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If you think MS is going to back down on touch, you're dead wrong. Moving forward, what the author refers to as "Metro" (actually known as the "Modern Interface

If you think MS is going to back down on touch, you're dead wrong. Moving forward, what the author refers to as "Metro" (actually known as the "Modern Interface") will be the default interface users interact with on WP and XBox. And yes, it might be true that they'll allow users to boot into the desktop, it's not confirmed that will be the default option for users. The whole point of the Modern design language is to provide a unified experience for all of the Windows ecosystem. Honestly, it's really good - except on their most used product, Windows. I think when they allow Modern apps to run inside the desktop, allow desktop apps to work with the charms bar, and build their own laptop you'll see customers flock in droves to the Windows ecosystem.

corresation 13y ago
No one expects Microsoft to retrench from touch, nor does anyone misunderstand what they were trying to do: They wanted to leverage their desktop dominance into some mobile/tablet marketshare. Many words can be spilled justifying this (unifying being one), but the stark reality is that it degraded the experience on the mouse and keyboard desktop, where the design simply followed the desire to get into what Apple was having success at.
- leoc 13y ago
  And ofc Apple, in turn, spent much of its 30-years-of-Macintosh celebration making indirect slams on the Metroisation of Windows and the whole desktop/touch-unification idea http://www.macworld.com/article/2090829/apple-executives-on-the-mac-at-30-the-mac-keeps-going-forever.html http://www.macworld.com/article/2090829/apple-executives-on-... "You don’t want to say the Mac became less good at being a Mac because someone tried to turn it into iOS." etc.
Touche 13y ago
Please don't call something "unified" when it shares none of the same code, doesn't work the same, and was created by teams who don't talk to each other. Superficially similar looking != unified.
- psykotic 13y ago
  The worst example of this was Visual Studio 2012. The UI was redone to superficially fit the Metro style. It became flat and monochrome and so visually undifferentiated that it was hard to navigate. And there were of course the obnoxious ALL CAPS menu labels.
  - ethomson 13y ago
    Why is Visual Studio worse than (say) Word or Outlook, which (of course) did the same thing?
    - taspeotis 13y ago
      Because it's infinitely more complicated. One context menu can end up bigger than your screen [1] and that doesn't count the number of different debug windows hanging off the debug menu [2], there's a bunch of menus for testing, editing etc most of which are not right in front of me. I'm pretty handy with VS but given its sheer size I don't need any extra impediments. RANDOM ALL CAPS MAKES THIS SENTENCE DISTRACTING. I HAVE TO LOOK AT MENUS A LOT. Contrast with the Outlook ribbon's "Home" tab which puts 95% of what I need to do right there always visible by default. I don't have to hunt around at the top of my SCREEN WHICH IS IN DISTRACTING ALL CAPS nearly as much. The first thing I do after installing VS2012/VS2013 is to edit the registry to return the correct casing to the top level menus. The icon scheme for SSDT in VS2012 was the worst. No colour, just symbols. Want to add a primary key? Look for the key icon. Sounds good in practice but there's lots of monochromatic key symbols overlaid onto other monochromatic symbols (primary key on table, symmetric key, foreign key). At least with the colour I can more easily distinguish the primary key is gold and the blue square it's in front of is a table. FWIW I don't think I was significantly less productive in VS2012 than 2010 but it's a moot point now since VS2013 put colour back in. [1] Best I could do: http://i.msdn.microsoft.com/dynimg/IC653694.png http://i.msdn.microsoft.com/dynimg/IC653694.png [2] http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-91-03-metablogapi/8787.ParallelDebuggingWindows_5F00_thumb.jpg http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/communit...
    - 13y ago
Zigurd 13y ago
What's weird about this thread is that the "Modern design language" is considered to be unifying. A design language is just a theme. A skin. It's not meant to unify. Wide lapels this year. Narrow lapels next year. APIs are unifying. Too bad they are un-unified in Windows. A security model is unifying. But <sad-tombone/> not in Windows. So WP and XBOX will be the touch vanguard? Damn but that TV is far away. Makes touch laptop look reasonable.
- whytaka 13y ago
  A good design language is certainly more than just a theme. An arrow is a visual design to indicate direction. It's almost universally recognized. It's a sign. Just like a word. If iconography can be seen as a form of barebones language, what else can we fit in the concept? Perhaps colour? Red for STOP, or urgency. Green for go. If shapes and colours, why not relative sizes? Big for important things, small for detailed things. These are the kinds of concerns that pertain to the construction of design languages. You can see how they can be unifying.

corresation 13y ago

No one expects Microsoft to retrench from touch, nor does anyone misunderstand what they were trying to do: They wanted to leverage their desktop dominance into some mobile/tablet marketshare. Many words can be spilled justifying this (unifying being one), but the stark reality is that it degraded the experience on the mouse and keyboard desktop, where the design simply followed the desire to get into what Apple was having success at.

leoc 13y ago
And ofc Apple, in turn, spent much of its 30-years-of-Macintosh celebration making indirect slams on the Metroisation of Windows and the whole desktop/touch-unification idea http://www.macworld.com/article/2090829/apple-executives-on-the-mac-at-30-the-mac-keeps-going-forever.html http://www.macworld.com/article/2090829/apple-executives-on-... "You don’t want to say the Mac became less good at being a Mac because someone tried to turn it into iOS." etc.

Touche 13y ago

Please don't call something "unified" when it shares none of the same code, doesn't work the same, and was created by teams who don't talk to each other. Superficially similar looking != unified.

psykotic 13y ago
The worst example of this was Visual Studio 2012. The UI was redone to superficially fit the Metro style. It became flat and monochrome and so visually undifferentiated that it was hard to navigate. And there were of course the obnoxious ALL CAPS menu labels.
- ethomson 13y ago
  Why is Visual Studio worse than (say) Word or Outlook, which (of course) did the same thing?
  - taspeotis 13y ago
    Because it's infinitely more complicated. One context menu can end up bigger than your screen [1] and that doesn't count the number of different debug windows hanging off the debug menu [2], there's a bunch of menus for testing, editing etc most of which are not right in front of me. I'm pretty handy with VS but given its sheer size I don't need any extra impediments. RANDOM ALL CAPS MAKES THIS SENTENCE DISTRACTING. I HAVE TO LOOK AT MENUS A LOT. Contrast with the Outlook ribbon's "Home" tab which puts 95% of what I need to do right there always visible by default. I don't have to hunt around at the top of my SCREEN WHICH IS IN DISTRACTING ALL CAPS nearly as much. The first thing I do after installing VS2012/VS2013 is to edit the registry to return the correct casing to the top level menus. The icon scheme for SSDT in VS2012 was the worst. No colour, just symbols. Want to add a primary key? Look for the key icon. Sounds good in practice but there's lots of monochromatic key symbols overlaid onto other monochromatic symbols (primary key on table, symmetric key, foreign key). At least with the colour I can more easily distinguish the primary key is gold and the blue square it's in front of is a table. FWIW I don't think I was significantly less productive in VS2012 than 2010 but it's a moot point now since VS2013 put colour back in. [1] Best I could do: http://i.msdn.microsoft.com/dynimg/IC653694.png http://i.msdn.microsoft.com/dynimg/IC653694.png [2] http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-91-03-metablogapi/8787.ParallelDebuggingWindows_5F00_thumb.jpg http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/communit...
  - 13y ago

Zigurd 13y ago

What's weird about this thread is that the "Modern design language" is considered to be unifying. A design language is just a theme. A skin. It's not meant to unify. Wide lapels this year. Narrow lapels next year. APIs are unifying. Too bad they are un-unified in Windows. A security model is unifying. But <sad-tombone/> not in Windows. So WP and XBOX will be the touch vanguard? Damn but that TV is far away. Makes touch laptop look reasonable.

whytaka 13y ago
A good design language is certainly more than just a theme. An arrow is a visual design to indicate direction. It's almost universally recognized. It's a sign. Just like a word. If iconography can be seen as a form of barebones language, what else can we fit in the concept? Perhaps colour? Red for STOP, or urgency. Green for go. If shapes and colours, why not relative sizes? Big for important things, small for detailed things. These are the kinds of concerns that pertain to the construction of design languages. You can see how they can be unifying.