Windows 8 – Bespoke Application Development

Microsoft’s newly released Windows 8 operating system brings with it significant changes to the way in which users access software. There has been much discussion of the pros and cons of the new Windows Store and the closed software ecosystem that brings with it, in that all native Windows 8 applications are required to be approved by Microsoft and released via the Windows Store. However, organisations should be aware that this restriction can be bypassed within a private Windows Domain, allowing bespoke applications to take advantage of new Windows 8 features without the significant overhead of submission to the public Windows Store. To maintain security apps deployed in this way (known by Microsoft as ‘Side-Loading’) must be signed with a certificate and that certificate trusted by the Domain, but otherwise the process is simple and straightforward keeping deployment costs to a minimum. We look forward to being able to offer our clients the advanced user interface and cloud integration features of native Windows 8 applications in this way.