What is Metro?

Mystere

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I have come to realize that most people don't really know what metro is.

I think most people think it's just a "skin" or style for the apps that conform to the Windows 8 UI guidelines.

It's not. Metro is actually an entirely different subsystem of Windows. A subsystem is like a "module" if you will, and it defines a set of API's (Application Programming Interfaces) that are used by programs to interact with the OS. These API's are the primary difference between say, Linux, Mac, Win32, etc...

Because Metro is a totally different set of API's that are not compatible with legacy Win32 API's, that makes Metro, in effect, an entirely new OS. This new OS (called WinRT for Windows Runtime under the covers) means that Applications written for Metro will not work in legacy Win32 mode.

So in reality, Windows 8 is two OS's. It's the classic Win32 and it's the new Metro. In reality, Metro is the dominant OS, but it has a compatibility mode to run Win32 Desktop apps in a sort of virtual environment.

So to ask if you can "disable metro" is kind of pointless, as Metro *IS* the OS that Windows 8 runs. And all new development will be centered around Metro. Metro will not be going away.

What you're doing when you ignore metro is running a Win32 compatibility mode inside Windows 8.

For all intents and purposes, Windows 7 is the last Win32 version of Windows. Windows 8 and beyond will continue to run Win32 apps, but Metro is the primary OS. So if you don't like Metro, you should probably stay on Windows 7 for as long as you can.

Why is Microsoft doing this? Because x86 is no longer the only answer. ARM and potentially other processors are taking over the low-end of the computing market. Microsoft needs an OS that works on multiple platforms, and they need applications that run on all of those platforms without change, or minimal change.

In effect, Microsoft is modeling Metro after Android, which is a java-like virtual machine that runs apps that it compiles to native code.
 

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Yes it adds a level of complication for users and programmers alike. Two OSes, two set of APIs. Brilliant! Maybe for W9, they could invent a third one, for fun?
Mystere said:
Why is Microsoft doing this? Because x86 is no longer the only answer. ARM and potentially other processors are taking over the low-end of the computing market.
I don't beliee the new processor architecture excuse. Things are enough complex in metro and in W32 that any architecture supposed to support one of the two should support both. We are not in the 80's anymore.
Mystere said:
For all intents and purposes, Windows 7 is the last Win32 version of Windows. Windows 8 and beyond will continue to run Win32 apps, but Metro is the primary OS. So if you don't like Metro, you should probably stay on Windows 7 for as long as you can.
That's what's frightening me. As I said in another thread already: within a few years unavoidable applications and perhaps hardware too will not be compatible anymore with non-Metro based OSes (W7 and below). XP and W7 may die just like W98 did: "Sorry this program expects a new version of Windows, installation cannot continue". And we will be forced to install and see everyday the ugly and useless Metro Start Screen, just like we had to suffer the "new" stupidities and bloats introduced in XP and Vista, just twice worse. :devil:
 

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Welcome !

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They really could use a new slogan
"Metro - Making Windows into Window"

Two operating systems in one would be fine, if you got to choose between them as has been hashed out time after time. Tablet operating system user interface is crap on a desktop just as a desktop interface on a tablet is more or less crap too. Nothing more I can really say that hasn't been said so... I'll just point to my new slogan for it as I still like it.
 

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I have come to realize that most people don't really know what metro is.

I think most people think it's just a "skin" or style for the apps that conform to the Windows 8 UI guidelines.

It's not. Metro is actually an entirely different subsystem of Windows. A subsystem is like a "module" if you will, and it defines a set of API's (Application Programming Interfaces) that are used by programs to interact with the OS. These API's are the primary difference between say, Linux, Mac, Win32, etc...

Because Metro is a totally different set of API's that are not compatible with legacy Win32 API's, that makes Metro, in effect, an entirely new OS. This new OS (called WinRT for Windows Runtime under the covers) means that Applications written for Metro will not work in legacy Win32 mode.

So in reality, Windows 8 is two OS's. It's the classic Win32 and it's the new Metro. In reality, Metro is the dominant OS, but it has a compatibility mode to run Win32 Desktop apps in a sort of virtual environment.

So to ask if you can "disable metro" is kind of pointless, as Metro *IS* the OS that Windows 8 runs. And all new development will be centered around Metro. Metro will not be going away.

What you're doing when you ignore metro is running a Win32 compatibility mode inside Windows 8.

For all intents and purposes, Windows 7 is the last Win32 version of Windows. Windows 8 and beyond will continue to run Win32 apps, but Metro is the primary OS. So if you don't like Metro, you should probably stay on Windows 7 for as long as you can.

Why is Microsoft doing this? Because x86 is no longer the only answer. ARM and potentially other processors are taking over the low-end of the computing market. Microsoft needs an OS that works on multiple platforms, and they need applications that run on all of those platforms without change, or minimal change.

In effect, Microsoft is modeling Metro after Android, which is a java-like virtual machine that runs apps that it compiles to native code.

Someone else gets it. Finally. My good sir, you deserve a medal.
 

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Yes it adds a level of complication for users and programmers alike. Two OSes, two set of APIs. Brilliant! Maybe for W9, they could invent a third one, for fun?
Mystere said:
Why is Microsoft doing this? Because x86 is no longer the only answer. ARM and potentially other processors are taking over the low-end of the computing market.
I don't beliee the new processor architecture excuse. Things are enough complex in metro and in W32 that any architecture supposed to support one of the two should support both. We are not in the 80's anymore.
Mystere said:
For all intents and purposes, Windows 7 is the last Win32 version of Windows. Windows 8 and beyond will continue to run Win32 apps, but Metro is the primary OS. So if you don't like Metro, you should probably stay on Windows 7 for as long as you can.
That's what's frightening me. As I said in another thread already: within a few years unavoidable applications and perhaps hardware too will not be compatible anymore with non-Metro based OSes (W7 and below). XP and W7 may die just like W98 did: "Sorry this program expects a new version of Windows, installation cannot continue". And we will be forced to install and see everyday the ugly and useless Metro Start Screen, just like we had to suffer the "new" stupidities and bloats introduced in XP and Vista, just twice worse. :devil:

I noticed all you do is complain. Why don't you simply just wait until Windows 8 is released, wait a month, see how the public reacts to it, and then complain? Your complaining won't make Windows 8 change.

Your voice is non-existant to over 600 million Windows 7 users alone.
 

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Why don't you simply just wait until Windows 8 is released, wait a month, see how the public reacts to it, and then complain? Your complaining won't make Windows 8 change.

Not complaining will?
 

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Actually, metro is a crappy, bloated overlay. Windows is win32. Windows is having a windowed operating system. Windows is what windows was for decades. WinRT, on the other hand, "isn't windows anymore"
 

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Windows is whatever Microsoft says it is. Remember, the native OS of NT based windows is not Win32. As such, Win32 is just a bloated overlay.
 

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Actually, metro is a crappy, bloated overlay. Windows is win32. Windows is having a windowed operating system. Windows is what windows was for decades. WinRT, on the other hand, "isn't windows anymore"

Win32 is doomed to its fate, even since the first version, microsoft has decided on this WinRT mode and will have to support Win32 for at least a good 10 years. DOS was going to "last forever" according to microsoft, that was only 30 years ago, Win32 is the same. Hardware needs to push there software
 

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No, it's not windows.

Maybe they will give it different name - for the phone and tablet users.
 

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Vista was not very popular.

MS took that on board and addressed the concerns/dislikes that people had voiced when building windows 7.

It is absolutely correct for those who do not like the new offering to say so.

His is not a lone voice - the proportion of those who have tried win8 and are not keen on it is very significant.

Entirely different from the situation with win7.



Yes it adds a level of complication for users and programmers alike. Two OSes, two set of APIs. Brilliant! Maybe for W9, they could invent a third one, for fun?
Mystere said:
Why is Microsoft doing this? Because x86 is no longer the only answer. ARM and potentially other processors are taking over the low-end of the computing market.
I don't beliee the new processor architecture excuse. Things are enough complex in metro and in W32 that any architecture supposed to support one of the two should support both. We are not in the 80's anymore.
Mystere said:
For all intents and purposes, Windows 7 is the last Win32 version of Windows. Windows 8 and beyond will continue to run Win32 apps, but Metro is the primary OS. So if you don't like Metro, you should probably stay on Windows 7 for as long as you can.
That's what's frightening me. As I said in another thread already: within a few years unavoidable applications and perhaps hardware too will not be compatible anymore with non-Metro based OSes (W7 and below). XP and W7 may die just like W98 did: "Sorry this program expects a new version of Windows, installation cannot continue". And we will be forced to install and see everyday the ugly and useless Metro Start Screen, just like we had to suffer the "new" stupidities and bloats introduced in XP and Vista, just twice worse. :devil:

I noticed all you do is complain. Why don't you simply just wait until Windows 8 is released, wait a month, see how the public reacts to it, and then complain? Your complaining won't make Windows 8 change.

Your voice is non-existant to over 600 million Windows 7 users alone.
 

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It is absolutely correct for those who do not like the new offering to say so.

His is not a lone voice - the proportion of those who have tried win8 and are not keen on it is very significant.

The problem is that when the same opinions or complaints are repeated over and over again and are used to hijack threads on a continuous basis, a valid opinion becomes a rant very quickly. I agree if you're not happy about something you should make your voice heard to force change, but people on these forums don't realize that making the voice heard on THESE forums will have NO effect at all. I'll let you in on a secret, Microsoft does not come to these forums so perhaps it would be better to go to the Microsoft forums to make your voice heard.

Let me help...

Windows - Microsoft Answers
 

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I think they do - at least during the beta stages - perhaps less so now.

You might just as well ask, what is the point of anyone posting anything at all here - may as well post on the MS forums instead.
 

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You might just as well ask, what is the point of anyone posting anything at all here - may as well post on the MS forums instead.

You totally missed the point of my post, might want to read it a couple of times. There are a number of threads that are started as a discussion of a topic of Windows 8, or asking for help, and it doesn't take long for someone to get in and hijack the thread complaining about the same things. This thread being an example of that.
 

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You totally missed the point of my post, might want to read it a couple of times. There are a number of threads that are started as a discussion of a topic of Windows 8, or asking for help, and it doesn't take long for someone to get in and hijack the thread complaining about the same things. This thread being an example of that.
Nobody is hijacking the thread. We're simply disagreeing with the so called "facts" of the opening statement of the thread topic. And that will continue to go on.

To say nothing is simply implied assent to those statements. They need to be challenged.

The topic comes across as a Win8 promotional. The author has constantly been a supporter and promoter of W8, and has every right to do that. As much as opponents of it have every right to countermand.
 
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Well actually, to be anally specific and precise, metro is the term of the DESIGN language of Windows 8 and WinRT apps. What the OP means by Metro as a new OS, it's actually WinRT that is the new Windows code and APIs. Win32 is an old beast that with the introduction of WinRT is coming to a slow death. Yes, it still will be there in the near future, but will be like DOS. It might be gone for good with its original purpose, or it might just be a simple Desktop like UI only to run old apps like a DOS emulator or more like a command prompt terminal.

But the term for the design language is replace with "Modern UI," which I find drab. A better replacement could had been Mosaic.
 

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