There comes a time in every geek’s life when you have to take the plunge. For me, the release of the Windows 8 Developer Preview was that time.
I was at the Microsoft Build conference last fall when Microsoft unveiled their vision for Windows 8. Microsoft released a Developer preview version of Windows 8 and the Visual Studio developer tools.
At a luncheon during the conference my friend, colleague and fellow trainer Christine Flora and I were discussing how we could leverage Windows 8 to deliver information directly to users from Project Server. That conversation set off a chain of events that led to Christine and me speaking at the Microsoft Project Conference in March.
Christine and I developed two Metro style proof of concept applications that delivered task and project information from Project Server to the users tablet device. The apps and the session were well received. Attendees saw the value in the idea of bringing the data to the team wherever they are, on any connected device.
Let’s rewind this story a few months. Early in the life cycle of new software product changes happen. These changes are often very significant and very frequent. As we were trying to develop the apps, we ran into a lot of issues. There was not a lot of help content for developers and much of what was available was out of date or incorrect. Many of the sample apps that Microsoft made available would not even load in Visual Studio. There were many object thrown, curses spoken and adult beverages consumed as we approached our speaking session at the Project Conference.
I am pleased to say that things have gotten much better. Microsoft recently made available a Release candidate of Windows 8 and Visual Studio. The help files are generally accurate and much more content is available. There are many more developers working with the products and posting content about their experiences.
To end at the beginning, there comes a time in every geek’s life where you have to take the plunge. Close your eyes and dive in! The experience will be frustrating but very rewarding.