DailyTech - Windows 8 Desktop's Metro UI Makeover Leaks

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Software Windows 8 Desktop's Metro UI Makeover Leaks
Jason Mick (Blog) - June 14, 2012 11:21 AM

127 comment(s) - last by johnsmith9875.. on Jun 29 at 10:40 AM

Change may be less extreme than some expected, but may leave some unhappy campers

You don't put desktop in the corner.

That sentiment is at the heart of much of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) faithful’s increasing frustration with Windows 8. Loyal Windows blogger Paul Thurrott went as far as to compare it to the much loathed Windows ME ("Millennium Edition"). Others have been more charitable, praising its strong touch support. And manufacturers seem to be on board with Microsoft's message, at least, showing of a slew of hybrid notebooks and tablets [1][2][3].

When word leaked that Microsoft had snipped out the code that allowed the Start Menu to be re-enabled on the desktop via third-party hacks, many commenters flipped out and let their rage be known. They weren't much happier when they heard that the Aero UI theme found in Windows Vista and Windows 7 desktops would be replaced by a Metro UI alternative. (The current publicly available Release Preview retains the Aero UI theme.)

So how bad (or good) is the new Metro desktop makeover? Judge for yourself from these screenshots from WinUnleaked.

_{(Click any image to enlarge) [Images Source: WindowsUnleaked]}

While there's no real reason to doubt the authenticity of these shots, bear in mind that the leaked OS is a pre-RTM (release to manufacturing/marketing) build. Even the poster "canouna" warns, "Please keep in mind this is not the FINAL theme."

Some people have already (for better or worse) drawn comparisons between the Metro theme and the Windows XP Water Color theme:

_{[Image Source: "The Rock"/WindowsUnleaked]}

Of course, the bad news is that Microsoft appears to be locking the Desktop to Metro UI, though there's faint hope that it might leave in legacy code allowing transparency to be re-enabled. Desktop Windows Manager (DWM) is still running on the test builds, but there's no telling if it will contain the Aero code any more. Microsoft has stated before that Aero wastes battery life and consumes extra processing power versus the cleaner Metro UI, so that may be justification in Microsoft's mind for the switch.

As far as further changes to the desktop, the top two rumors are that Microsoft may complete the Metro makeover with new Metro-styled icons. A second rumor is that the Office-esque "Ribbon" will be added to more of the menus, as this was the case in certain early builds.

So what do you think? Is the Metro desktop in its current form a stud or a dud?

Source: WindowsUnleaked

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RE: Looks like...

By Argon18 on 6/14/2012 5:29:25 PM , Rating: 5

No, Microsoft does not have "the entire enterprise ecosystem that the whole world runs off".

Microsoft has nothing in the Mission critical space. Every stock exchange in the world runs on Tandem NonStop architecture (now owned by HP). 70% of the power generation in the US (and 100% of the nuclear power generation in the US) also runs on Tandem NonStop. The big financial houses (like AIG, etc) all run AIX for their critical transaction processing. VISA and Mastercard also use AIX for all their processing.

And then there's Mainframe. S/390, AS/400, etc. Mainframe is still a multi $Billion dollar business for IBM, (and to a lesser extent, HP).

Microsoft owns the desktop and office apps. I'll give you that. And corporate email (Exchange). But that's really all they own, which is a pretty small slice of the global data processing pie.

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RE: Looks like...

By zerocks on 6/14/2012 7:59:24 PM , Rating: 5

The worlds real situation is as follows:
If Microsoft/Windows died and became unusable, a huge percentage of the worlds industries would stop and need an alternative.
If Linux/Unix/whatever distro's died and became unusable, a huge percentage of the worlds industries would stop and need an alternative.
If Mac/OSx died and became unusable, a small percentage of the people would buy a cheaper computer and complain about it not being as pretty.

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RE: Looks like...

By retrospooty on 6/15/2012 7:55:32 AM , Rating: 3

Try not to be so literal. I didnt say MS is everything to all and no other systems exist. I am saying its the one with the complete package a to z. Noone else has ever done that, nor have they even tried. There isnt even a close 2nd.

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