I’d like to provide a somewhat comprehensive resource of resources. If you are looking for help, looking for support, or looking for some camaraderie in your fight to get an app in the store and claim your fame and fortune, then look no further.

My whole job is staying plugged in with you – the developer community. Some work for large organizations as a cog. Others are at start ups and your pretty much the whole machine. Whether you’re a contributor, though, or going it alone, you can’t go it alone. You need good involvement in your local developer community. I have prepared a lot of course material, presentation outlines, and book content, and I learn a lot in the process. So volunteer to present at a local user group even if it’s a bit daunting. If all you do is fight one fire at a time at work using what you already know then you may not stretch or stretch quickly enough. You may not be as agile as you can be.

Resources

• Official Developer Forums on the Dev Center
  http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windowsapps
  These forums are frequented by Microsoft experts, so you’re likely to get some good answers to your tough questions.
• Stack Overflow
  [windows-8] and [winjs] tags: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/windows-8+winjs
  Everyone knows that Stack Overflow rocks and that most of us are more tuned in to our SO reputation points than our boss’s annual review. There are a growing number of Windows 8 devs hanging out at SO asking and answering great questions.
• Meetup
  http://www.meetup.com/find/?keywords=windows+8
  If there’s not already a Meetup in your area that focuses on Windows 8 development than by all means – start one!
• Developer Camps and Workshops
  http://www.devcamps.ms/windows
  It’s always better in person. These Microsoft events will spring up pretty frequently in your area, and they’re usually free so keep an open eye.
• Blogs
  http://codefoster.com
  Windows 8 app developer blog
  Windows Store for developers blog
  Building Windows 8 blog

That’s it for now. Keep plugged in. Keep coding!

My colleague Michael Palermo and I are scheduled to present two Jump Start video series on Channel 9. The first will cover basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript development, and the second will cover those web technologies as they apply to creating Windows 8 apps.

You can get a lot more information about this content and register to attend by going to http://aka.ms/Win8Dev-JS.

If you’re interested in learning how to write apps for Windows 8 but don’t want to leave your desk to do it, then I have just the thing for you. They’re called HOLOs. That’s a Hands-On Lab Online. It goes like this.

First, you register and then when the event comes around, you log in and are hooked up with a Live Meeting to a presenter and a bunch of other attendees and also with a Hyper-V session to a Windows 8 virtual machine with all of the course work ready to go. You listen to the presenter for a while, and then you run through the labs with the instructor right there and ready to help when you raise your virtual hand.

There are sessions on a myriad of Windows 8 related subjects including…

• Creating a Windows 8 App
• Orientation, Snapping, and Semantic Zoom
• Searching and Sharing
• The Windows Store
• Application Bars and Media Capture
• Settings and Preferences

And each of those subjects has separate, dedicated online sessions for C# and JavaScript.

Go register now to save your spot. I created a short URL to a search of all of the HOLOs being offered – http://aka.ms/holo.

I’m going to be presenting a number of the JavaScript courses, so I’ll see you online!