From the Editor As we move closer to the Consumer Preview release of Windows 8 at the end of February, big news this month is the release of the Windows 8 Hardware Certification Requirements. Not only is this our top story, the release inspired a couple of our featured "Industry News" articles. Everyone working on systems, devices, and drivers is encouraged to help ensure the best experiences for customers by designing and developing for Windows 8 with these requirements in mind. Also in the "big news" category, Windows launched the "Windows Store for Developers" blog, sponsored by Antoine Leblond, Vice President of Windows Web Services. For hardware and driver developers who want to significantly enhance the customer experience and economic opportunity for systems and devices, the new Metro style Device Apps feature in Windows 8 will make this blog directly relevant. Finally, in addition to our regular news items and features, we excerpt a mail to Microsoft employees from Craig Mundie, Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer. In his mail, Craig recognizes the achievements of Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing (TwC) initiative on its 10th anniversary and encourages Microsoft and the computing industry to continue and deepen our commitment to security and reliability. Here's to a safe, secure, and reliably successful year ahead! ~The Windows Hardware Content Team
Top Story Windows 8 Hardware Certification Requirements Are Published We are improving the certification experience for Windows 8! As always, the Windows Hardware Certification Program (previously known as the Windows Logo Program for Hardware) provides you the tools, guidance, and support to help ensure that your product is reliable and compatible with Windows. For Windows 8, the Windows Hardware Certification Program will offer you a simplified process that is streamlined to focus on customer scenarios. If you create hardware products or drivers, we strongly encourage you to learn more about this program and its new requirements and policies. Read more: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/hardware/gg463010
"Windows Store for Developers" Blog Is Launched Hi. I'm Antoine Leblond, Vice President of Windows Web Services. This is the first post in our new Windows Store blog, which will be dedicated to informing developers both on the progress of the Store as a service, and the platform and economic opportunity the Store represents. In September, we announced the Windows Store as part of Windows 8 and the distribution point for Metro style apps. And today, at our Store Preview event in San Francisco, we described the app policies and business terms for the Store, both of which are now published to our Dev Center. We also announced our First Apps contest for developers, and confirmed that we're also inviting a select set of developers to submit Metro style apps for inclusion in the Beta version of the Store. We're also proud to publish the Store's developer-first economics-with up to 80% revenue share for apps sold through our platform. Combining the broad reach of Windows, a new developer platform, best-in-class developer tools, a reimagined user experience, support for new chipsets, and a built-in Store with industry-leading business terms-Windows 8 is the largest developer opportunity, ever. As with the Building Windows 8 blog, this is a dialog. Comments will be supported and the common sense rules apply. Thanks in advance for your consideration and interest in the Windows Store! - Antoine - "Designing the Windows Store User Experience," by Jonathan Wang, posted January 20, 2012
- "Global Reach," by Aayaz Bhorania, posted January 5, 2012
- "Get Your App in the Store on Opening Day," by Antoine Leblond, posted December 11, 2011
- "Previewing the Windows Store," by Ted Dworkin, posted Decembr 6, 2011
News for Hardware Developers Plan for Winqual Downtime Starting February 9, 2012 On February 9, 2012, at 18:00 Pacific Time (UTC-8), Windows Quality Online Services (Winqual) will go offline. Service will return on or before February 16, 2012, at 12:00 Pacific Time. During this period, the Winqual site will be unavailable. We ask you to plan for this interruption to the Winqual service. When service returns, your logo program submissions, metadata submissions, VeriSign certificates, legal agreements, and user accounts and roles will have been preserved. Go to Winqual: http://winqual.microsoft.com/
How to Get the WDK and Visual Studio for Windows 8 Developer Preview We have been asked by a few folks on the WDK and Driver Development forum about where to get the Windows 8 Developer Preview kits and tools. So, here we provide links to the Windows Driver Kit (WDK), Visual Studio 11 Ultimate, WDK redistributable components, and all other developer kits and tools for Windows 8 Developer Preview. Download: https://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/securedownloads/default.aspx?PV=36:449 Notes about these downloads: - Windows 8 Developer Preview downloads require an MSDN subscription.
- Microsoft offers programs to get free or reduced-price subscriptions and access to resources for startups, faculty, students, and educational institutions:
- If you are signed in to MSDN and you still do not land on a page that displays a list of the Windows Developer Preview kits and tools, in the Search box under Welcome to Subscriber Downloads, type Windows Developer Preview, and press Enter.
- Some of the WDK components that third-party developers can redistribute to their customers are no longer included in the Windows Driver Kit (WDK) as of the Windows 8 Developer Preview release. The Windows Driver Foundation (WDF) is available in the MSDN Subscriptions download location listed above as a separate download. For WDF, the installation of the redistributable package is silent. You will be able to confirm that it has installed if there is a redist\wdf directory under your WDK installation directory.
Trustworthy Computing (TwC) Ten Years After Excerpted from an email by Craig Mundie, Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer, sent January 12, 2012 Ten years ago, Bill Gates sent an email to all Microsoft employees announcing the creation of the Trustworthy Computing (TwC) Initiative. In that memo, Bill defined the key aspects of Trustworthy Computing, and set the company on a path toward ensuring that every computer user's experience was secure, private, and reliable. The impetus for Bill's email was a growing recognition of the role of computing in society, as well as our responsibilities as an industry leader. Today, information and communications technology (ICT) underpins every aspect of our personal and professional lives. While it is indisputable that ICT has transformed for the better how we live, society still confronts some long-standing and evolving challenges. We must protect the security of the electrical power grid, the global financial system, and the telecommunications system, even as determined and persistent adversaries set their sights on these and other critical infrastructures. We must ensure that privacy is protected, even as "big data" and global data flows strain Fair Information Principles that rely heavily upon "notice and consent" to help protect the privacy of end-users. And we must ensure the reliability of our products and services as global dependence on ICT grows daily. As the world continues to change, this TwC milestone provides an opportunity to reflect on the past and prepare for the future. "TwC Next," the ensuing decade-plus of Trustworthy Computing, will focus on the new world of devices and services. Everyone at Microsoft and the entire computing ecosystem has a role to play. Read more: http://www.microsoft.com/twc/ TwC for developers: http://www.microsoft.com/about/twc/developer.aspx Read Bill's memo: http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/execmail/2002/07-18twc.mspx
Mark Your Calendars for the Winter 2012 UEFI Plugfest The UEFI Testing Work Group (UTWG) and the UEFI Industry Communications Work Group (ICWG) from the Unified EFI (UEFI) Forum invite you to the upcoming UEFI Plugfest event being held in February at AMD's facility in Sunnyvale, California. This event is being hosted by the UEFI Forum and AMD. Note: UEFI membership is required to attend this event. Dates: February 20-23, 2012 For more information: http://www.uefi.org/events/
Recently Published for Hardware Developers Windows Driver Development Content Refresh We've updated the documentation for several technologies in the Windows Driver Kit (WDK). To see what's new, visit the link below and look for items marked "Updated December 2011." Read more: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/hardware/hh451220 (items marked "Updated December 2011")
Microsoft Proposed Extensions to the USB Video Class for H.264 This document contains the Microsoft proposal to update the USB Video Class in order to support a USB device that encodes video from a capture source in a manner compliant with the H.264 specification. The proposed specification addresses all aspects of the USB Video Class: discovery, negotiation, control, and streaming. The proposal described in this document is not fully implemented in Windows 8, and sections that are not currently supported are marked as such. Read more: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/hardware/hh751307
Windows Summit Videos for Windows 7 Now on Hardware Dev Center The Windows Summit event site (from June 2010) has been taken down. The session videos from this virtual event, which cover a broad range of technologies and features for Windows 7, are now available on the Windows Hardware Dev Center. Look for headings and link titles with "Windows 7." Read more: http://msdn.microsoft.com/windows/hardware/gg454522
What's New in Blogs for Hardware and Driver Developers "Supporting Sensors in Windows 8" in "Building Windows 8" Blog by Steven Sinofsky and Gavin Gear, January 24, 2012 Recent advances in sensor technology are catalysts for the acceleration and evolution of user experiences on PCs. The ability to react to changes in ambient light, motion, human proximity, and location are becoming common and essential elements of the computing experience. Even something simple-like an ambient light sensor to adjust display brightness in a room with changing light-is potentially a basic scenario for desktop PCs. Of course, we also want to make sure you have full control over the use of these peripherals, since we know that different sensors leave open opportunities for risk or abuse that some folks might not be comfortable with. This post looks at the details of supporting sensors in Windows 8 and was authored by Gavin Gear, a PM on the Device Connectivity team. -Steven Read more: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/01/24/supporting-sensors-in-windows-8.aspx
"Engineering Windows 8 for Mobile Networks" in "Building Windows 8" Blog by Steven Sinofsky and Billy Anders, January 20, 2012 In this post, we dig into the details of how we have re-engineered the wireless networking stack to optimize it for both mobile broadband and Wi-Fi networks. We've done a ton of work to enable mobile broadband providers to make it easy for you to use 3G and 4G connectivity along with Wi-Fi in Windows 8. In addition to this architectural work, we've worked on keeping Windows connected to a network even when in a low-power state (when the screen is off, for example) when running on supporting architectures/PCs. You can learn more about this in the //build/ sessions on connected standby. Billy Anders, a group program manager on our devices and networking team, authored this post. -Steven Read more: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/01/20/engineering-windows-8-for-mobility.aspx
"Building the Next Generation File System for Windows: ReFS" in "Building Windows 8" Blog by Steven Sinofsky and Surendra Verma, January 16, 2012 We wanted to continue our dialog about data storage by talking about the next generation file system being introduced in Windows 8. Today, NTFS is the most widely used, advanced, and feature rich file system in broad use. But when you're reimagining Windows, as we are for Windows 8, we don't rest on past successes, and so with Windows 8 we are also introducing a newly engineered file system. ReFS, (which stands for Resilient File System), is built on the foundations of NTFS, so it maintains crucial compatibility while at the same time it has been architected and engineered for a new generation of storage technologies and scenarios. In Windows 8, ReFS will be introduced only as part of Windows Server 8, which is the same approach we have used for each and every file system introduction. Of course at the application level, ReFS stored data will be accessible from clients just as NTFS data would be. As you read this, let's not forget that NTFS is by far the industry's leading technology for file systems on PCs. This detailed architectural post was authored by Surendra Verma, a development manager on our Storage and File System team, though, as with every feature, a lot of folks contributed. We have also used the FAQ approach again in this post. --Steven Read more: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/01/16/building-the-next-generation-file-system-for-windows-refs.aspx
Industry News Microsoft Lays Out Window 8 Tablet Hardware Requirements CNET, January 17, 2012 Microsoft has issued a set of guidelines for hardware certification on Windows 8 tablets - a policy it applies to all new operating systems. While there aren't a lot of surprises ..., Microsoft does specifically address a "convertible" design, which is expected to become popular on both Intel- and ARM-based devices. Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-57360734-64/microsoft-lays-out-window-8-tablet-hardware-requirements/
Linux Won't Be Locked Out of Windows 8 PCs, but FUD Continues ZDNet, January 16, 2012 A new draft of Microsoft's Windows 8 hardware certification specs confirms what we already knew: the new Secure Boot feature won't lock out Linux on hundreds of millions of new PCs. But Linux backers are demanding the right to hack a new class of devices that doesn't yet exist. Read more: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/linux-wont-be-locked-out-of-windows-8-pcs-but-fud-continues/4343
Microsoft Security--You've Come a Long Way, Baby CNET, January 12, 2012 Ten years ago, Microsoft had a big problem. Buggy code was allowing viruses like "CodeRed," "ILoveYou," and "Nimda" to infect millions of computers running its Windows and Microsoft's Web server software. Times have changed. Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-57357504-245/microsoft-security-youve-come-a-long-way-baby/
Windows 8 Storage Spaces Detailed: Pooling Redundant Disk Space for All ars technica, January 5, 2012 When Microsoft killed Windows Home Server's "Drive Extender" technology, we mourned its loss but held up hope that the company would persevere with the concept. The company has done just that with a new Windows 8 feature called Storage Spaces, described in a lengthy post to its Building Windows 8 blog. Read more: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2012/01/windows-8-storage-spaces-detailed-pooling-redundant-disk-space-for-all.ars
Kinect for Windows: What's Actually Happening on Feb. 1 - and What Isn't GeekWire, January 11, 2012 Posting from Las Vegas: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer generated lots of applause and more than a little confusion with this statement Monday night during his Consumer Electronics Show keynote address: "Tonight, I'm thrilled to announce that Kinect is coming to Windows on February 1st, in just a couple of weeks." People use the Kinect sensor today to control their Xbox 360s with gestures and voice commands. So Ballmer's statement was interpreted by many casual fans to mean that everyone will be doing the same thing with Kinect on Windows PCs starting Feb. 1. We'll soon be scrolling through email by waving our arms, or maybe saving documents by scratching our noses, right? Sorry, but that's not the case, at least not yet. Read more: http://www.geekwire.com/2012/kinect-windows-happening-feb-1
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 Wrap-Up Of course, there is a lot of coverage of CES 2012 out there. For this newsletter, we list a very select few links to coverage that we thought might be of interest:
| 
