With the announcement that Windows 8 has been released to manufacturing (RTM) and will be available for customers to buy on October 26, now is the time to build apps. On August 15th, all developers can visit the Windows Dev Center to get access to all the tools and resources they need including the RTM release of Visual Studio 2012. In the meantime, check out a selection of free events to help jumpstart your app development.
Bringing Windows 8 to developers across the world
Since we introduced the Windows 8 Dev Camps in this post, thousands of developers met at our dev camps around the world to build Window 8 apps and we’re having a lot of fun doing it. The camps ranged from a small matchmaking party in France to a 1,000 people joining a 24-hour hackathon in Indonesia to an entire developer week in Beirut. No matter where the camps are in the world, the focus is on helping you build Windows 8 apps.
Attend a free Dev Camp near you
Check out the schedule at http://www.devcamps.ms/windows and register for a camp now. In the next few weeks we’ll be holding camps across the world including Sweden (Aug 2nd), Atlanta (Aug 2nd), Singapore (Aug 3rd), Vancouver (Aug 3rd), UK (Aug 4th), Philippines (Aug 4th), Belgium (Aug 8th) and many more. We’re always adding dates and cities so if we haven’t yet listed a camp near you, check again soon. You can also watch previously recorded Dev Camps on Channel9.
Beyond just our own camps, our partners are hosting a variety of events around the world to help you build apps on the Windows 8 platform.
Events from Qualcomm
Qualcomm announced its Windows® RT Metro Style App Developer Contest last month to identify innovative apps written for Windows RT devices. The Windows RT Metro style app developer contest is open to legal residents of the United States of America and the District of Columbia who are 18 years or older. Five winners will be chosen for $200,000 in cash prizes and marketing support from Qualcomm. Contest categories include best overall Windows RT app, most compelling connectivity use case, best gaming app, best productivity app and best AllJoyn™ peer-to-peer app. Terms and Conditions apply.
Events from Intel
Intel is hosting an app lab for developers to learn about developing Windows 8 apps for the UltrabookTM platform with touch, sensors, graphics and power efficiency. Developers committing to developing an Ultrabook Win8 app at the event will receive a free Software Development Platform (SDP) from Intel, subject to limited supplies. Register for the August 22 New York event at Intel App Lab and use promo code INAPPLAB.
Keep building great apps
We hope these events help you improve your app building skills, meet other developers, and create some great apps. With the General Availability of Windows 8 rapidly approaching this is a perfect time to start preparing your apps for customers to try out when they get their brand new Windows 8 PCs. Have fun app building!
--Neil Hutson, Senior Director of Platform Evangelism