Developing apps for WP 8, better forget it

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moindear

moindear

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A month back I bought a Windows 8 Phone, Lumia 520. Liked the phone but was very disappointed by the lack of basic apps. Finally decided that I will use my huge experience of developing software in C# and dotnet to good use by developing some apps for myself.


Installed Visual Studio 2012 on my Windows 7 and When I was about to install Windows phone 8 SDK, I came to know that to develop apps for Windows Phone 8 OS, Windows 8 OS is required. Since I was very happy with my Windows 7, I installed Virtual Box to install Windows 8 in virtual machine. Thanks to my DreamSpark Subscription, downloaded Windows 8 and installed it. Then I installed Visual Studio 2012 and then WP8 SDK.

Now SDK prompts me that it cannot install Emulator since it the system is not Hyper-v enabled. Being in virtual machine , I guessed that it was the shortcoming. So I decided that I will test new app in my phone itself. But according to MS, I cannot install any apps on my phone without developer license. Now the developer license costs about 2-3k but luckily my "DreamSpark" account helped again. After a lot of tussle, finally got the developer license.

Now Windows 8 in virtual machine does not detect my phone. Found out the issue and installed some addons to the VirtualBox software. Now I had to add the phone as a device for the developer account (only 3 are allowed per account). Now if the phone is locked, it does not work. This authentication takes long time even on my 10 mbps internet speed. Had to disable lock and was clicking phone just to make sure that the phone does not sleep. Now when finally it was added, felt relieved as I had already wasted 10 hours. Found development in Virtual Machine too tough and the lack of emulator was a big headache.

With the announcement of Windows Blue (8.1), decided that I would as well remove Windows 7 on my desktop and go back to Windows 8 (which gave me lots of issues last time). So I formatted my machine and installed Windows 8. Now I took the pain of installing all the softwares, VS 2012, VS 2012 Update 2 and when I installed WP8 SDK I got this message at the end

"Failed to add current user to Hyper-V administrators group"

After googling, found out that my OS is Windows 8, and Windows 8 Pro is required.

So if you want to develop apps for Windows Phone 8 OS, You need to buy a new machine with Windows 8 Pro OS, Learn C# and Dotnet, Buy Couple of Phones and start developing apps.

Having a market share of less than 5% if this is the requirement for developing new apps, I guess it will take another 50 years to get to the 20% share. I think MS has some rare talent to screw up things...

To hell with Microsoft!

https://plus.google.com/109036794364223411911/posts/3JB12r6s81U
 
Yes it sucks, big time. I can understand the developer licence limitation but they should have made its sdk available for desktops running XP and above at least without the emulator but with the WP phone. I think Microsoft might have tried to do that but due to some tech limitations they couldn't have. This does not seem intentional if it is then it is really really stupid.
As far as the dev licence limitation, Apple also does that for iOS, otherwise this will become a loophole in allowing installation of apps from unknown sources. But this is the choice Apple and Microsoft made at the cost of keeping things in a closed environment (secure). Android on other being open to installation of apps from unknown sources has been criticized by security experts but it does not seem to bother people considering the fact that many people buy Android phones. In other words volume of sales have just slapped the security experts on their face.
Another plus point of Android is that you can develop on Windows, Mac OSX and on Linux! But the fact that developing for all kinds of form factors and even today for Android 2.2 does not make a developer's life easier. This is the price that Android paid.
 
Very good points raised Ms really is screwing big time these days be it there gaming console or osBtw i am too planning to buy Nokia lumia 520 This dev license for app development is one time or yearly?Can you list pros and cons of this phone from ur experiences
 
Don't worry. Microsoft would pay you hundreds of thousands of dollars if you have the resources to create an app that they can market on their social channels. You just need to have the resources to come up with an idea and develop it 😛
Also of course... If you want to code apps for Apple iOS, you need to have a Mac and you would need to pay for a developer's license as well to be able to offer it to potential customers.
Google also charges 25 dollars I think for the ability to upload apps to Google Play. Though tools are freely available and I imagine work on multiple operating systems.
 
I don't know about WP8, but developing apps for Windows 8 doesn't trouble much. A college friend has just begun with it and has submitted his app to the app store (it's awaiting confirmation now). Just had to pay Rs. 1 (or maybe $1, not sure) as a starting fee.
 

I guess Apple having the rules makes sense because
1. Apple always charges premium for everything
2. They have the best App Store
My problem is that for the OS which is trying to come up, cant they make things simple?
Why cant the SDK run in other OS?
If Emulator is an issue (I doubt that), they could disable it in non-win8 machines, or may be give other options.
The main problem for me is that some basic apps are not gud in Win 8. Apps like music, Whatsapp are not upto the mark. Cant even talk about other apps, its so bad. Android had some better apps when it was 2 year old. I would never have gone with all the troubles if apps were ok.
 

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