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VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 8:50 pm
by codedivine
Looks like Visual Studio 11 Express won't support writing Windows 8 non-metro apps :(
At least, looks like VS 2010 Express will continue to be available.
Source: http://www.winsupersite.com/blog/supers ... eup-143139

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 10:39 pm
by Rand
This will have a major impact on the open source community, many applications have relied upon having a free VisualStudio variant to develop for, this makes it a LOT more expensive and difficult to develop desktop applications moving forward. That's really a not so subtle hint for developers to start planning a move to Metro/Windows Phone immediately. This will be a very difficult transition for many.

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 10:45 pm
by just brew it!
Switching to Qt may be a viable option for the Open Source community.

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 10:50 pm
by danny e.
wow. That I didn't expect.
They really are determined to shove metro down everyones throat.

I dont ever use the express versions since I have msdn account but that just seems silly.
It basically means that they think the desktop has no future at the consumer level. What an absurd notion. Who at the top of MS is making those decisions. They should be fired immediately.

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 12:34 am
by codedivine
just brew it! wrote:
Switching to Qt may be a viable option for the Open Source community.


I guess you mean Qt + Qt Creator IDE + MinGW? Qt is just a library and needs a toolchain to compile.

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 7:11 am
by just brew it!
codedivine wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
Switching to Qt may be a viable option for the Open Source community.

I guess you mean Qt + Qt Creator IDE + MinGW? Qt is just a library and needs a toolchain to compile.

Yup, sorry. I guess I really need to be more pedantic when discussing technical topics, especially in the Developer's Den! :lol:

I suppose I could've said something like "Qt ecosystem" instead, but that isn't strictly correct either since Qt has plugins for some of the VS versions... :wink:

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 7:18 am
by JustAnEngineer
Be more vague instead: "Qt stuff", for example. 8)

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 7:35 am
by just brew it!
Yeah, use that Qt thingy those phone people from Europe made...

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 8:35 am
by Madman
There are multiple cross platform frameworks/IDEs available, not only QT.

And part of me wants Visual Studio to fail.

Don't get me wrong, VS is the best IDE by FAR! But it allows for sloppy Windows locked apps. MFC Ribbon is WTF, WTL/ATL is commercial only, COM is MS only. None of them can be compiled on Mac OS or Linux.

Not using VS means your code is cross platform friendly from day 1.

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 8:45 am
by just brew it!
Madman wrote:
There are multiple cross platform frameworks/IDEs available, not only QT.

Of course. But Qt seems to be one of the most popular ones -- if not THE most popular one -- these days.

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 9:20 am
by jholewinski
Will the compilers still be available for free? Right now, you can get the C++/C# compilers for free through the Windows SDK, without even installing Visual Studio. If this stays true, I doubt this will affect open source much at all. You just won't be able to use the Visual Studio IDE.

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 10:15 am
by yuriylsh
jholewinski wrote:
Will the compilers still be available for free? Right now, you can get the C++/C# compilers for free through the Windows SDK, without even installing Visual Studio. If this stays true, I doubt this will affect open source much at all. You just won't be able to use the Visual Studio IDE.


Nope, they won't be available. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/hh852363.aspx:
The Windows SDK no longer ships with a complete command-line build environment. The Windows SDK now requires a compiler and build environment to be installed separately. If you require a complete development environment, including compilers and a build environment, Microsoft Visual Studio 11 Beta is available for download.

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 11:17 am
by Flying Fox
just brew it! wrote:
Madman wrote:
There are multiple cross platform frameworks/IDEs available, not only QT.

Of course. But Qt seems to be one of the most popular ones -- if not THE most popular one -- these days.

If you don't count phones, I would imagine wxWidgets is the more popular one? But anyway...

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 12:01 pm
by Madman
Flying Fox wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
Madman wrote:
There are multiple cross platform frameworks/IDEs available, not only QT.

Of course. But Qt seems to be one of the most popular ones -- if not THE most popular one -- these days.

If you don't count phones, I would imagine wxWidgets is the more popular one? But anyway...

I had the same feeling. wxWidgets also seem to be more Windowsy from code layout viewpoint IMHO.

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 2:25 pm
by jholewinski
yuriylsh wrote:
Nope, they won't be available. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/hh852363.aspx:
The Windows SDK no longer ships with a complete command-line build environment. The Windows SDK now requires a compiler and build environment to be installed separately. If you require a complete development environment, including compilers and a build environment, Microsoft Visual Studio 11 Beta is available for download.


Wow, seriously? Even at $499 for the current VS 2012 Pro, that's quite a steep price for basic program (not app!) development. Thankfully VS 2010 + Win 7 SDK should still work on Win 8, just minus some features.

Here's to hoping Clang support for Windows improves alot in coming months...

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 4:01 pm
by Flatland_Spider
jholewinski wrote:
Here's to hoping Clang support for Windows improves alot in coming months...


You could use the Windows GCC port, MinGW, in the meantime, if you just want a compiler, and the Qt SDK is free, if you want the whole stack.

just brew it! wrote:
Madman wrote:
There are multiple cross platform frameworks/IDEs available, not only QT.

Of course. But Qt seems to be one of the most popular ones -- if not THE most popular one -- these days.


Qt is the easiest one to get into, and it gets features pretty regularly.

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 10:44 pm
by codedivine
jholewinski wrote:
Wow, seriously? Even at $499 for the current VS 2012 Pro, that's quite a steep price for basic program (not app!) development.


Well, the price is apparently $1199 for a new (non-upgrade) copy of Pro. $499 is for people who have a team foundation server + $499 per CAL. Well so basically cheapest you will get is about $1k.
For that price one can get a mac mini or entry macbook air and get Xcode for free, or go the linux route etc.

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:46 pm
by codedivine

Re: VS 11 Express wont support "desktop" apps :(

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 4:43 pm
by Ragnar Dan
One has to wonder how long it will stay that way.