Creating Windows 8 and IE10 - a selection of materials for March'12

Creating Windows 8

Behind the scenes creating Windows 8

As we began to talk about the details of the Consumer Preview release, some of the changes and opportunities that we haven’t yet written on this blog, I would like to go back and re-introduce our working group. Creating Windows 8 is a very serious enterprise that requires a group of experts with different backgrounds. We are proud that the diversity of our group reflects the diversity of Windows users around the world.

Browsing websites in Windows 8 Consumer Preview using Internet Explorer 10

In this post, we’ll talk about the new features of Internet Explorer 10. We have significantly improved the basic browser module in aspects such as performance, standards compliance, and available features, which we wrote about earlier on this blog. Internet Explorer 10 in Metro style is a new and improved way of browsing the web, allowing you to really concentrate on the right information, not on how to access it. You get the full effect of immersion. At the same time, it provides all the security features and controls you are used to: tabs, keyboard shortcuts, InPrivate browsing, and so on.

Connect applications, files, computers, and devices to the cloud using SkyDrive and Windows 8

Many readers of our blog actively use SkyDrive and Mesh, which are part of a wide range of Windows Live services (like Hotmail) and programs from the Main Windows Live components (which also include Messenger, Photo Album, Film Studio, Mail and others). When we introduced these services and when Windows 7 was released, we talked about how they complement the experience with Windows. Developing Windows 8, we have carefully thought out how to increase the role of these services for users, namely: giving the opportunity to all users of Windows 8 to use the cloud service on all computers (and phones).

Scaling on different screens

In the world of displays there is a massive innovation. This process covers all aspects, starting with device proportions and pixel density and ending with basic technologies. The Windows 8 operating system is designed so that its growth and improvement occur simultaneously with the development of the display ecosystem. Our goal is to support the widest possible range of display technologies. Due to this, PC manufacturers will be able to produce computers, and users will have at their disposal external displays that would satisfy their needs with maximum efficiency.
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Touchscreen and Windows 8

At the // build / conference, we presented a set of touch gestures that make up the Windows 8 touch control language. These key interaction techniques form the basis of the Windows 8 user interface and are used extensively in application frameworks in our common controls and code examples. The main purpose of touch control is to provide ease of use and increase user confidence. By confidence, we mean consistent and reliable sensory interaction in all cases. Developers who use our controls automatically incorporate this “language” into their applications when they reuse common controls or examples, and thus minimize the necessary user training.

Windows Store

Application Licensing

This article describes the principles and structure of the application licensing model in the Windows Store. The goals of our approach to creating this model were to provide users with flexibility and ease of access to their applications while protecting the developers' investment in creating these applications. Explains this approach and the associated user experience Alwin Vimehmeister (Alwin Vyhmeister), program manager in the Store's work on identity and licensing.

Application Development for Windows 8

Changes for application developers made after the conference // build / (part 1)

The Consumer Preview has been released, and we hope that you have already managed to familiarize yourself with it. Since the end of the conference // build / our development team has been working hard. We tracked your feedback and used it to improve the development platform. At the same time, we worked on refining the many components of this platform that you have not yet seen. Over the time that has elapsed since // build /, we have significantly improved Visual Studio tools while working on the Windows operating system. In addition, improvements were made to the development of Metro-applications and other scenarios.

Changes for application developers made after the conference // build / (part 2)

As I promised, today I will tell you more about the work we have done after the conference // build /. In the first part of this article, I described the integration of DirectX and XAML, improvements to the Blend constructors, independent CSS animations, and much more. But I am sure that you can not wait to learn about other updates, so let's get straight to the point.

Migrating apps from developer preview to consumer preview

We appreciate the applications you have created for pre-release versions. Your feedback helps us improve Windows 8. Of course, development for the pre-release version implies the need to update applications for each new release. This post is dedicated to this - project migrations from Developer Preview to Consumer Preview. Here I will describe some of the changes, but for more information, download the white paper on application migration // Build to Windows 8 Consumer Preview (possibly in English) in the Developer Center.

Implement single sign-on and SkyDrive in Windows 8 apps using Live SDK

Thanks to the cloud, Windows 8 users can easily work and play from multiple devices. Simply log in to your computer or device using a Microsoft account, and use SkyDrive's free personal vault (for more details, see Connecting applications, files, computers and devices to the cloud using SkyDrive and Windows 8). Your applications, settings and personal files will always be at hand. As a developer, you can take advantage of cloud solutions by integrating relevant capabilities into your Metro style apps with the Live SDK.

Combining XAML and DirectX features

Starting from the early stages of developing Windows 8, we thought about how to combine the user interface, that is, the wide range of controls and interactive features provided by XAML, with graphical capabilities, such as high-performance DirectX rendering at a low level.

Using asynchrony in the Windows runtime to create fast and flexible applications

People are inherently asynchronous, and so we expect applications to also respond asynchronously. In Windows Runtime (WinRT), this asynchrony takes a privileged place in creating fast and flexible Metro style apps. If you are creating a Metro style application, at some point you will need to write asynchronous code. In this blog post, we’ll talk about why asynchronous programming is so common in WinRT, and we’ll give you a basic understanding of how it can be used in your applications and some of its principles.

Activating Windows 8 contracts in your application

When you start developing Metro style apps, you’ll quickly discover contracts — a new and effective concept in Windows 8. Metro style apps use contracts to announce interactions with other apps and with the Windows operating system they support. You may have heard about some of them: searching, sharing, etc. Contracts increase the efficiency of applications by allowing them to better interact with the system or with each other when the user installs many applications that use contracts. In this article I will talk about activation - one of the main concepts that should be considered when adding contracts to your applications.

Internet Explorer

Google bypasses user privacy

When the Internet Explorer team found out that Google bypassed the privacy settings of users of the Safari web browser, we asked ourselves a simple question: does Google also bypass the privacy settings of Internet Explorer users? We found that the answer to this question is in the affirmative: Google uses similar methods to bypass the default privacy protectors in Internet Explorer and to track Internet Explorer users through cookies.

Protecting Online Privacy

This morning, the US government announced a new “user privacy bill” that was proposed as part of a program to improve the protection of user privacy on the Internet. As I mentioned earlier, Microsoft is actively involved in the industry-wide Tracking Protection initiative of the W3C consortium to create web standards for online privacy.

Web Platform Components in Windows Consumer Preview

Internet Explorer 10 in the Windows Consumer Preview version features new and updated components of the web platform compared to Internet Explorer 10 in the Windows Developer Preview version released on September 13, 2011. Some of them were contained in the fourth version of the IE10 Platform Preview released on November 29, 2011 and were described in blog articles, and some appeared only in the Consumer Preview.

Improved memory protection in Internet Explorer 10

Internet Explorer 10 introduces significant memory protection enhancements that complicate the exploitation of vulnerabilities and help ensure the safety of users in the sometimes hostile environment of the Internet. These improvements will increase the complexity and cost of developing tools to exploit vulnerabilities, making life difficult for attackers.

Advanced Protected Mode

Each release of Internet Explorer is accompanied by improvements that help keep users safe while browsing the web. New improved protected mode in Internet Explorer 10 helps to protect data, even if the attacker takes advantage of a vulnerability in the browser or one of its add-ins.

WebSocket Objects in Windows Consumer Preview

Internet Explorer 10 and all other Microsoft WebSocket client and server components in Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Server Beta now support the final version of the IETF WebSocket protocol. In addition, Internet Explorer 10 implements the WebSocket API, which received the status of Candidate Recommendation by the W3C consortium.

IndexedDB updates for Internet Explorer 10 and Metro style apps

The Internet Explorer development team and members of the wider web community continue to make improvements to the IndexedDB specification. IndexedDB is a working draft of the W3C consortium that allows you to store, search and retrieve data on the user's device, even when the Internet connection is disabled. IndexedDB is a component of the Internet Explorer 10 common web platform and Metro style apps in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview operating system.

Internet Explorer 10 startup options in Windows 8

Internet Explorer 10 introduces a new browsing mechanism, built according to the concept of Windows 8, to bring you all the benefits of Metro style apps. We created this mechanism by extending the basic architecture of Internet Explorer to get a fast browser module with full hardware acceleration, reliable security and full support for HTML5 and other web standards. Internet Explorer 10 also provides the familiar experience of interacting with the operating system, which will appeal to those users who would like to continue using familiar desktop tools in their workflow.