This is an interesting blog post from Microsoft:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/archive/2014/04/02/announcing-net-native-preview.aspx
Thought you where one of them W8 users that didn't care much about Metro/RT/Store apps. Cause it's only for that - for a while at least.
Then there is compatibility to run on xBoxes and at the end, hopefully all devices.
It's gonna be a hell of a puzzle if we ever can target all device types and platforms from one toolset. 8o)
It was (still is?) called "Compiler in the Cloud". Work in progress since at least 2012. Basically they realized .NET program are slow and start up slow even slower on Window Phones because of the need to JIT. Otherwise they been with this for 13 or 14 years and they did not care two hoots about the slowness, even with the debacle suffered by the London Stock Exchange with .NET.
The emphasis on .NET Native (new name?) is still compiler in the cloud. You still have to upload your MSIL exe (that include your source codes) to MS and then they compile in the cloud to native. If your app is good, they have your source codes.
I wonder how they are going to handle desktop app.
http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Going+Deep/Mani-Ramaswamy-and-Peter-Sollich-Inside-Compiler-in-the-Cloud-and-MDIL
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2012/3-005