3 ms·

The interface is beautiful but I think it will prove to be nothing more than eye candy veneer for an increasingly out-of-touch piece of software. Let the deskt

The interface is beautiful but I think it will prove to be nothing more than eye candy veneer for an increasingly out-of-touch piece of software. Let the desktop metaphor evolve respectively until it's no longer needed (by most), do not sap it's identity by tearing users between two very different modes of interaction. Once my brain is working in the desktop metaphor will it want to "zoom-out" to yet another layer of abstraction and back and forth? Surely this is a recipe for experience-degrading cognitive dissonance. When I stand up from working on my mac, pick up my iPad and then read a blog on the couch I have, subconsciously, switched to a drastically different set of interaction-metaphors for iPad use. ("Design dissolving into behavior." - Naoto Fukasawa) If this interface found it's way on sub $100 20"+ smart screens (lcd or laser projected) with kinect-like interaction than you have a compelling product. Put it on Xbox and media center devices/tv's and you potentially have a new interaction ecosystem. This Windows 8 concept is fighting reality and for it's eventual users it won't feel nearly as natural as their smartphones do today.

dangrossman 15y ago
If they do it right, Windows 8 would be on the smart screen, on the Xbox, on the netbook, on the tablet, and on the smartphones a few years in our future when they're even faster than they are now. The UI may not be identical but it'd be the unified "Windows Everywhere" type thing Microsoft has seemingly always wanted to do.
- jamesmcintyre 15y ago
  If Microsoft can retain and gain mindshare you may very well be right, going forward I just doubt Microsoft's ability to "capture people's imaginations" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvskEGWMLp4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvskEGWMLp4).
  - lwat 15y ago
    If you buy a computer in 2012 it's gonna have Windows 8 on it (unless you buy a mac). Microsoft don't need to 'capture imaginations', they have the market share already.
    - jamesmcintyre 15y ago
      Is that you Steve Ballmer? ;) I don't doubt Microsoft's ability to get Windows 8 into consumers homes as much as I do not doubt their ability to shoot themselves in the foot by pushing yet another half-baked product out the door. Sure in 2012 millions will experience Windows 8, I would only add that 2012 may be the tipping point with OSX, iOS, Android, ChromeOS, PalmOS and others aggressively vying to inherit their share of consumers who choose to move on. I'm ambivalent to Microsoft's success or failure, I'm simply extrapolating from current cultural undercurrents, the sentiment even long-time Windows user's now hold towards conventional Windows PC's is haggard at best and they're more open now than ever to exploring alternatives.
      - lwat 15y ago
        People have been predicting the demise of Windows for DECADES and it's still around 90% market share so excuse me if I don't hold my breath.
        jamesmcintyre 15y ago
        The cost structure of computing product manufacturers is changing, there is no longer a dire need for manufacturers to sacrifice margin to Wintel. Windows/office lock-In is dissolving. Any network-effect of being a Windows user is dissipating. As software capability moves to the cloud, and open-standards are adopted there simply isn't room for a bloated/expensive OS. Decades ago I would not have bet against Windows, but today you can sense a perfect storm of competition approaching their gates. If in 5 years Windows is still a dominant piece of software I will be surprised. However, I won't be surprised if Microsoft is still a main technology player in 5 years.
        pragmatic 15y ago
        Windows will dominate business for at least 10 years. Office isn't the lock in. It's all those Line of Business (LOB) Apps that run on Windows. Ironically many require internet explorer and are built in...Java, oddly enough. Marketing departments could switch tomorrow. Operations (depending on industry) are locked in for years. Some are lucky enough to web based options, some are stuck on what they have.
MatthewPhillips 15y ago
Seems to me that standing up from your PC, picking up that same PC and pressing a button to switch to Metro, then reading a blog from your couch is a much better experience than doing the same thing with 2 different devices. I think even Apple is going in this direction with it's Back to the Mac stuff, albeit much more slowly (and will be lavished with praise when it completes the transition).
- jamesmcintyre 15y ago
  Interesting. I guess it will all come down to execution, attention to detail but no matter how i play it in my head i can't see the Metro display as anything more than a Flipboard-type utility- good, cool but limited.

dangrossman 15y ago

If they do it right, Windows 8 would be on the smart screen, on the Xbox, on the netbook, on the tablet, and on the smartphones a few years in our future when they're even faster than they are now. The UI may not be identical but it'd be the unified "Windows Everywhere" type thing Microsoft has seemingly always wanted to do.

jamesmcintyre 15y ago
If Microsoft can retain and gain mindshare you may very well be right, going forward I just doubt Microsoft's ability to "capture people's imaginations" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvskEGWMLp4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvskEGWMLp4).
- lwat 15y ago
  If you buy a computer in 2012 it's gonna have Windows 8 on it (unless you buy a mac). Microsoft don't need to 'capture imaginations', they have the market share already.
  - jamesmcintyre 15y ago
    Is that you Steve Ballmer? ;) I don't doubt Microsoft's ability to get Windows 8 into consumers homes as much as I do not doubt their ability to shoot themselves in the foot by pushing yet another half-baked product out the door. Sure in 2012 millions will experience Windows 8, I would only add that 2012 may be the tipping point with OSX, iOS, Android, ChromeOS, PalmOS and others aggressively vying to inherit their share of consumers who choose to move on. I'm ambivalent to Microsoft's success or failure, I'm simply extrapolating from current cultural undercurrents, the sentiment even long-time Windows user's now hold towards conventional Windows PC's is haggard at best and they're more open now than ever to exploring alternatives.
    - lwat 15y ago
      People have been predicting the demise of Windows for DECADES and it's still around 90% market share so excuse me if I don't hold my breath.
      - jamesmcintyre 15y ago
        The cost structure of computing product manufacturers is changing, there is no longer a dire need for manufacturers to sacrifice margin to Wintel. Windows/office lock-In is dissolving. Any network-effect of being a Windows user is dissipating. As software capability moves to the cloud, and open-standards are adopted there simply isn't room for a bloated/expensive OS. Decades ago I would not have bet against Windows, but today you can sense a perfect storm of competition approaching their gates. If in 5 years Windows is still a dominant piece of software I will be surprised. However, I won't be surprised if Microsoft is still a main technology player in 5 years.
        pragmatic 15y ago
        Windows will dominate business for at least 10 years. Office isn't the lock in. It's all those Line of Business (LOB) Apps that run on Windows. Ironically many require internet explorer and are built in...Java, oddly enough. Marketing departments could switch tomorrow. Operations (depending on industry) are locked in for years. Some are lucky enough to web based options, some are stuck on what they have.

MatthewPhillips 15y ago

Seems to me that standing up from your PC, picking up that same PC and pressing a button to switch to Metro, then reading a blog from your couch is a much better experience than doing the same thing with 2 different devices. I think even Apple is going in this direction with it's Back to the Mac stuff, albeit much more slowly (and will be lavished with praise when it completes the transition).

jamesmcintyre 15y ago
Interesting. I guess it will all come down to execution, attention to detail but no matter how i play it in my head i can't see the Metro display as anything more than a Flipboard-type utility- good, cool but limited.