Microsoft Launches Windows QuickStart Kit For Mac Developers

[uptown]

Great deal. For $25 + shipping you get a Windows 8 Professional license, Parallels 8, and a USB stick. Just change the "disabled" attribute on the order button, and you're all set.

[lanthe]

Just do us a favor and don't paste this on any deal sites, or Microsoft will make us turn this off. Only for developers!

[mikeash]

The "+ shipping" part amuses me. It seems to sum up the whole "out of touch" reputation that Microsoft has, whether deserved or not. Why wouldn't this just be a download?

[w1ntermute]

Does anyone know if this copy will work in VirtualBox on Linux as well?

Edit: nvm, it's all sold out

[zampano]

Well, that was disappointing. Spent about 20 minutes trying to get in on this, only to find out it is sold out when the site finally loads. If they want developers to give Windows 8 a spin, they'll need to put in a little more effort to make this process less of a pain.

[bmelton]

Yeah, I've been periodically refreshing it all morning, only to finally receive the 'sold out' message myself.

In all fairness, I don't have any immediate needs for Windows development, and it's by no means a certainty that I would have actually built something Windows-centric, so it's probably no great loss for either side.

[2_ghosts]

My checkout experience:

Enabled the button, clicked it, nothing happened. Looked in Firebug at the Network console, saw a failure come back from the 'Pay' step.

Triple-checked my payment info, clicked the button once more. 25-30 seconds later, I got two consecutive "Something went wrong" javascript alerts. A minute or so later, I got two confirmation emails, lacking any useful details. I'm guessing I was charged twice.

Once it is possible to log into the site, I will see what my order status says. Right now /login continues to time-out.

[jefflinwood]

Just did something similar, saw that I was getting an SSL Error in Safari from their JSONP Callback on https://swish.com/swish-backend/..., opened that link in another Safari window and it appeared to go through.

I have one pending charge on my credit card, not sure if anything else will go through, but I did end up getting an order confirmation.

Maybe whatever they're using to route SSL traffic through is falling over?

[xradionut]

The cynical developer inside me thought, "Windows 8 has so little traction among Windows developers, Redmond is trying to attract Apple developers out of desperation."

[jpxxx]

Ya, but look at it from a pragmatic business perspective, and this is Microsoft doing exactly what they should to court the prodigal developer: set up a zero hassle Windows environment on your favorite platform for cheap.

[geekbri]

A more direct link to the page to get the kit

https://swish.com/swish-frontend/views/buy-devkit.html?p=dev...

[raeliu]

Much thanks for the link. Although I also got a "something went wrong" javascript pop up, I managed to submit the order successfully by re-enable the submit button and resubmit it.

[nateleiby]

Thanks for the link. Saves a few clicks. Just bought it.

[jefflinwood]

I think this is an excellent idea for Microsoft, but this web site has cratered under the load.

I'm assuming they're using Stripe from the little message on my JS console, but I'm having some serious trouble getting it to accept my payment (in Safari on Mac OS X, Chrome isn't connecting at all).

EDIT: I am getting "something went wrong :(" after clicking submit, two or three times now.

[geekbri]

Looks like swish is a little bogged down at the moment. My connection attempts are timing out :)

[tinco]

I sure do hope my creditcard isn't hit for every time I resubmit the order form...

edit: nvm, I finally got through, only 1 order confirmation :)

[MichaelStubbs]

Indeed, same here. It does seem like it would be a popular offer.

[rajivtiru]

This is what i got after forcing the jsonp callback: "Product sold out! Thanks for shopping."

[Tomdarkness]

Every time I submit the order I just get a javascript alert with "something went wrong :(" No idea if the order went through or not...

Edit: Got an order confirmation via email. However, I really think when you are dealing with payments you should implement a more detailed explanation than a javascript alert of "something went wrong"

[footpath]

I got that too, but immediately after I received an email from swish that stated my order is complete, and that I can check my orders at http://swish.com/login/ (obviously not working right now).

[Scramblejams]

Hmm, got the same error, but no confirmation email. :( indeed!

[ja27]

Besides building Windows 8 apps, I think you can even build Windows Phone 8 apps with this. It looks like Parallels now has support for all the virtualization / SLAT stuff that the WP8 emulator needs. (VMWare Fusion 5 has this as well.)

http://kb.parallels.com/en/115211

[powertower]

SOLD OUT.

Just tried, submited payment info, got message back after a minute.

[dmix]

This sounds great.

Parallels + pirated windows 8 isn't too hard to set up, but for any billable rate, $25 is a good deal.

[niggler]

bizspark (www.microsoft.com/bizspark, free for startups) has windows 8 as part of the program (for free) which you can use in bootcamp.

[jakejake]

Wow, what does it mean that you must "graduate" the bizspark program to keep the software?

[dsuriano]

Makes me wonder if Microsoft would ever consider releasing IE for Mac OS X again. That would seem to be a good way to make sure Mac Developers target IE...

[lancefisher]

That's good in theory, but in practice it would likely be another browser/platform to test and debug.

[andzt]

Guys... stop clicking the link so I can get my order through.

k thx

[TomAnthony]

Sorry if I missed this - but what do you get on the USB stick that isn't the same as downloading Parallels / Win 8 / IE10 combo they offer on the site?

[Bradosaur]

On MS's site, you can download VMs for use with an existing Virtualization Platform like Parallels or Virtual Box. The VMs are guest operating systems with limited trial time. MS's docs suggest you use your VM manager to roll back when time runs out.

With the USB key promo, you get a full license for parallels and a full license for Win8.

[luiperd]

Isn't the full Windows 8 license only available to MSDN subscribers though?

[adlpz]

Does this mean you need to be a registered Apple Developer (with the ID and all the jazz..)? I can't get to the site to check, it keeps timing out.

[Bradosaur]

Nope, you just have to solve a small easy "puzzle" to "prove" you're a developer.

[jbrooksuk]

Argh! I placed an order but due to the overload it said "something went wrong" I thought I'd give it time to cool down and now they're sold out :(

Oh well.

[rbanffy]

Anyone wants to explain the motivation behind it?

Does Microsoft think the Mac developer community is somewhat relevant to their future?

[panzerboy]

I managed to order, got the email but swish.com/login doesn't load.

Also, what are the credentials? Wasn't asked for any password ...

[luiperd]

You have to create a new account on that page with the email you used when you bought the deal.

[Bradosaur]

Create an account with the same email you checked out with.