Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010 Express products will still be available for free download, the company notes, but they lack a number of key features coming to Visual Studio 11, including improved standards compliance.

Another version called Visual Studio 11 Express for Web will focus on HTML and JavaScript websites.

Meanwhile, to make sure there's no cheating, the Windows SDK for Windows 8 no longer ships with a complete command-line build environment, Microsoft .

Now, it's no mystery why Microsoft would want to push developers towards Metro, apps for which will obviously play a key role in the adoption of the forthcoming OS.