CHAPTER 1 THE PHILOSOPHY OF .NET
in this book. This is certainly a good thing, as many topics explored in this book will map directly to the
construction of a Windows 8 application.
Also be aware that even though the classic Windows desktop is not the default display under
Windows 8, it is still accessible by clicking on the Desktop tile or simply pressing the Windows button on
your computer keyboard. Once opened, the OS will display a desktop that looks almost identical to the
Windows 7 desktop (see Figure 1-14).
Figure 1-14. The desktop of Windows 8 allows you to run non-Windows 8 applications
Here you are able to run all of your expected desktop applications including Visual Studio, Word,
Excel, Photoshop and whatnot. As well, if you are building .NET applications under Windows 8, the
applications will run within the Windows 8 desktop environment.
So, the short answer is that the Microsoft .NET platform is alive and well under Windows 8, and will
be a key part of your development efforts. Just keep in mind that .NET proper is not used to build
Windows 8 applications. Rather, you will make use of new libraries (Windows.*), a new runtime (WinRT),
and a subset of .NET proper (the .NET APIs) to create such a program.
This text will not examine the process of building Windows 8 applications using WinRT, but will
focus exclusively on the .NET platform. However, do keep in mind that a majority of topics examined in
this text will most certainly prepare you to explore Windows 8 application development in the future,
should you have the need.
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