Microsoft Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, the latest
operating system and Windows makeover, were released in fall
2012. For programmers, many new APIs were included in the
features added. Several of the new features focus on the
venerable sockets interface, the basic network paradigm first
introduced in Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) UNIX in the
early 1980s. Sockets still form the basis for networking on all
of the major platforms including Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iOS,
and Android. You might want to consider these new Windows socket
APIs for your next project when writing new apps or refactoring
older applications for Windows. New Windows 8 features for
sockets programming are found at both ends of the network
spectrum: - Window Runtime (WinRT) sockets: Used for low-level
networking in Windows Store apps. - High-performance sockets:
Used in writing network servers for desktop apps that need low
network latency and the highest performance. - WebSockets: The
other new networking APIs are socket-related