Windows 8′s Answer to the Mac App Store Comes Into Focus Tuesday

 

After years of leaving it to Windows software makers to sell their own wares, Microsoft’s flagship operating system is finalizing its plans to get into the app store business.

The move won’t come until the debut of Windows 8 — expected next year — but Redmond will share more details on Tuesday at an event in San Francisco.

Microsoft revealed that Windows 8 would have a built-in software marketplace back when it first showed the revamped interface at our D9 show in June, though at that point the company wouldn’t comment on the “Store” icon that was clearly visible in the home screen it showed. Microsoft did offer a few more details at its Build developer conference in September.

I’m sure we’ll learn a lot more on Tuesday (and naturally, AllThingsD will be on hand to get the full skinny) but here’s what we already know.

As of earlier this fall, the plan was that the store will be the exclusive way for developers to distribute new-style Windows 8 apps. Microsoft didn’t share the business details at its developer conference, though some documents made reference to some sort of revenue-sharing arrangement. The store will support free and paid apps, as well as trial versions and in-app payments. Businesses will also be able to make available internal apps to their workers using the store mechanism.

Traditional Windows apps will continue to be sold in the same way they have been — directly from developers and through online and brick and mortar stores. The store won’t be a way for users to directly purchase older-style Windows apps (the ones that run on Windows 7 and earlier versions in addition to Windows 8), but developers of those apps can create a landing page for those apps so they can be found in and linked to from the store.
The Windows Store itself is a new-style Windows 8 app that is linked to from the main start page.

Thanks to the iPhone, app stores are all the rage these days. Google has one for Android and Apple has transferred the concept to the Mac, with the marketplace it built into Lion.

Even though it is basically just following the trend, putting an app store in Windows is a big bet for Microsoft. Windows remains the company’s most important product and a key source of its revenue and profit. Inserting itself into the software distribution process opens up a potentially huge new income stream for Redmond, but also risks alienating developers — many of whom are trying to figure out just how much attention to give Windows these days, especially since new-style Windows apps use a different set of programming languages than those Microsoft has traditionally employed.

While Windows is one of the last to the app store game, Microsoft has considerable experience in this realm, already running online app stores for the Xbox and Windows Phone.

Among the key details to watch for on Tuesday will be what Microsoft’s business terms for software developers including the cut it hopes to take and other policies.

It will also be interesting to see if Microsoft has more to say about when it might release a beta version of the software. It handed out an early developer preview at the Build conference, though that edition had none of the code for the store. Developers will clearly need to start kicking the tires on the store fairly soon if Microsoft wants to have its virtual shelves stocked at launch.

Windows 8′s Answer to the Mac App Store Comes Into Focus Tuesday
Ina Fried
Mon, 05 Dec 2011 12:00:58 GMT

Windows 8 beta could debut as early as February

 

Microsoft will release a public beta of its next operating system in late February of 2012, according to The Next Web.

Windows 8 beta could debut as early as February
Lance Whitney
Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:19:46 GMT

Security Researcher Demos Windows 8 Bootkit

 

Windows 8 Bootkit Demo from Peter Kleissner on Vimeo.

Few men can lay claim to being ahead of their time like Peter Kleissner. While most of us were busy playing around with the Windows 8 Developer Preview, this Austrian security researcher was vetting it for possible vulnerabilities. Whatever he was up to seems to have worked. Kleissner has successfully identified a vulnerability in this early version of the upcoming operating system and even posted a video of his proof-of-concept “Stoned Lite” bootkit successfully exploiting this flaw. Hit the jump for the video.

Here is a video of his 14KB bootkit called Stoned Lite successfully bypassing Windows 8 User Account Control. “This shows how to use Stoned Lite to get SYSTEM rights on Windows 8 through the cmd privilege escalation (done by a driver loaded by the bootkit). The infector is just 14 KB of size and bypasses the UAC,” reads the video’s description on Vimeo.

Upon being asked on Twitter if the exploit in any way circumvented UEFI, Kleissner clarified: “No it's not attacking UEFI or secure boot, right now working with the legacy BIOS only (details will be in the paper).”

With the release of Windows 8 still a fair way away, Microsoft has plenty of time to fix this bug discovered by Kleissner, who is a bootkit junkie of sorts having previously developed a bootkit called Stoned as a proof-of-concept for a vulnerability in Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2003.

Security Researcher Demos Windows 8 Bootkit
Pulkit Chandna
Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:08:40 GMT

Microsoft slashes upgrade times for Windows 8

 

Microsoft claimed yesterday that users will be able to complete a Windows 8 upgrade much faster, in some cases in one-tenth the time it took similar-configured PCs to upgrade to Windows 7.

Microsoft slashes upgrade times for Windows 8
gkeizer@ix.netcom.com (Gregg Keizer)
Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:36:00 GMT

Windows 8 setup: Now with fewer clicks!

 

Microsoft has streamlined the upgrade and setup process for Windows 8.

(Credit: Microsoft)

People frustrated by the upgrade and setup process in prior versions of Windows may find a more user-friendly experience in Windows 8.

Ensuring that Windows installs properly across a variety of hardware and software configurations has always been a major challenge, and one that Microsoft has never solved to the satisfaction of all users.

Microsoft has already taken some big steps forward in this respect with Windows 7. Its next version of Windows promises further improvements, as described in the latest edition of the Building Windows 8 blog by Christa St. Pierre from Microsoft's setup and deployment team:

For Windows 8, our goal was to continue to improve reliability while also improving the installation experience and raw performance. Not only did we want it to be rock solid, but also faster and easier to use.

Microsoft created the Windows 8 setup process with two types of users in mind:

1. People who want to easily upgrade without any hassle; and
2. People who want to run a clean install and tap into advanced options to control their disk and partition settings.

One of the first enhancements can be found in the delivery of Windows 8.

Beyond offering the ne... [Read more]

Windows 8 setup: Now with fewer clicks!
Lance Whitney
Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:51:41 GMT

Windows 8 Secure Boot Defeated

 

jhigh writes "An Austrian security researcher is scheduled to release the first 'bootkit' for Windows 8 at the upcoming MalCon in Mumbai. This exploit loads in the MBR and stays memory resident until Windows loads, resulting in root access to the system. This allegedly defeats the new secure boot features in Windows 8's bootloader."

 Read more of this story at Slashdot.

 

Windows 8 Secure Boot Defeated
samzenpus
Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:45:00 GMT

Microsoft: We won't update others' Windows apps

 

Microsoft on Tuesday slammed the door on updating third-party software via Windows Update in the upcoming Windows 8.

Microsoft: We won't update others' Windows apps
gkeizer@ix.netcom.com (Gregg Keizer)
Wed, 16 Nov 2011 11:32:00 GMT

Windows 8 Streamlines Windows Update

 

With every new Windows release, Microsoft promises to reduce the number of times we'll have to restart our computers. Things have gradually gotten better - today, many program installations, driver updates, and Windows updates can be installed without restarting. Even so, Microsoft has again identified this process as an area where Windows could use improvement, as Microsoft's Farzana Rahman discusses on the Building Windows 8 blog today.

The improvements in Windows 8 aren't going to stop automatic restarts from happening; rather, Microsoft's goal is to make sure that the restarts that do happen are unobtrusive and predictable. First, all restarts will usually happen just once a month, after Patch Tuesday (with rare exceptions made for critical out-of-band security updates). Next, when your PC requires a restart, you'll have a three-day window in which to do so manually - a message on the log-in screen will let you know whether your system needs to be restarted. At the end of this three-day period, your computer will attempt to restart manually, but will not if a user is logged in and applications are running. In this case, users will get a warning that their system will restart in 15 minutes (similar to Windows' current behavior) but without the option to cancel the restart.

The default behaviors are meant to reduce the likelihood of data loss and user annoyance, while still making sure that computers are updated promptly. Enterprise administrators, as usual, can choose to leave these default behaviors in place, or can choose to enforce their own update schedule via Group Policy.

There's one last tidbit that may or may not interest you: at the end of the post, Rahman reiterates that Microsoft will not update third-party software through Windows Update, partly because Microsoft doesn't trust third parties not to break things - Microsoft doesn't want to "reduce trust in the system" by adding that additional layer of complexity. However, Metro apps, which will be screened by Microsoft upon their submission to Windows 8's app store, will all be updated through the store's unified updater. 

If you'd like to read more, you can get this information (and the customary pile of user data that led to these decisions) over at the Building Windows 8 blog.

Source: Building Windows 8 Blog

Windows 8 Streamlines Windows Update
Andrew Cunningham
Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:30:00 GMT