Visual Studio 11 (2012) - 3

Update (6 июля 2012): под давлением общественности вернули возможность создания десктопных приложений в Express Edition студии. 
Update2: УРА! обещают вернуть XP для С++. Подробности здесь и здесь (C9::GoingNative Live: Kate Gregory and Steve Teixeira - Modern C++, AMP, Casablanca, C++ Renaissance) (для тех кому лень смотреть весь ролик: подробности про XP с 03:25 по 06:00 мин)
Update3: время бежит уже зарелизили саму студию и первый Update к ней.

Не смог удержаться, чтобы не добавить очередной пост про Visual Studio 2012. Предыдущие посты (первый и второй)

Сегодня едем на DevCon'12. Там будут рассказывать про наше светлое (или не очень?) будущее. В том числе и с VS11.

При этом с точки зрения разработчика (в первую очередь С++) новая студия упорно не хочет становится лучше. По прежнему фигурирует отказ от поддержки WinXP (для native приложений на C++ и для .Net 4.5), убрали возможность создания десктопных приложений (не-метро) из бесплатных версий и тд и тп. Подробности здесь. (Update: под давлением общественности вернули возможность создания десктопных приложений в Express Edition студии. Update2: УРА! обещают вернуть XP для С++. Подробности здесь и здесь (C9::GoingNative Live: Kate Gregory and Steve Teixeira - Modern C++, AMP, Casablanca, C++ Renaissance) (для тех кому лень смотреть весь ролик: подробности про XP с 03:25 по 06:00 мин))

99% комментаторов к статье не видит необходимости переходить на новую студию. Самый интересный комментарий:

Chris:

I've created an analysis of the direction Visual Studio 11 (2012) has taken. To do that I also had to analyse the direction of Windows 8.

1. The failure of Windows 8
For obvious reasons Windows 8 is going to be an extreme failure - those who are familiar with what Windows 8 has to offer will understand why that is so. The marketing around Windows 8 claims that the center of activities are people - not files or documents. This means that Windows 8's target audience are people who don't have to get any work done. However, Microsoft made a logic error here. Those people who only spend their time doing online-socializing, sit on Facebook all day already - and they're probably perfectly happy with it. They are not going to buy an operating system that attemps to be a social network. Furthermore the Metro UI is horrible, it looks like a cheap website. The examples of Metro start screens look as if they were websites of a tourism agency or a support website for women with mid-life crisis. It's quite likely that Microsoft itself has already realized that Windows 8 is a mistake.
2. Visual Studio 11 (2012)
Microsoft has realized that Windows 8 is a mistake and they're extremely scared that it will indeed fail. As a last resort they're trying to force developers to build Metro apps.
2.1 The measures taken by Microsoft to force developers to write Metro apps:
a) The express editions of Visual Studio will only support writing Metro apps.
b) To write desktop apps you have to pay.
c) VC++11 can't be used to target Windows XP.
d) C# 5.0 and .NET 4.5 can't be used to target Windows XP.
2.2 Why these measures are useless:
a) Any developer who writes software that actually does something useful, will write desktop apps and not Metro apps. Let's recall that the target audience of Windows 8 are people who don't do anything useful - this means that there's no reason for a Metro app to be useful.
b) Windows 8 is going to be a failure and will be used by very few people. This means that any developer who is interested in making profit won't write Metro apps because the userbase would be just too small.
c) Those who buy Visual Studio Professional or higher clearly intend to write desktop apps and not Metro apps. After all the main benefit of using Professional or higher is being able to write desktop apps.
d) Since the free Express edition of Visual Studio only supports writing Metro apps, Microsoft hopes that those developers who don't want to buy Visual Studio will start writing Metro apps. That's another big logic error made by Microsoft. To write Metro apps you need Windows 8 unless Microsoft comes up with a Metro emulator. Any developer who won't pay for Visual Studio most certainly won't pay for the useless Windows 8. This means that no one will write Metro apps.
2.3 Why no one will buy Visual Studio:
The only reason to buy Visual Studio is the benefit of being able to write desktop apps. However it's impossible to target Windows XP. Since Windows XP's market share is still over 30% it would be a big financial mistake to to not target XP. This makes the Professional and higher editions totally unusable.
The C++ crowd is extremely unhappy, but there are other compilers that are able to target Windows XP and have far better C++11 support.
The .NET crowd won't be unhappy, .NET 4.0 has enough to offer. The minimal additions in C# 5.0 and .NET 4.5 won't make anyone want to drop Windows XP.

Поэтому, пойду я наверно на сессии по Windows Phone, Azure и прочему. Про студию в этом виде слушать неинтересно :)

Продолжение истории здесь