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Thursday, August 09, 2012

“Metro” out, “Windows 8” in

Posted by David Bernstein


If you have been following the development of Microsoft’s new operating system called Windows 8 or even tried out the developer preview then I’m sure you have heard the term “Metro” used to describe its new interface. Metro is what Microsoft used to describe the tile based interface that is geared more towards tablets and touchscreens than PCs. Some people liked the name while others didn’t.

It turns out that it may not matter since apparently Microsoft is dropping the Metro name altogether and just sticking with Windows 8 to describe the new look. Some say they will be using terms such as “Windows 8 Interface”, “Windows 8 design” and “Windows 8 apps” in place of Metro. These new names will apply to the PC and smartphone\tablet versions of the new operating system. This change is most likely because of an apparent dispute with a German company called Metro Group which owns the term Metro. Microsoft is trying to play it down that the Metro term was only used for development purposes but we doubt that.

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