Latest Tech News - Windows 8 to offer both Metro and desktop interface

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The Windows 8 Metro UI

(Credit:Microsoft)
Microsoft will offer Windows 8 users the option of working in the new Metro interface or sticking with a more traditional desktop environment.

In the latest installment of the "Building Windows 8" blog, Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky confirmed that Windows 8 devices would sport the Metro interface, which he described as "fast and fluid, immersive, beautiful, and app-centric."

With touch-screen capabilities and an overall theme borrowed fromWindows Phone 7, the Metro UI has been designed with smartphones andtablets in mind but can run on traditional computers as well.

However, for people who want better control over their PCs, Microsoft will also offer the more traditional desktop interface as an alternative. By default, Metro will actually hide and not even load the Windows desktop. But users who prefer the more familiar environment can easily flip a switch to display the desktop, which Sinofsky referred to as "just another app" in Windows 8.

"The things that people do today on PCs don't suddenly go away just because there are new Metro style apps," said Sinofsky. "The mechanisms that people rely on today (mice, physical keyboards, trackpads) don't suddenly become less useful or 'bad' just because touch is also provided as a first-class option. These tools are quite often the most ergonomic, fast, and powerful ways of getting many things done."

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Acknowledging that some users may have wanted Microsoft to full commit to Metro, while others see it as a UI just for mobile devices, juggling both seemed like the best option.

"This is a balancing act, and one we'll be talking quite a lot about in this blog in the coming months," Sinofsky said. "Having both of user interfaces together harmoniously is an important part of Windows 8."

Sinofsky gave the impression that Metro would be the default UI in Windows 8 but didn't reveal whether users could change that to instead boot up into the desktop. But hopefully, Microsoft will provide enough control to satisfy users of both mobile devices and traditional PCs.

Recent installments of the "Building Windows 8" have revealed a few enhancements to the traditional Windows environment, including a ribbon for Windows Explorer and smoother file management.





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