Curt:
But will it be able to target Windows XP?
It will likely be possible in a reasonable manner at some point. From http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2012/05/18/a-look-ahead-at-the-... : """C++ developers can also use the multi-targeting capability included in Visual Studio 11 to continue using the compilers and libraries included in Visual Studio 2010 to target Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Multi-targeting for C++ applications currently requires a side-by-side installation of Visual Studio 2010. Separately, we are evaluating options for C++ that would enable developers to directly target XP without requiring a side-by-side installation of Visual Studio 2010 and intend to deliver this update post-RTM. """ Martin v. Löwis wrote:
The only place where platform support matters is the CRT, and this is what I still want to test. E.g. it might be that the C RT works on XP, and the C++ RT might use newer API.
C++ runtime is more dependent on post-XP features than C runtime but even the C runtime currently needs some thunks: http://tedwvc.wordpress.com/ Neil