Reason 1 – Hardware Acceleration
Metro applications benefit from hardware acceleration out-of-the-box.
Build your application and you get the GPU, free of charge. Moreover,
metro developers get a library of animations that are not only tuned and
accelerated, but also provide consistent effects across the platform.
Reason 2 – Connected Standby
Connected Standby is Windows 8’s version of Windows 7’s Sleep. Like Sleep, Connected Standby delivers a battery life experience
similar to off with a split-second resume time. Unlike Sleep, Connected
Standby allows Metro apps to keep their data up-to-date while in
standby.
Reason 3 – Roaming Settings
Metro applications can store files and settings locally. However,
Metro applications can also roam them to the cloud and, therefore,
across Windows 8 devices. This is enabled seamlessly. Developers can
develop immersive apps without having to deal with some cloud service
out there.
Reason 4 – Play To Contract
Windows 8 enables comprehensive support for DLNA devices. Metro developers can take advantage of this support through Play To, a contract allowing their applications to extend its media, like sound and video, to devices on the user’s network.
Reason 5 – Search Contract
Like Windows 7, Windows 8 users can search applications, settings,
and files. However, Windows 8 also allows users can also search data
inside Metro applications with the Search Contract. Without first
launching an app, users can search directly from Windows 8.
Reason 6 – Settings Charm
There’s one less wheel to reinvent in Windows 8, settings. Metro
guidelines clearly specify application are to be invoked by the user
from the Settings Charm
– no more Edit>Preferences or Tools>Options in various
applications. Developers have a common entrance and common interfaces.
MSDN:
The Settings charm provides a single access point to all settings that
are relevant in the user's current context. The Settings charm is always
available. Settings include system settings that always apply,
app-related settings that are brokered by the app with permissions, and
settings that are specific to the current app. This topic explains how
to use the Settings contract to add app settings to the Settings charm.
Reason 7 – Share Contract
Metro applications can communicate with applications that haven’t
even been written yet. Thanks to the Share Contract, metro developers
can build applications that share data with any application that
supports the payload schema. This includes applications that haven’t
even been written yet.
The Share Contract is core to delivering on the Metro principle
“Win as One” which simply guides the user to leverage all of Windows 8
and the entire ecosystem. With a few lines of code, metro developers can
extend their apps with broad support for social networks and other
apps.
Reason 8 – Windows Store
Windows 8 may be the biggest opportunity for developers, ever. With
reach into over 200 countries and regions and in more than 100
languages, the Windows store will deliver Metro applications with
unprecedented global reach. The Store alone may be enough to champion metro development.
The revenue sharing model of the Store is just more sugar.
Applications using Microsoft to fulfill their commerce for app and
in-app purchases, retain 80% revenue after reaching $25k. However,
Microsoft allows you to handle commerce on your terms – even if it means
we don’t get a penny. That’s right.
Reason 9 – ARM devices
Choosing an architecture isn’t a choice for metro developers. Just
build your app and publish. We handle the rest. Windows 8 runs on Intel
chipsets and ARM chipsets. If you want to extend your reach and support
both, just write your Metro app and stop worrying about it. It’s that
graceful.
Building Windows:
Developers wishing to target WOA (ARM) do so by writing applications
for the WinRT (Windows APIs for building Metro style apps) using the new
Visual Studio 11 tools in a variety of languages, including C#/VB/XAML
and Jscript/ HTML5. Native code targeting WinRT is also supported using C
and C++, which can be targeted across architectures and distributed
through the Windows Store. WOA does not support running, emulating, or
porting existing x86/64 desktop apps.
Reason 10 – WinRT
Metro applications access system devices and services through WinRT
(Windows Runtime). Not only does this deliver identical functionality to
JavaScript, C#, and C++, but it also protects the system through
brokered API access. As a result, language choice is no-compromise, and
users can trust apps they install. The bet part? WinRT projects system
resources in local data types, so developers don’t have to mess around
with converting pointers and enumerable like with pinvoke.
Reason 11 (Freebee!) – The Future
It would be a grave error to assume we are deprecating the desktop.
Windows 8 is an upgrade to Windows 7 and the desktop is fundamental to
many services, many apps, and many capabilities of the operating system.
Metro simply introduces a new, touch-oriented interface for apps.
Metro also introduces the many features I have listed above. And, if
you are the type who reads writing on the wall, if you are the type who
reads between the lines, if you are the type who hears what isn’t said –
surely you can see that Metro apps are important to Microsoft.
Windows 8 is coming, like it or not. Metro apps are coming, too.
Embracing them will not only give you the advantage of leveraging WinRT
and the marketplace, but it will also let you get in on the ground floor
of what is a “big deal”. Don’t let this pass you by.
