Windows 8 introduces an application programming model for building new kinds of user mode apps called Windows Store Apps. The name reflects the new way users discover, download, purchase, rate, and install applications on Windows 8: The Windows Store.
On Windows 8, underneath this new application model is the Windows Runtime (WinRT for short), which provides an API and ABI as well as services for these modern Windows applications. WinRT is a security sandbox and an advanced execution environment. It enables efficient interoperation among very different language "projections"—so, JavaScript, for example, can seamlessly interact with C++.
What is WinRT, exactly? Why is it designed the way it is? What's the history of WinRT? What are the primary goals of this new technology? How did the Windows engineering team arrive at the design and implementation of this new Windows user mode development platform? These are the key questions addressed in this conversation with Windows Runtime engineering leaders Martyn Lovell and Elliot H Omiya (we call him EHO). Elliot and Martyn are two of the original WinRT architects. Watch as they tell us how it was conceived, how it works, and why COM is such a big part of the equation (it's not your grandmother's COM, mind you. WinRT is a very different COM than classic COM).
Huge thanks to Martyn and EHO for this excellent conversation.
Tune in.
