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http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsofts-windows-phone-8-finally-gets-a-real-windows-core/12975

1)"As of Apollo, the Windows Phone OS will include the same file system (NTFS), same networking stack, same security elements, graphics engine (DirectX), device driver framework and hardware abstraction layer (HAL) as "big" Windows. Apollo also will include the mobile variant of the same browser -- Internet Explorer 10 -- as Windows 8."

2) Microsoft execs have said repeatedly that existing Windows Phone 7 apps will run on Windows Phone 8. The two phone platforms are binary compatible, Sullivan reiterated.

3)Developers cannot take their Windows app binaries and just run them on Windows Phone 8. However, there is a high degree of code reuse possible, Sullivan said.

4)We know Windows Phone 7.x apps can run on Windows Phone 8, according to Microsoft. But what about the reverse? Can Windows Phone 8 apps run on existing devices? Short answer is no.

5) "The Silverlight-based Windows Phone developer environment is going away in Windows Phone 8, and is being replaced by WinRT-based APIs like those in Windows 8. Why? Two reasons. First, Silverlight is dead, cancelled internally by Microsoft. And second, Windows Phone 8 is Windows 8 for all intents and purposes."

6)Microsoft has decided not to include XNA support for WinRT/Metro in Windows 8. It's only supported on the Desktop. With Windows Phone 8, according to one of my tipsters, Microsoft still will support XNA in the Windows Phone 8 software development kit, but will be pushing developers to write games for the platform using DirectX and native code, not XNA -- just like the case with Windows 8.

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Microsoft's advice to phone developers going forward, just like it is for Windows 8, is to use native code, meaning C and C++

It is beyond me why Microsoft keep the bits out of our hands even after OS is ready and frozen. Apple start sharing years before release and this is a way to go, IMHO. 

// posted by DzembuGaijin @ 2:17 PM