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Coming soon: Windows SDK

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We're just finishing signoff today on the Windows SDK. You may have seen this product referred to as the Longhorn or Vista SDK, but this release encompasses both the WinFX docs and Vista-specific documentation. The SDK, with samples, tools and docs, will be available as a download for MSDN subscribers, so subscribers, watch your mail. The docs will also be available online in browsable form in the same way that the WinFX docs are, and those docs will be available for everyone. Expect that to be online shortly.

After that we'll start ramping up for PDC in Los Angeles in mid-September. This is the first conference I'm attending as a member of this team, and I can't wait to meet our users and get an idea of how we can improve your professional life by improving our SDK. Along with being the Setup PM for our products, I'm also involved in the process of getting a feel for our users, creating personas and working to deeply engage the people who use our SDKs. PDC should be great at helping me to do exactly that.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    August 08, 2005
    Does this mean that the Windows (WinFX) SDK is out of beta?
  • Anonymous
    August 08, 2005
    HHuuummm....

    How does this "Windows SDK" fit in with the "Platform SDK", the ".NET SDK", and "WinFX SDK". It sounds like you're replacing the "Platform SDK", but I'm not sure...

    If you're replacing the "Platform SDK", I would strongly suggest you instead rename it "Win32 SDK" and move it to the "MDSN Archive Library". With each paradigm shift (such as Win16 to Win32), the former "Windows SDK" (now called the "Platform SDK") lost a lot of useful samples...and it would be nice if the Win32 samples weren't just tossed out in a frenzy to get WinFX samples out the door...

    On the other hand, if you're simply renaming the "WinFX SDK" and not obseleting the "Platform SDK", I would still strongly suggest you rename the old "Platform SDK" to "Win32 SDK" so as to reduce confusion over which SDK contains what.
  • Anonymous
    August 09, 2005
    The Windows SDK was formerly referred to as the Win32 SDK, and this should be more an incremental change than a large change. We always are adding and removing samples - that's part of any release we do - but most of the changes you'll see will hopefully not cause you hassles.

    The idea of archiving releases within the MSDN Archive is interesting. We did that with our Web and Internet samples about a year ago. There are specific issues around archiving old samples that might prevent them from going there, but it makes sense to put old docs there that aren't superceded by changes in the product.
  • Anonymous
    August 09, 2005
    Can you clear up this for me?

    "The SHA API is provided with the Network Access Protection platform and is documented in the Longhorn Software Development Kit (SDK)."

    I see this in the recently (last couple of days) article on the Network Access Protection that will be in the next version of Windows Server. However, neither the current Platform SDK nor the current "Vista SDK" seem to say anything about the NAP APIs. Do you know if they will be in the Vista SDK release you are talking about?
  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2005
    Windows SDK != WinFX ?

    Windows SDK is unmanaged platform (base for WinFX)?
  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2005
    Windows SDK = Platform SDK + WinFX SDK
  • Anonymous
    August 10, 2005
    Demetrius, the SHA API will be documented in the build we will be releasing. It will also be posted with the online version of the documentation when that goes live in several weeks.
  • Anonymous
    August 11, 2005
    Hi Jason,

    Great news but when will the sdk be available for download (tools etc) for us poor students unable to afford MSDN?
  • Anonymous
    February 26, 2006
    Hi, I don't know if this is the place to ask but does anyone know where you can get the Windows 3.1 SDK. Is it a free download. I've tried looking on the web as I want to develop software for older systems but need the libraries/header files to compiled for win16.
  • Anonymous
    September 27, 2006
    So, is the Windows SDK available now (27nth of September 2006) the final one? Or is it just a CTP release?

    This is a very important question for a lot of developers.

    Thank you.