Introduction

In this series, we will explore Windows Store app development using Windows 8. As all of you know Microsoft has launched the new version of the operating system i.e. Windows 8. First, we will explore what Windows 8 is rather than going deep into Windows Store app development.

What is Windows 8?

"Windows 8 is the new version of the operating system launched by Microsoft having a rich graphical user interface and is able to work on various devices like PCs and tablets." Windows 8 is a full-featured Windows Operating System that starts faster than previous versions like Windows 7 and Windows Vista.
As stated above Windows 8 is the new version of the operating system developed by Microsoft with many improvements in the programming interface as well as in the graphics interface. In this series, we will explore more about the Windows Store app development. Before starting any development we need some required software and hardware. In this article, we will see what kind of software and hardware we need to develop the Windows Store application. Windows 8 provides a great user experience.

What are Windows Store apps?

All are familiar with the word "store" which means a shop where we can buy goods. Here the only difference is this is not an ordinary shop, this the Windows shop where we can shop for software compatible with Windows like games and applications. In this shop, we can obtain many applications developed by developers. We can download those apps into our Windows 8 and use those apps.
The Windows Store is an online shop for shopping for Windows compatible products. You can visit the shop here. In this shop, you can buy and sell applications. You can read more about the Windows Store from the given link above.
Selling Your app on Windows Store
If you are a developer and you are developing a Windows Store app and you need to sell the application then you can submit your application to the Windows Store which will make your application available globally. Windows has been used around the globe by various users. If you are thinking about the global market then your app must behave the globalization and localization feature which can add value to your application.
For publishing your application first you need a Microsoft account; you can get your own account here. Here you need to sign in; it will ask you for the Microsoft Live account details if you have it then provide the account details and login. Then it will take you to your Windows Store account creation for Windows Store apps. Here while creating the Windows Store account you have to pay the amount to Microsoft because it is giving you the store to sell your app. You can see the market list of Windows Store here. Once we uploaded the application then the application has to pass several tests to be available in the Windows Store. We will see those tests in the next article in this series.
Now you are familiar with the Windows 8 operating system and Windows Store. Next, we will move to start our work on our Windows Store app but for that, you must have the following software and hardware.

Hardware Requirement

Windows 8 normally runs on the same hardware that Windows 7 does. The following is the list of hardware required for Windows Store app development:

Software Requirement

A Windows Store app can be developed using Visual Studio 2012 installed on Windows 8. Visual Studio 2012 is the latest release of Visual Studio by Microsoft.
Windows 8 (Click here to download).
This is the evaluation copy of Windows 8 and will expire in 90 days.
Visual Studio 2012 (Click here to download).
Next Step
Here I'm finished with this introduction part. In the next part, we will start our development of the Windows Store app using Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012. So be ready with the given software.

Summary

In this article, we learned about Developing Windows Store Apps: Introduction And Requirement Specification.