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"Developer-friendly revenue sharing, new app capabilities unique to Windows 8 and easy compatibility with touch or mouse-and-keyboard devices were among the upcoming Windows Store features that Microsoft touted at a special preview event for developers and media Tuesday evening in San Francisco. \nThe Windows Store will debut with the launch of Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system, which will be released in beta in February 2012, company officials said on Tuesday. The full release is believed to be coming in the fall of next year. \nThe Windows store will be \"the most significant development opportunity ever,\" Windows Web Services team corporate vice president Antoine Leblond said on Tuesday, and \"a really important part of the Windows 8 platform.\"\nMicrosoft's new app store will compete for developers' attention with Apple's App Store, and will offer free trials of programs for Metro-themed programs in addition to the full paid version, company officials confirmed on Tuesday.\nThe Windows store will split app sales revenue 70-30 with developers, in keeping with the unofficial industry standard established by Apple, but that rate will increase to an 80-20 split for developers once apps reach $25,000 in sales. Microsoft also trumpeted the Windows Store's ability to take on apps written in a variety of programming languages including HTML5 and JavaScript, another departure from Apple's model, as well as access to Microsoft's unprecedented reach with more than a billion Windows PCs worldwide and more than 500 million licensed copies of Windows sold in the past two years.  \nDevelopers present in San Francisco on Tuesday expressed excitement about the level of opportunity presented by Windows 8 and Microsoft's coming app store. \n\"It's going to be easier for us to go online with this platform,\" Sina Mobasser, co-founder of the BarMax app, which sells for $1,000 and helps law students prepare for the bar examination, told Mashable. \nBut industry insider and former Microsoft manager Scott Berkun cautioned on Monday that developers and users won't be able benefit from the Windows Store for some time yet. \n\"The problem is it won't be available yet \u2014 there are no plans for a Windows 7 store,\" he told Mashable in an email. \"So this will have no real impact until Windows 8 launches, which will be a year at best.\" \nWhen Windows 8 does launch, it will represent a radical departure from previous Windows operating systems, with a much more interactive feel designed to do well on tablets and other touch-screen devices. Instead of the traditional start menu, Windows 8 will feature a start screen with tiles representing different programs and applications (see photo), including direct access to the new Windows Store. In a smaller example of Microsoft's eagerness to gain ground in the changing hardware landscape, users will have the option to sign in using screen gestures instead of the normal type-in password.  \nThe new user interface's touch emphasis caused the International Data Corporation research firm to predict that \"Windows 8 will be largely irrelevant to the users of traditional PCs\" in a recent report. But Windows 8 users will be able to access a desktop tile that reveals a user interface nearly identical to Windows 7, as Microsoft representative Christopher Flores demonstrated to Mashable in a preview Tuesday morning. \n\"Windows 7 is really just another app sitting on the desktop,\" he said. \"We have a very thin Metro UI for the new stuff, and a very thin Windows 7 UI all sharing the same core of the Windows 8 operating system.\"  \nNonetheless, the touch-centric primary UI and complementing app store do represent a clear bid by Microsoft to gain ground in the tablet space, where Apple, Amazon and Android have a significant head start as the computing industry moves from traditional menu tabs and pop-up windows to touch screens and apps. Multiple Microsoft Windows-based tablets are expected to be released in 2012.  \n\"They clearly are in a hole when it comes to tablets and mobile, and so it will be interesting to see what kind of impact this will have,\" Robert Scoble, an industry analyst, former Microsoft tech evangelist and regular company critic, said in an email to Mashable.    \n\"This strategy might not make them the sexiest company on the block, but it does give them a firm base to build on,\" Scoble added.\nBut as Microsoft does look to make a splash in the tablet and mobile worlds, its success or failure in grabbing market share from Apple and Amazon won't make or break the gigantic Seattle tech company's overall fate. \nIn Scoble's words: \"Microsoft has something like 14 different billion dollar businesses, most of which won't be affected one bit if their new strategy doesn't succeed or not, so I'm not worried about Microsoft's future.\"\nMobasser of the BarMax app says he's optimistic about the Windows Store's potential moving forward. \n\"It seems like they've learned a lot of lessons that developers have gone through with the Apple App Store and Android Market, and kind of brought their own twist to it,\" he said. \"So, even though they're a little late to the game we're very excited.\" \nBonus: A Closer Look at Windows 8\n\n\nWindows 8\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWindows 8 Devices\nMicrosoft demonstrated a lot of Windows 8 devices, including tablet devices, at its Build conference in Anaheim, CA.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWindows 8 Devices: A Closer Look\nThese are some of the devices running Windows 8 at Microsoft's Build conference.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWindows 8: Lock Screen\n\n\"Your personalized lock screen shows you unread emails and other app notifications. The image shown here is a photo of the road leading to Mt. Cook National Park in New Zealand.\"\nCourtesy of Microsoft\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWindows 8: Start Screen\n\n\"See your apps and content in a glance on the start screen.\"\nCourtesy of Microsoft\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWindows 8: Files\n\n\"Pick the files you want to send or share from one place.\"\nCourtesy of Microsoft\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWindows 8: Internet Explorer\n\n\"Touch browsing is fast, fluid and intuitive.\"\nCourtesy of Microsoft\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWindows 8: Thumb\n\n\"The thumb keyboard feels natural and comfortable.\"\nCourtesy of Microsoft\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWindows 8: Touch Keyboard\n\n\"Large buttons help you type on the touch keyboard.\"\nCourtesy of Microsoft\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWindows division President Steven Sinofsky\nWindows division President Steven Sinofsky takes the stage at Build.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2011/12/06/microsoft-reveals-windows-store-in-bid-to-crash-tablet-party/>