No-cost desktop software development is dead on Windows 8
If you want to develop desktop applications—anything that runs at the command line or on the conventional Windows desktop that remains a fully supported, integral, essential part of Windows 8—you’ll have two options:
1. stick with the current Visual C++ 2010 Express and Visual C# 2010 Express products, or
2. pay about $400-500 for Visual Studio 11 Professional.
#sad