|
While the Metro UI may seem to be a puzzling design decision, I think that it was a good call on Microsoft's part. I would imagine that it's part of a strategy to remain competitive in an environment where the personal computer is no longer necessarily the dominant computing device.
Apple's success with the iPad has everyone scrambling to get in on the action. At this point, you can basically go with an iPad or an Android-based tablet. Microsoft isn't really even competing in this area at the moment. While they could (and might) use their phone operating system for tablets, they would be just another "me too" player in the market. What if they could leverage Windows 8 on a tablet? Instead of being a "mobile OS," it would be a full-power desktop operating system with an interface that worked nicely with a tablet interface. I don't know whether they'll actually go that route, but it would make them stand out.
Looking at how clumsy the efforts of a lot of companies seem compared to Apple, you really have to marvel at how having full control over the device hardware and software really does wonders. It's not that everything that Apple does is perfect, but their strategies and implementations are very well done. Seeing the problems that Google's Android faces with device fragmentation, and how Microsoft tends to be held back by third party hardware vendors, really drives the point home. The Metro UI seems clumsy because there's no unified hardware move to go along with it and have everything make sense, but I would guess that it's coming - if not because Microsoft is trying to work with other companies to bring it out (speculation on my part), then because other companies will see the opportunity that Microsoft has opened up for them with the Metro UI, and will work to capitalize on it.
|