Here are the key points:

1. A touch-centric new interface for apps

2. The spartan tile-based Metro user interface of Windows Phone 7

3. Impressive scalability of the apps, you can even pull in an app from the side of the screen and sit it side-by-side with another running app

4. A new Web standards-based development platform built using HTML5 and JavaScript that runs on top of the existing, conventional Windows platform. It will focus on two types of apps:

Classic Windows desktop apps: They will run and look similar to Win 7 today.

HTML5/Javascript apps: Similar to mobile app having more experience including IE10.

Questions:

Now there are some questions from a developer point of view:

1. What does Windows 8 mean for .NET developers?

2. Is HTML5 the main way to write apps for the new shell?

3. Will IE keep supporting Silverlight/flash/WPF?

4. Will Windows 8 support Windows Phone apps?

Why HTML5, Not Silverlight:

They are stressing HTML 5 because they are trying to attract app developers. Today, Most of client-side developers are building HTML apps, another big number are writing iOS and Android apps. Learning XAML/Silverlight technologies is difficult. As they are losing the battle with iOS/Android, going HTML could be their only option to regain the market.

Reactions:

Many Silverlight and .Net developers fear their skill sets may become legacy ones. Microsoft officials have not clarified where .Net fits in the Windows 8 world.

There is a long discussion over on the official Silverlight forum fretting over the demonstrations.

Channel 9, another Microsoft developer forum, has a similar reaction

Conclusion:

Microsoft is turning the Windows desktop into a web browser and is going in the way of Palm webOS.

HTML5 + JS for Windows Apps, Does it mean Windows app using.NET is going to dead? Share your thought in the comment box.

Update:

See following good resources to build Metro style apps in Windows 8:

Learn to build Metro style apps

Getting started with Windows Metro style app development

A .NET developer's view of Windows 8 app development