Developers – Tom on Tech

Windows 8–Developer Resources

Thought I’d pass this list along for anyone wanting to get started with Windows 8 and Metro style.

Content	URL	Details
Windows 8 Consumer Preview Download	http://bitly.com/WIN8cp	Windows 8 Consumer Preview download (web installer or ISO’s), videos, and FAQ’s.
Developer downloads for Metro style apps	http://bitly.com/metroDwnld	Visual Studio 11 Express and the Windows 8 SDK + all the extra tools and SDK’s for Metro style app development.
Design assets for Metro style apps	http://bitly.com/MetroUX	100+ Photoshop files with common controls, shell components, tiles, icons, animation clips, color wheel references, and more.

Metro style app developer content

Content	URL	Details
Windows Dev Center home	http://bitly.com/DevCtr	Links to Metro style app, Desktop app, Hardware, and IE development.
Metro style app development home	http://bitly.com/MetroCtr	Links to key resources for designing, developing, and selling Metro style apps.
Product guide for developers	http://bitly.com/PGwin8	Windows 8 Consumer Preview Product Guide for Developers.
Official documentation	http://bitly.com/MetroDocs	Comprehensive docs, articles, quickstarts, roadmaps, tutorials, checklists, developer agreements, and whitepapers covering all aspects of app design, development, and selling: · Getting started · Planning apps · Designing UX for apps · Developing apps · Packaging apps · Debugging and testing apps · Selling apps · API reference · Concepts and architecture · Language reference · End-to-end apps
Design resources	http://bitly.com/DesignUX	Design principles, UX design patterns, detailed UX guidelines, downloadable design assets, assessing usability.
Selling apps in the Windows Store	http://bitly.com/W8Store	Windows Store markets, developer agreements, and checklists to prepare.
Developer downloads for Metro style apps	http://bitly.com/DwnldsMetro	Visual Studio Express and the Windows 8 SDK + extra tools and SDK’s for Metro style app development.
Metro style app samples	http://bitly.com/MetroSmpls	Over 200 official samples from Microsoft are available in multiple programming languages. You can copy code inline, upload new code, rate, and leave comments.
Developer forums	http://bitly.com/MetroForums	Developer forums for Metro style apps covering designing, developing, and selling apps.

Blogs for developers

Blog Name	URL	Details
Building Windows 8 blog (B8)	http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/	An inside look at how, what, and why different features of Windows 8 are being built. This blog is written by Windows President Steven Sinofsky together with members of the Windows engineering team.
Windows Store blog for developers	http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore	All about doing business in the Windows Store. Members of the engineering team who’ve built the Windows Store write posts along with Antoine Leblond, Vice President of Windows Web Services.
Windows 8 app developer blog (D8)	http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsappdev	Explores best practices for coding and designing Metro style apps. It is written by the team of developers who are building Windows 8.
IE blog	http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/	Windows Internet Explorer Engineering Team Blog.
Inside Windows Live blog	http://windowsteamblog.com/ windows_live/b/windowslive/	The engineering being Hotmail, Messenger, SkyDrive, and Windows Live.
Visual Studio Blog	http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/	The official source of product insight from the Visual Studio Engineering Team.
The Windows Blog	http://windowsteamblog.com/	Consumer and general interest topics.

Imagine Cup 2011–Day 1–Opening Ceremony

Imagine Cup 2011 – Day 1

Tonight in New York City, Steve Ballmer along with Jon Perera, General Manager of Microsoft Education, Arthur VanderVeen, CEO of the Office of Innovation at the New York Department of Education, Jeffrey Sachs, director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Adviser to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and Dennis Crowley, co-founder and CEO of Foursquare officially opened the 2011 Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals.

The energy in the room was electric. The passion and the excitement from the students here is incredible. As soon as Ballmer’s name was announced the noise level in the room intensified. It was crazy.

Ballmer talked to the students about how they are in a business that is constantly working to change the world. He talked about the importance of the cloud and the impact it is having on the world and the students’ projects by enabling real time collaboration, commerce, and social interaction. Ballmer also talked about how devices of the future would be dynamic, faster performing, and include more sensors and do more things. Ballmer also mentioned that Natural User Interfaces would open up new possibilities and enable even more people to use computers.

To close out his remarks, Ballmer gave the students three key pieces of advice. The first is that ideas matter. When you come up with an idea make note of it. Stick with it. The second is to be passionate about what your idea and what you do. The third is to be tenacious. Don’t give up. Stick with it and see the idea through until the end.

Jeffrey Sachs then came to the stage and talked to the students about how the world has changed and there are many challenges that we face. These challenges range from strain on world food supplies to population growth, climate change, hunger, and others. He told students they were being given a lifetime homework assignment, and that this assignment was to find ways to better the world and to solve these tough challenges.

To close out the evening, Dennis Crowley came to the stage and talked to the students about sticking with their ideas and seeing them through. He talked about his experience with startups and said that Foursquare’s success is “built off of 10 years of failure.” He told students to never give up on their ideas and that even if the present wasn’t the best time for their idea, it could be a year from now, two years for now, or even ten years from now, but to be persistent and stick with it.

Tomorrow the competition begins.

Hey students, want free Microsoft development tools?

If your answer to the question is yes, than have I got a deal for you!

Microsoft has a program called DreamSpark. The DreamSpark program is a way for you as a student to gain access to Microsoft technologies that you can then use to create amazing applications for the PC, the cloud, and the phone.

Dreamspark includes some really amazing things such as:

Visual Studio 2010 Professional
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard
Expression Studio 4 Ultimate
SQL Server 2008 Developer Edition
Robotics Developer Studio 2008 R3
Windows Phone 7 Developer Tools
Virtual Lab training for SQL Server, Visual Studio, and Visual Basic
IT Academy Student Pass
1 Year free membership to the App Hub and Windows Phone Marketplace (Yes, FREE! There is no $99 fee for students to build and sell Windows Phone 7 apps.)

All it takes to join DreamSpark is sign up, get verified as a student, and download the software.

I highly encourage any student that wants to get hands on experience with Microsoft technologies to sign up for Dreamspark and start playing and creating.

To find out more about DreamSpark, visit http://www.dreamspark.com