Windows 8 to offer both Metro and desktop interface

Windows 8 Metro UI

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 exec Steven Sinofsky confirmed yesterday that Windows 8 machines will 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 from
Windows Phone 7, the Metro UI has been designed with smartphones and
tablets 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 people 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, who is president of Microsoft’s Windows and Windows Live Division. “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.”