//build/, //learn/ and //publish/
Editor's note: The following post was written by Windows Phone Development MVP Peter Nowak
If you have been one of the lucky ones to attend //build, or following the announcements of //build from home a ton of new announcements might have caught your eye. Especially looking into Windows Phone 8.1 not only consumers, but also developers get a lot of new functionality to enhance their apps, or to create new ones that span over Windows and Windows phone simultaneously.
For Windows Phone //build was just the starting point to get new bits to play with. As dust settles now a bit it is time to take a look what really has been made available in this package. Do you know everything about it already? Did you know that you the new emulator features enhanced functionality to test geofencing properly, or that you can roam credentials among devices in a secured way? These were topics that were covered at //build briefly, but there is another event coming up for you: //learn.
//learn is an online event by Microsoft powered by the MVP Community to deliver the content you might need for developing great apps for the Windows Phone and beyond. If you know the famous Jumpstart series by Microsoft for several products, than you know already how a lot of the sessions will be structured. But there is more – the sessions will be delivered in 8 different languages: Chinese, English, German, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Russian. These events also include local start times so that the information gets delivered as smooth as possible.
The exciting thing is, that the base for this event has been created by Windows Phone Development MVPs, who wanted to deliver content independent to a venue. Having the chance to test drive this new concept with the WPDev Fusion - New Year Edition back in January led to //learn! And even The WPDev Fusion event was not the root- it all started last year in October with the Windows Phone week - a worldwide initiative of Windows Phone Development MVPs, who brought 17 worldwide events with over 1500 attendees closer to developing apps for Windows Phone.
Register yourself for April 24th to be a part of //learn here:
Chinese Simplified: https://vts.inxpo.com/Launch/QReg.htm?ShowKey=18934&LangLocaleID=2052&GroupID=ChineseS
Chinese Traditional: https://vts.inxpo.com/Launch/QReg.htm?ShowKey=18934&LangLocaleID=1028&GroupID=ChineseT
English: https://vts.inxpo.com/Launch/QReg.htm?ShowKey=18934&LangLocaleID=1033&GroupID=english
French: https://vts.inxpo.com/Launch/QReg.htm?ShowKey=18934&LangLocaleID=1036&GroupID=french
German: https://vts.inxpo.com/Launch/QReg.htm?ShowKey=18934&LangLocaleID=1031&GroupID=german
Italian: https://vts.inxpo.com/Launch/QReg.htm?ShowKey=18934&LangLocaleID=1040&GroupID=Italian
Russian: https://vts.inxpo.com/Launch/QReg.htm?ShowKey=18934&LangLocaleID=1049&GroupID=russian
Portuguese: https://vts.inxpo.com/Launch/QReg.htm?ShowKey=18934&LangLocaleID=1046&GroupID=portuguese
Spanish: https://vts.inxpo.com/Launch/QReg.htm?ShowKey=18934&LangLocaleID=1034&GroupID=spanish
Getting the tools and getting the education are only 2 parts of a trinity. This is, where //publish comes in. //publish by itself is a hackathon with a shifted focus. Instead of getting over to start a new app from scratch (which you still can do) the idea here is to finish an already started app and to get it published to the store. And the base idea here is great. How often did you start already creating an app, which hasn’t been published as you found a problem which you might not getting solved or where you’d need a professional advice regarding best practices to get back on track? This is the strength of //publish.
If you are interested to attend a //publish event close on May 16th and 17th, you might want to check the website publishwindows.com for further information and to find a venue close to you. The event is also supported by MVPs and Nokia Developer Champions as well. With this I hope you will have a lot of fun creating apps and learn how easy it is.