Windows 8 Support
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Hello Gerolf,
Naturally it is impossible to support what is still unknown. However, it would be possible to have some preliminary/beta support for the beta releases. But to stick to your question:
[quote author="Gerolf" date="1307947031"]why should it offizially be supported by Qt now?[/quote]
As you might have heard, Qt is used in the development of commercial applications. Producers of these applications will like to see their applications work on Windows 8 as soon as Windows 8 gets released. However, before a commercial application can be released it needs to be tested. Although the Windows 8 builds that are currently available are not exactly the same as the RTM version will be, they already give a good indication of what will not work. As it looks currently many Qt based applications will completely break on Windows 8. Getting Qt up to par with the currently available versions of Windows 8 would reduce the number of issues when the Windows 8 RTM gets released.The alternative to expecting some preliminary/beta support for Windows 8, would be to wait until Windows 8 is released. If the implementation of Windows 8 support is not initiated before Windows 8 is released, it will be very bad news. First we would have to wait until Qt is supporting Windows 8, and then we need to start using that version of Qt, and test our application. This would mean it will be months after the release of Windows 8, before we can finally support Windows 8 in our application. In particular if this means it would be mandatory to use Qt 5, which might not be compatible and thus may require additional refactoring of the application.
And therefore, I would like to know which version of Qt will support Windows 8, and to what extend Windows 8 will be supported in that version.
Best regards,
DzjekP.S. I understand it is unclear when Windows 8 will be RTM, and that there are rumors about 2012. However, be aware that 2012 is only half a year (i.e. one minor Qt release) from now. And it's just a rumor, it might be considered ready earlier, though I also expect it to be later.
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[quote author="Gerolf" date="1307960969"]Perhaps, some Qt 4.8 or 4.9 will also do, we will see, it is also possible that a version will support a pre release, but not officially...[/quote]
I assume the same. I hoped someone who knows the Qt roadmap could confirm this. But thanks anyhow!
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I'm sure, we will not get an fficial answer here now. I'm sure they will support it, but when is unclear now.
I'm also creating commercial software with Qt. But before we step towards a new OS, we heavily test it, which means some Months. Perhaps on DevDays, there could be some official announces...
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The developer model for Windows 8 is still very much up in the air at the moment; I can't see how Qt can plan anything until MS actually releases more information. You just need to look at all the "various":http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2011/06/html5-centric-windows-8-leaves-microsoft-developers-horrified.ars "articles":http://www.itnews.com.au/News/259910,silverlight-developers-rally-against-windows-8-plans.aspx about the role silverlight may or not have in windows 8 to see how uncertain it is.
As far as visual styling - MS usually leaves it quite late in the piece to reveal the major visual changes in their OSes so there's not much that can be done on that front either.
I'd say you'd have to wait until at least their developer conference at the end of the year before a real plan for Qt can even begin to take shape.
Note: I don't develop for Windows so this is all just from what I've read around the web over the last few weeks.
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Hi all.
I think that this question is very relevant.
Taking into consideration that the policy of Nokia+Microsoft with Windows Phone 7 is to maintain Qt away, then it is important to clarify the "Nokia+Microsoft" strategies for Qt.
So, it is adecuate to ask that now.
This situation is forcing me to move to Android and avoid WP7. With Qt on W8, or future WP8, I can consider to return to W.
Regards,
Àngel -
For all those who haven't heared yet there is a "Windows 8":http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516 preview available for developers, including Visual Studio 11, Blend 5 and the new Metro SDKs.
[quote author="Dzjek" date="1307945585"]What version of Qt can we expect to work correctly with Windows 8?[/quote]
The Qt SDK installs smoothly and the examples I've tried work as expected.
Quite contrary to, I don't see a reason why it shouldn't work correctly at all. Windows 8 has still the same NT kernel as Windows 7 has, just a new user interface stuffed on top on it (and a very questionable one if you ask me).
Be sure to have a recent version of your VM as Windows 8 requires ACPI 2.0 support (which for example VMware Workstation 7.x has not).
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The most horrific design decision was that this "desktop" replaces the classic start menu, which isn't available until you disable the whole metro stuff.
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HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RPEnabled
1 -> Metro UI
0 -> Classic UI
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[quote author="eric_vi" date="1316186870"]what about the windows 8 app store... are there more details available?[/quote]
This Windows App Store isn't included in the developer preview and as far as I know there is only a minor amount of concrete details about it (besides "there will be an App Store"). -
The question is more: what will be supported by Qt ? A Qt 4.6.3 application runs well in the dev preview, but as a classic application, it does not fit into metro.
Having a way to create metro compliant applications with Qt (mainly: reuse as much as possible the code we maintain for year) would be very cool.
I think we'll get more details in the dev days - at least I hope so.
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It's in the early stages, but here's a project with the goal of getting Qt working within the Windows 8 Metro environment: https://projects.developer.nokia.com/qt_metro
There is a link there to a video showing a QML test application in action.
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"http://pkisensee.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/windows-8-and-c/":http://pkisensee.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/windows-8-and-c/
I would say that with Win8 and WinRT, MS is embracing c++ rather than moving away from it as somebody suggested. So a Qt port is certainly possible. But it can happen only after Win8 is officially released and all the technical information is released by MS. Also it is my understanding that Qt is not moving away from c++. JS is just another option. I expect most mobile apps to go the C++/Qml way. JS/Qml may be used for very simple apps. Anyway Qml seems a better option for UIs.
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Well, Microsoft actually has moved away from C++ with WinRT / VS11 - by creating a ton of proprietary modifications to the language which resulted in something they indeed call "C++" but in fact is something completely incompatible with C++ and anything besides VS11.
However, Herb Sutter has announced that there will be a C++ interface to WinRT (WRL) - we will see.
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[quote author="Lukas Geyer" date="1323160788"]Well, Microsoft actually has moved away from C++ with WinRT / VS11 - by creating a ton of proprietary modifications to the language which resulted in something they indeed call "C++" but in fact is something completely incompatible with C++ and anything besides VS11.
However, Herb Sutter has announced that there will be a C++ interface to WinRT - we will see.[/quote]
Probably you meant c++\CLI, the c++ dialect for .Net platform, which looks very unlike c++. But what I had read is that there will be a proper c++ interface to WinRT. But I don't have those links now.
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C++/CLI is something different. It compiles to IL instead of native code, uses garbage colletion and a common runtime. C++/CX, as Microsoft calls their newest version of C++, is C++ (native code, no garbage collection, no runtime) plus extensions (ref class, ^, ...) which are incompatible to C++/C++11 and absolutely require a modified compiler.
There is a C++ template library called Windows Runtime Library (WRL) which should allow for interfacing Windows 8 using standard C++, but Microsoft urges developer to use C++/CX (when interfacing WinRT), including tool support, examples, libraries and so on. This means that - in practice - you are most probably forced to use C++/CX, which is - again - not C++. But as said, we will see.
The Visual C++ Team Blog and Channel 9 has some good reads on C++/Cx, WinRT and WRL.
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I am curious about which version of Qt will support Windows 8. I spoke with a Sales Rep from Digia who said that only Digia would be supporting Windows 8 and that Nokia would not be releasing this support with their Qt code. I understand that Digia is just trying to sell commercial services, so I was wondering if anyone else could verify this information. The investment return on the project that I am about to start can't really justify the cost of a commercial license. Perhaps I don't understand the difference in code bases here, but what I would like to know is whether the LGPL Qt Desktop version will support Windows 8.
