Why Doesn't Windows 8 Just Look Like THIS? (Take Two)

Paul, the 1st one is pushing it a little, I agree. But the 2nd one is 100% on the ball and 100% Metro. You need to be a real @#$ to look the other way and say 'no, it's not going to happen'

OMG I'm famous! Paul has my email in his live tile. My sons are going to flip out.

Nice ideas, Paul. Maybe the Win8 team can offer you an internship or contract ;) The more I use Win8, the more I think "Win9 is going to be great!"

Paul, you and I need to sit down and have a beer together. We could solve all kinds of problems. I am THE founding member of the Anything But Microsoft club, yet I think Metro is the most innovative thing Microsoft has ever done, and I think Microsoft is headed down the wrong path with their current implementation/integration. We come from completely different places, but arrive at similar conclusions. Metro, actually, WinRT, could help Microsoft leapfrog Apple, but not the way their going about it. Microsoft is pushing Metro (cramming it down our throats), when it should be pulling (providing a compelling use case). WinRT can right so many wrongs, but Microsoft isn't going about it the right way. They should listen to you more. I hope the next RC incorporates some of your ideas, but you and I both know, that ain't going to happen.

I think the response you've given to people with concerns about the Windows 8 design is "Microsoft decided to do it this way. Deal with it." My response is different, however. I like what you are getting at: we want more flexibility with the split screen in Metro. 50/50 isn't right for all apps, and it would be nice to see live tiles while working on a main application. I also think Windows RT is completely the wrong name. That product doesn't run legacy Windows apps, so to call it "Windows" anything is misleading and borderline dishonest. Instead, that product should be called "Microsoft Metro". If Microsoft wants us to move past Windows, then they need to, too, and quit calling products that aren't Windows "Windows this" and "Windows that"

Over thinking. Just need dual modes, Metro and Desktop. Let the user choose.

There are reasons for MS's stance on the desktop. Desktop apps use win32 and COM -- my guess is that long term win32 is going away (don't know about COM -- probably not). But there are tons of things out there today that use win32, and for backwards compatibility must be supported. The desktop is a tightly sand-boxed environment that mimics W7 pretty closely. MS absolutely does not want things appearing that mix the WinRT and win32 api's. That in my mind explains a lot of what they are doing -- including over in the WOA world. All that said: your take 2 UI has a lot of merit. However, I don't think that this is something that MS has to do. Why couldn't a 3rd party developer build a metro app that is the left-side of your display? This app would be a relatively simple metro-app-tile container app. Such an app could be used to implement your UI vision. Also many have been decrying the start screen replacing the start menu. Many complaints revolve around the lack of a nested hierarchy organizing capability on the start screen. The same tile container app could be used to provide the missing start screen organizing capabilities. Now, I don't really know whether there's enough semantic sugar in WinRT to do this, but as we move into the new Metro-ized UI world, it seems to me that MS doesn't have all the UI answers, and that many neat UI innovations may in fact come from 3rd party developers. Maybe even MS has the humility to realize this, and is hoping for some 3rd party UI marination to move things along to UI nirvana :D.

To really prove the concept, you need to redraw this with a 4:3 resolution, since that's the resolution of the overwhelming majority of monitors actively in use. I imagine it would squeeze the desktop portion down to a cluttered mess.

Not sure about this. If they implement this, wouldn't it be ported to Windows RT? Would it make any sense on Windows RT? It just seems like another way to keep the Desktop UI going. Don't you think that the Desktop will go away once developers start really taking advantage of WinRT? Remember that Metro is just a high-level UI concept. Just because you make an app for WinRT, it doesn't mean it has to adopt the Metro UI design. I think keeping the desktop is just the wrong move. I would imagine that keeping the desktop around means that they won't innovate on WinRT as much, so advancements in things like multitasking in WinRT won't get a chance on the design table. It's like keeping Windows Mobile on the market even after Windows Phone 7 launched. Why drag it out? Let it die, and let's innovate on the new stuff. This is new territory, and it's easy to evolve this stuff while it's still gestating.

I think Paul is clearly pointing out that Windows 8 is missing a dedicated notification UI (think iOS, Android and the latest incarnation of OS X) -- a task for which a tiled interface is perfectly suited, and an interface which even the most adamant critics of Metro would certainly appreciate. I don't see why it would be difficult for Microsoft to enable such a notification pane via a 6th charm button and perhaps, as Paul suggests, include a settings panel to allow users to chose which tiles would display their information here. Furthermore, the tiles can be "double-wide" or "single-wide" (as currently possible on the Start screen) to save screen real estate. Although, labeling such a notification pane as "Start" would probably confuse non-technical people. Flattening the Explorer UI (and possibly the taskbar), as seen in recently leaked screenshots, would be the icing on the cake and help transitions between Metro and the Desktop seem less jarring.

Paul, when I first read your 'fix' I wasn't fully convinced, but after thinking about it for a few days, I really like it. It's like Windows 8's version of desktop gadgets. Like it a lot. They just need to make it easily discoverable so it's not just a 'power user' feature. I have another fix. I love where windows 8 is heading, but I have real concerns with the distinct disconnect between the Start Screen and the Desktop. Please tell me if I'm missing something or if what I'm about to describe has a major flaw. I'm not a programmer! I think it must be flawed because it seems too obvious! Anyway, here goes: Imagine being able to swipe or scroll from the Start Screen to the Desktop as we can do on Mac OSX where you can do a 3 finger swipe between desktops and Mission Control. Or like on iOS where you can swipe to the left of the first screen to get to the (useless) search screen. So, from the Start Screen in Windows 8, just swipe a bit further to the right and there's the Desktop! From the Desktop, just swipe to the left and there's the Start Screen! This would be a beautifully simple, fluid and OBVIOUS way of working. And completely discoverable. All arguments for the Return Of The Start Button would be immediately rendered absurd! The only foreseeable problem for mouse users would be if you're on the Desktop working in a maximized window (or any window that has the focus), a mouse scroll would operate whatever that event does in that app, so you'd have to click on the Desktop to give it the focus in order to scroll left to move into the Start Screen. That may not be an issue with touch, only for mouse users. OK, now disappoint me by revealing some major flaw to this idea which would make it unworkable... there's got to be one that I've missed because this solution is, to me at least, too obvious. I can't believe it hasn't been considered and discarded.

Nicely done Paul and I cannot see any reason why Microsoft should not make this change before Windows 8 is complete, would love to hear their reasons why not!! your mockup looks good and makes sense.

I like this a lot. Especially if you could easily configure which tiles were where and even have options to have multiple "favorite configurations". If you are a desktop user, which I am,I would have that tile on the top, then email, weather, etc. But say you are a news junkie, you could have your favourite news feeds on the left while working in on the desktop or using a content creating metro app. Say you are a stock junkie you could have live tiles with stock info coming in while working on your complex spread sheet. Say you are doing research on something and there were apps and/or files that you wanted immediately available to you, you could pin those to a "favorites" start menu. Could always go back to the original and see all of them. Since you can group tiles on the start menu, it could be as simple as just displaying a certain group on the left. The group has to have some kind of property and collection, and seems like could simply use that collection to know what tiles are displayed in what order. Even just being able to order the groups so the one you are wanting to use at a particular time would be visible on top. I mean this seems like a really easy to implement feature. And I am a pretty simple minded database programmer. I have a 27" iMac running Windows 7 but think I would love to run Windows 8 on large screen with this configuration. There is plenty of screen space. However on the netbook on which am running 8, not so sure and I hardly ever use two windows at same time or the snap feature. But that is why Windows Metro apps run full screenthey are designed for small screens and tablets.

I think this is an excellent solution! If only you could set the background picture to be the same in the start screen as the one used in the desktop then it would look seamless. I like this snapped Start screen idea because it solves several problems - 1. It allows you to see a chosen selection of live tiles whilst working with any app, whether Metro or Desktop. 2. It's a really simply way for power users to have super-fast access to their regular app selection. 3. It provides a nice way of working with legacy desktop apps without having to switch between desktop and Metro start screen. 4. It virtually eliminates the need for the start button in the desktop mode. There have been many complaints about joining the tablet experience with the desktop experience. However, this I believe is THE solution which solves the problem. This solution would indeed allow Windows 8 to be successful on both touch-screen tablets and mouse-driven desktops. Well done! I truly hope Microsoft will listen.