Microsoft Designer Explains the Reasons for Bringing Metro

Windows 8 was launched with a very controversial Metro environment that caused quite a lot of confusion and made the operating system pretty difficult to use especially for beginners.

Microsoft, however, hasn’t explained the reasons for making such a dramatic change in Windows 8, sticking instead to praising words which pointed out that the Start screen is a much better replacement for the traditional Start Menu.

As Neowin recently spotted, a Microsoft UX designer took to Reddit to discuss about the Metro UI, pointing out that this new environment was specifically designed for simple tasks such as checking Facebook, photo viewing or web browsing.

As far as the decision to make the Modern UI default in Windows 8, the designer, who posted on Reddit with the name “pwnies,” explained that Microsoft had to “force” users to see the Start screen because it needed them to discover the Metro UI. If the operating system was booting to desktop, just like its predecessors, nobody would have ever talked so much about Metro, he adds.

“The short answer is because casual users don't go exploring. If we made desktop the default as it has always been, and included a nice little start menu that felt like home, the casual users would never have migrated to their land of milk and honey,” he said.

Read the rest here:Microsoft Designer Explains the Reasons for Bringing Metro in Windows 8

Another story on this:Windows 8 UX designer on Metro: "It is the antithesis of a power user"

 

[fafhrd]

The biggest mistake Microsoft made was to tell anybody who was running it on a PC about Metro. The Windows 8 desktop interface should have been just the same as Windows 7, with the improvements or otherwise to setup, the boot process, networking etc. Once a few fanbois would have discovered how to get to the Metro screen, and then everybody would have wanted it for five minutes, without hating the product as a whole.

Of course, tablets should have immediately used Metro as they do, with setup detecting the touch screen and enabling those features.

 

[SIW2]

Coke Robot
"Put a toad in a vat of boiling water and it'll jump out. Put a toad in a vat on cool water and turn the heat up, it won't jump out."

It is usually frogs.

The trick there is to get the temperature right. High enough so the water boils eventually, low enough so the frogs don't notice.

MS needs to get the temperature right. They are trying to gauge that.