Posting a summary blog for the new stuff coming from Redmond. I’ve included links for what’s new and downloads. Please let me know if any of the links are broken or if there is additional content that I should include. The following technologies are available for us to work with now:
- Windows 8 Consumer Preview
- Visual Studio 11 Beta
- Team Foundation Server 11 Beta
- Windows 8 Server Beta
Windows 8 Consumer Preview
I’ve installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview on several machines, including a low end netbook. Performance is better than Windows 7, including battery life. I have been able to install most of my applications, including Visual Studio 11 / Expression Blend 11, Team Foundation Server 11 Express, Kinect SDK, Office 2010, Evernote, Eclipse, Rubymine, Webstorm, Civilization V, and StarCraft 2. I did have an issue with the Windows Phone 7 SDK emulator as the Windows 8 virtualization subsystem is different and incompatible. The workaround is to use an actual device, instead of the emulator.
Start Screen:
Obligatory screenshot of my Start screen (I de-metro’d most of it)
Desktop:
My desktop is aesthetically in sync with my Start Screen theme (takes a few tricks, but I like consistent UX).
System Requirements
Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device or higher
Additional requirements to use certain features:
To use touch, you need a tablet or a monitor that supports multi touch.
To access the Windows Store and to download and run apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768.
To snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768.
Main Page
What’s New
2 great resources for what’s new in Windows 8 CP:
Building Windows 8 (Official Microsoft Blog)
Paul Thurrott’s Windows 8 Coverage
Download (ISOs)
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso
Visual Studio 11 Beta (a.k.a. Visual Studio 2012) and Expression Blend 11
So far so good, I have used it working on a prototype application for Metro and another for Kinect.
Main Page
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd831853(v=vs.110).aspx
What’s New
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386063(v=VS.110).aspx
Here’s a good summary blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jasonz/archive/2012/02/29/welcome-to-the-beta-of-visual-studio-11-and-net-framework-4-5.aspx
Download
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/en-us/downloads#vs
Team Foundation Server Express 11 Beta
Installed on to Windows 8 Consumer Preview x64 without a hitch, starting to move source and other assets into it (non critical). Interested in getting continuous integration running. TFS Express can be installed on Windows 7 / Windows 8 clients in addition to Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 8. Express supports small development workgroups and is FREE. I expect to see more deployments of TFS, so it may be beneficial for me to have it installed and a default part of my MS development stack.
Main Page
Other than the Visual Studio Beta page, I haven’t found a main page for 11. There is a lot for 2010, however this is a good resource to track TFS 11: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudioalm/
What’s New
Download
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28987
Windows 8 Server Beta
I have it installed, but not had the time to run it through its paces yet.
Main Page
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/v8-default.aspx
Download
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh670538.aspx?ocid=&wt.mc_id=TEC_108_1_33
