Regarding the new SDK and its possibilities

[Solidstate89]

I'm sure this question has been posed here many times already (I've made several comments regarding it) but this one is slightly different and it goes out to the developers who have looked and worked with the SDK.

We all already know now that VPN support was not added into WP8. A disappointment to say the least. However my question is this; does the SDK and the current available APIs allow for third party VPN apps to be developed and released? Is it possible for you developers to tie into the networking stack in order to create third party VPN solutions to submit to the Marketplace; or are the necessary networking APIs just simply not available to you?

If I was a programmer myself I could probably answer my own question, but I'm hoping that this question reaches the ears (or I guess in this case - eyes) of the individuals who have had a look at the now-released SDK and can hopefully answer this final question of mine. One way or another.

 

[firstness]

This page mentions some of the networking features in the WP8 SDK:

What's new in the SDK

Unfortunately I don't know enough about WP8 programming to be able to tell you whether a VPN app would be possible.

Incoming sockets

Windows Phone 8 introduces the enhancements to incoming sockets. System.Net.Sockets and Windows.Networking.Sockets both support incoming sockets, which means your app can listen for an incoming network connection, and then bind to that connection.

Support for IPv6

Support for the 128-bit addressing system for devices on a network has been added to System.Net.Sockets, and also is supported in Windows.Networking.Sockets.

Windows.Net.Networking

The Windows Runtime API, Windows.Networking.Sockets, has been adopted for Windows Phone 8. It has been implemented as a Windows Phone Runtime API, making it easy to use in whatever supported programming language you choose. Although we've enhanced the .NET API, System.Net.Sockets, to support more features such as IPv6 and listener sockets, you should consider using the new API for sockets programming because it is more portable than the .NET API. Windows.Networking.Sockets has been built from the ground up to be clean, secure, and easy-to-use APIs that enforce best practices. For more info about supported Windows Runtime API, see Windows Phone Runtime API.

Winsock native API support

Winsock native APIs are supported in Windows Phone 8. One key advantage of using Winsock APIs is that you can reuse the custom networking functionality that you’ve already implemented using Winsock, so it’s easier for you to create your app on the Windows Phone OS 8.0 platform. For more info about Winsock native API support, see Supported Win32 APIs for Windows Phone 8.

 

[Solidstate89]

Well to my untrained eyes, it certainly doesn't look like the necessary APIs are there to create a third party VPN app.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

This is one of the biggest concerns to me as well, as I was really hoping they would add VPN support to an OS they are touting as "now being ready for business, unlike Windows Phone 7/7.5". What a joke. How can you say a phone is business ready without VPN? How they can they REALLY assume THAT much about their user base to conclude that VPN isn't important, like they are making a consumer-only focused device that is "your phone".

Anyway, if it's possible for 3rd party VPN solutions (freaking ridiculous) then I'm in for Windows Phone 8. If not, I'll wait and stick it out with my 900.