Is it really necessary to use Windows Vista or higher to develop for Microsoft Surface?

Question

I tried to start developing for Microsoft Surface. For that I first installed Visual Studio 2008. Then I followed this guide:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee804897.aspx

However there it says that only Windows Vista is supported. I'm still running Windows XP on my laptop and old PC and I don't want to update if not absolutely necessary. So I wonder if it is really necessary to use Windows Vista or if it is just a recommendation.

I already tried to install it on Windows XP, but every time i start the Surace SDK installer, the following error message appears:

This installation package cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service. You must install a Windows service pack that contains a newer version of the Windows Installer service.

So I was wondering if this is the problem because I don't use Windows Vista. And if not, how can I solve this problem?

Answer 1

Yep, probably.

You can try installing the latest version of Windows installer.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942288

Answer 2

Windows vista is definitely required. I can't tell you if this is an artificially imposed requirement, or a physical incompatibility, but vista has been a requirement to install the SDK since was first released to Microsoft partners.