[ale] OT: Windows 8 Open Source development crippled

[Vernard Martin]

Or rather more crippled than normal. This message came across a 
distribution list where I work.

For anyone with an eye towards development work on Windows 8, the only 
“free” to use version of Visual Studio Express will only make “metro” 
friendly touch style apps and web pages. Development for desktop will 
require Visual Studio Pro at about $500 a copy. But if you are a clever 
developer you may say to yourself, “Fine, I’ll just use the Windows SDK 
C++ compiler... stripped down but good enough!” Well, MS thought of that 
too and the compiler is being stripped from the Windows SDK. At the end 
of the day, this means that there will be less desktop freeware for 
Window 8 and most new freeware will likely use the Windows 7 SDK, so 
there’s really no point in Windows 8 for desktops. So, this means 
Windows 8 is going to be a lot like Vista, only not as good.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/05/no-cost-desktop-software-development-is-dead-on-windows-8/