One of the Enterprise SKU of Windows 8 is that it allows side-loading of WinRT apps. It gives you the opportunity to load internally developed Metro-style applications that use WinRT on Windows 8 without a developers license installed on that Windows 8 machine.
This feature was described on many sources, including:
- Introducing Windows 8 Enterprise and Enhanced Software Assurance for Today’s Modern Workforce.
- The Windows 8 Enterprise SKU: Windows To Go and new Software Assurance benefits | Ars Technica.
- What’s in the new Windows 8 Enterprise SKU | ZDNet.
But since many apps (including Delphi written apps as they cannot link to the Visual C++ Run-Time DLL) don’t directly run on WinRT, there is a clear demand of enabling this side-loading feature for non-Enterprise SKUs of Windows 8:
The last link describes a way to circumvent this, and I think that is what Embarcadero is aiming at to enable Delphi XE3 Metropolis style applications to run on WinRT:
- Sideloading for Delphi on Windows 8? – DelphiTools.info.
- Windows 8 sideloading and Embarcadero’s Metropolis fake-WinRT framework « Tim Anderson’s ITWriting.
Note I updated my Delphi WinRT link clearance post with the last two links.
–jeroen
