Will it be possible to install the application to the surface without switching from the Microsoft App Store?

Question

I plan to implement applications that will be used with the new Surface Win8 tablet.

Will it be necessary to migrate from the new Windows app store (as is the case for iOS), or can I distribute .exe without migrating from Microsoft?

Answer 1

As far as I got the information. There are suggestions that the standard surface does not have an operating mode. This means that the pad will be fully compatible with Android and iOS. The Pro version will also come with desktop mode. Under normal conditions, "full Windows 8".

In this case, you can install and run Metro-specific applications on the standard, or better describe "Applications developed under WinRT". But with the Pro version, desktop applications for Windows are also available, such as classic Office, etc.

[UPDATE]
Based on several Microsoft QAs, they will make differences in versions of Windows 8. They will offer distribution of applications outside the store. This is an extremely important point, for example, for using business lines and for intranet purposes. Although, they are going to make it available for the Enterprise version of Windows 8.

". Only the corporate version of Windows 8 will be able to use Side Load applications. Side-loading bypasses the Windows Store before installing custom Enterprise applications in the organization .."

I feel the answer is a bit "Yes, you can distribute applications outside the store" and "No, for public or worldwide use, you need to go through the Windows Store." As a distributor, this seems to be a workaround. Although the recipients of this "side application" should be aware of this. This is a quote from the Microsoft developer page,

Preparing other PCs Some business users may not use a PC that supports sideloading. Common reasons for this are that the Windows edition that their use in the enterprise does not support this, or IT administrators do not control the PC. This scenario is becoming more common with the growing trend of personal devices used for work.

To enable the download of a Metro style application on a PC: Set the group policy to "Allow all trusted applications to install." if you cannot use group policy, then you can install it through the following installation: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Appx \ AllowAllTrustedApps = 1 Make sure the application is signed by a CA trusted by the target computers. Activate the special product key using the script on the target machine to enable the download. We’ll take a closer look at how the IT administrator will receive product keys in the upcoming Blog Post. The product key must be installed and activated once on the PC.

From the link: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsstore/archive/2012/04/25/deploying-metro-style-apps-to-businesses.aspx

For business purposes, this is apparently a kind of package distribution in which you can choose which enterprise users should be acceptable, for which Windows 8 metro applications.

Answer 2

My understanding:

• Surface RT: Only Metro apps can be installed, and only from the store (compared to the iPad).
• Surface Pro: Metro apps can be installed from the store, regular apps can be installed from anywhere (compare with a PC running Windows 8).

Please note that only I gathered reading technical blogs, and not from an official Microsoft source.

Answer 3

There are direct distributions of Metro style apps , licensing and deployment methods are very similar to iOS. For development and deployment in the Windows storage, you need to have a developer license, here you can highlight business target or direct distribution .

I think this works to minimize problems and gain complete control over the application. Each application that is deployed must be certified by the Windows Store.

For more details see the link here .

.exe executables:

You should be able to install and manage exe, as in a PC environment. but for this you need a complete Windows 8 operating system.

If your application depends on the domain and network, you must make sure that your desktop operating system is Windows pro (8 or 8.1), otherwise it cannot join the domain.

I would recommend, and not get confused with, metro-style apps, developed a WPF app that looks like a metro-style app.

In the near future, microsoft may receive an update, since the above information is valid, as is the date 6/02/2014 and, as I know.