Croteam chief technical officer Alen Ladavac has railed against Windows 8, warning that it may become a walled garden; something akin to a console.

“Gabe Newell did not overreact,” said Ladavac, referring to the Valve founder’s mid-year statement that the new OS was “kind of a catastrophe”.

“The new tiled UI is a means for Microsoft to lock Windows applications into a walled garden, much like the one on iOS.”

Ladavac’s main issue was that a tiled UI application for Windows 8 can only be acquired through the Windows Store.

“I cannot even begin to stress out just how horrible this idea is!” the Serious Sam developer exclaimed.

“You cannot download an application from the Internet and run it on your computer. You have to get it from Microsoft's store. Even if it is a free app!”

He feared that Microsoft’s certification process would throw a spanner in the works for many developers.

“This means bringing the ‘console experience’ onto your desktop,” said Ladavac.

“Each app that you will get through the Windows Store will have to adhere to certain requirements imposed by MS.

“They have forbidden modding. They could very well forbid Open Source if they want. But even if these terms were not there, this is still a certification system. With all of its downsides, including uncertain release dates, rare and late patches, and everything turning out to be more expensive and sucking more.”

Although desktop applications are exempt from these requirements, Ladavac believed it was only a matter of time before they too would only be available via the Windows Store.

“In Windows 9 or something like that, the ability to get even desktop apps in any other way than through Windows app store may very well be removed. When that happens it will be too late,” he cautioned.

“I would not invest into supporting the tiled UI apps (which MS now conveniently calls ‘Windows Store apps’ - does that ring a bell?), until MS removes the requirement that they have to be shipped through Windows Store on desktop at least - and thereby remove the requirement of certifying them with MS,” said Ladavac.

“Certification is a broken concept and should be abolished.”