News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Microsoft Is Writing Checks to Fill Out Its App Store by underwater on Friday April 06, 2012 @12:14AM (#3805976)
I have a Windows Phone. The Facebook app (disclaimer: I'm an employee) is quite nice despite missing some features I want. It is representative of the Metro "design language". In everyday use it doesn't feel like wasted space. It's hard to describe without using but the layout uses lots of vertical scrolling and the space to the left and right is usually a continuation of the current screent that shows related data (in the case of the Facebook app you swipe from newsfeed to a list of your photos then messages). This is very different to the static screens popular on iOS, and feels really nice to interact with.

The problem Microsoft faces is that the unique design of Metro excludes the possibility of a port of existing mobile apps. Apps need to be designed from scratch using native code - embedded web views won't cut it - which is expensive to do.

Re:Microsoft Is Writing Checks to Fill Out Its App Store by TazeTSchnitzel on Friday April 06, 2012 @06:05AM (#3806570)
The same is true of Windows 8, it also requires everyone to create new Metro-based designs for their apps. Heck, it doesn't allow the traditional Win32 APIs.

It might explain why the Windows 8 Beta store is basically empty.

Re:Microsoft Is Writing Checks to Fill Out Its App Store by cooldeal on Friday April 06, 2012 @10:03AM (#3807160)
>It might explain why the Windows 8 Beta store is basically empty.

What? There are better quality apps for Windows 8 beta than Android tablet apps for my ICS tablet.

Re:Microsoft Is Writing Checks to Fill Out Its App Store by nosht on Friday April 06, 2012 @10:28AM (#3807260)
Out of curiosity, could you name some?