14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8 is set to become commercially available on October 26, but Microsoft’s plans on the development of the platform won’t stop there.
In fact, the company has just announced plans to hold this year’s Build conference, the second of its kind, in late October.
Build 2.0 will be held in Redmond between October 30 and November 2. Registration for the event will kick off on August 8, 2012, the company announced.
Since Microsoft did not publish a session list for last year’s Build, chances are that a similar approach will be taken this year as well.
However, since last year the Redmond-based software giant was aiming at unveiling Windows 8 at the event, and since the platform is now official, things might change.
According to ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley, this year’s conference might cover products such as Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Windows Azure, Windows Phone and Visual Studio 2012.
She also notes that the company’s focus might be on ramping up the development of applications for the new platform.
We’re referring here to the building of Metro-style apps, which Windows 8 lacks at the moment. On Windows RT, these applications will be of great importance, since legacy software won’t run on it.
x86 devices will benefit from access to existing Windows applications, but those based on ARM will be able to grab apps only from Microsoft’s official Windows Store.
Microsoft hasn’t provided specific info on the number of apps available at the moment through the portal, but some suggest that there would be around 500 at the moment, and that their number might reach only 1,200 by the time Windows 8 is launched.
Only free apps are available at the moment through the Windows Store, but paid ones are expected to emerge there as well, as soon as the RTM flavor of the platform lands. Microsoft has already confirmed that this would happen in the first week of August.