Microsoft launches Win8 application and declares war on Google Apple

According to the news, in order to develop Windows 8 applications and narrow the gap between Apple and Google in the number of mobile applications, Microsoft has taken many efforts in the past, including training design companies and developers. , launch a variety of support services, and collect excellent applications around the world. Apple and Google have the world's top app stores, so they also have a lot of developer support. Microsoft is different, and there are not a lot of third-party developers to develop games, office applications or online magazines. Currently, the computer market is shifting from PCs to tablets and applications. In order not to be eliminated, Microsoft is also expanding into the tablet market. Gartner predicts that the global mobile application market will reach $58 billion in 2014, and mobile applications are driving demand for tablets. Bill Predmore, president of Seattle's application design and development company Pop, said: "It's important to have a lot of applications." To compete with the iPad, you must have an appealing app. & rdquo; Informed sources said that Microsoft will launch Win8 before the end of this year, and today released a release preview with almost full functionality (Release Preview). However, these ARM-based Windows 8 tablets do not support current Windows applications, forcing Microsoft to start from scratch. In contrast, the Apple iPad has more than 200,000 applications. If you don't have enough apps, Windows 8 tablets won't be popular with users.

Support for ARM Processors Although ARM processors have been widely used in mobile devices such as iPads, Windows 8 is Microsoft's first operating system to support ARM chips. The problem is that these ARM-based Windows 8 tablets do not support current Windows applications and can only run applications developed for Windows 8. To this end, Microsoft launched an application collection program. In February of this year, application developers can submit applications to the 20th floor of Microsoft headquarters, and Microsoft engineers will select and give feedback. Today, Microsoft has expanded the program to 87 cities, including New York, Paris and Guangzhou. For developers who only have ideas and have no formal products, they can participate in Microsoft's "Application Acceleration Lab" program, and Microsoft will help these developers complete their products. According to Microsoft spokeswoman Catherine Brooker, since September last year, Microsoft has trained more than 80 design companies to help developers who are new to Windows. Cancellation of part-time restrictions Starting with Windows Phone, Microsoft encouraged employees to develop applications and removed part-time restrictions on employees. Previously, Microsoft prohibited employees from developing applications during their leisure time. Unlike Windows Phone, Microsoft does not pay for Windows 8 application developers this time. In addition, Microsoft also launched a 12-week paid internship program at the New England Research and Development Center (NERD), where 22 students were trained to develop Windows 8 applications. For traditional PC applications, Microsoft does not have to work hard to attract developers. In contrast, there are challenges in tablet applications, and Microsoft must win support from application development companies and developers. Facebook does not support Microsoft's entry into the tablet market at least two years later than competitors such as Apple. Therefore, some developers are not eager to launch Windows 8 applications. According to people familiar with the matter, despite the launch of iOS and Android apps, Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, currently has no plans to develop Windows 8 apps. Marci McCid, director of social magazine application Flipboard marketing, also said that he is not prepared to develop Windows 8 applications. Similarly, Flipboard also launched iOS and Android apps. Other major application developers, such as Zynga, PopCap Games, Twitter, Pandora Media, and Amazon, have not yet indicated whether they will develop Windows 8 applications. A wait-and-see attitude Investment management application SigFig and graphic design software Corel, etc., these applications can run smoothly on tablets and PCs, so the development of Windows 8 applications is a matter of course. Other developers who focus on tablet applications are on the sidelines, and Laurent Bugnion, head of advertising operations at IdentityMine Europe, said they would wait to see how many consumers are buying Windows 8 tablets. Baggna said: "For Apple fans, they will not buy a PC because they are not interested. Pragmatic developers take a wait-and-see attitude, and if there are good devices, they will follow up. & rdquo; Netflix application According to people familiar with the matter, Netflix is ​​another company that supports Windows 8. Currently, Netflix is ​​developing applications for Windows 8, which may be available with the release of the Windows 8 release preview. Mobile game developer Digital Chocolate founder Tipp & Middot; Trip Hawkins said it will develop Windows 8 games. Corel is developing a variety of applications, including decompressing WinZip. In addition to large developers, Microsoft also supports individual developers. For example, 21-year-old music student Grant · Grant Kot, who developed the Windows Phone version of the instrument simulation application Grantophone, and Microsoft hopes that he will develop another version of Windows 8. To this end, Microsoft sent a special contact with Kurt and provided a prototype of the Windows 8 tablet. Kurt said: "I was surprised by this, they did a lot of hard work. ”