Windows 8 Developer’s Preview

Although I don’t consider myself an Apple fanboy, we have two iPhones, an iPad, a MacBook, and an iMac in our house.  I know, I know.  …but really, it’s not that I love Apple that much, it’s just that I hate working on PC’s.  …and the Apple solutions just work.  The only reason I had a PC anymore was to develop XBLIG’s.  I do however love the Xbox 360; it’s just cool.

Lately, I bought a Windows Phone.  It’s not that I thought I’d like it, as much as that I wanted a piece of hardware to test out indie apps on the WP store.  An early version of Andy’s Notepad [Saucers] was compiled on my phone.  That was cool too.  So I’ve had some time to get used to the whole Metro look and feel.  You know what?  It actually feels natural.  Like Woz said, “It’s like Steve Jobs was reincarnated and is working at Microsoft now.”  (I chuckle to think what Bill Gates thought when he heard that!)

So anyway, I downloaded the Windows 8 Developers Preview and thought I would install it on a second hard drive to try it out.  I began the install and realized that I didn’t have a choice of where this was going.  It went right on top of my Windows 7 install!  It clearly notified me, and I could have cancelled, but I thought, “What could go wrong?”  *grin*  Yeah, that’s right, more than I expected.

OK, so it was a little foolish installing this right on top of my dev box, but really, I’ve got all my critical stuff backed up.  So, no worries, I bravely forged ahead, and I really was pleasantly surprised!  The system requirements are lower, the drive footprint is smaller, and the interface is really clean.  I like the app store and have tried out a few apps.  Kinda cool.

Of course compiling for WP 7.1 broke, my XNA support is fragged and I had to uninstall Windows Defender, but other than that, no major issues.  (Other than not being able to currently compile a patch update for my XBLIG that is.  Not really a small thing, but hey ho!)  I found someone’s post on how to fix the WP compile, but to date, XNA is still broken.  Did I mention that I HATE working on PC’s?

Oh, oh, and I almost forgot.  All of a sudden, all my apps just stopped working.  That happened tonight, when I was trying to download the Metro WordPress app.  “Something happened and your purchase couldn’t be completed.”  Really?  I wasted fifteen minutes looking for the solution.

Despite all that, even though I know (firsthand) that this is pre-Beta, I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised overall.  Nice job, Microsoft.

[…written on the Metro WordPress app; the standard website is still better…]