Microsoft launched the Windows 8 Release Preview on Thursday. That launch was accompanied by a slew of new Windows 8 Metro apps, most of which are available to download for free from the Windows Store.
Microsoft wants as many Windows 8 Metro apps as it can get before it officially launches later this year. According to a new Bloomberg story, Microsoft has been training over 80 app design firms to work with Windows 8 since September. It has also held a 12 week paid internship program for college students that will also train them to make Windows 8 apps.
Microsoft is also encouraging their own employees to work on making Windows 8 apps on their own time, which is normally not allowed. However, those developers won"t be paid for their moonlighting work, as they were when they made apps for Windows Phone.
Some well known app makers have yet to take the plunge on Windows 8. One of the biggest is Facebook, which the story claims has no current plans to make an app for Microsoft"s OS. However, Bloomberg reports that Netflix will make a Windows 8 app.
Other companies such as Twitter, Pandora and Zynga have yet to talk about their own app plans for Windows 8.
Source: Bloomberg