I get what you mean. I just recently got a Mac and one of the things I really like about it so far is how swiping your finger across the "Magic Mouse" while in a browser it does a nice gradual transition left/right for the back/forward. All it is is an effect, but it makes it feel much more seamless like turning the pages of a book or something. Daft really...Looking at Windows 8 on touch, for example. MS has instituted this very thing. On a web page you swipe one way or the other to go backward and forward on the page. This, to me, is brilliant even though the back button is still there. That's more of a weaning process I suppose. But, looking at the page dhan referenced, the first thing I thought about when reading was "flow". And sure enough, the author mentions flow of the eye is better when reading left to right or right to left in some Asian cultures. Either way, it's horizontal and not vertical.
I don't think Metro is doomed beyond all hope as others do, but it needs some serious thinking with regards to business and productivity. That so far Office and the Dynamics program on the frontpage a few days ago use the desktop for the productivity side speaks volumes about the current implementation of Metro. Thing is, I can think of ways that Metro could be made much more seamless, coherent and productivity friendly than just shoving all the useful stuff on the desktop. For a start, do these things as a separate "desktop configuration" for a more productive user. But it is daft things like adding a lightbox style close button in the corner and other button equivalents for gestures (which are just horrible IMO - the window shaking thing in Win 7 is probably the most awkward thing I try to do with a mouse), a universal and always visible task switcher (like some of the ideas posted already), ability to "snap" up to 4 windows, backwards compatibility via forced full screen, putting certain options in more logical places, etc.... all tiny things that could go a long way to making it more productivity friendly.
This is where I don't get Microsoft - they obviously "get" that programs like Office have to be used differently to consumption apps and therefore need something more desktop like (although I'd prefer it to be implemented better) otherwise we'd have a fully Metro Office. One of the paradigms of Metro is that everything is context appropriate and designed according to task if I remember correctly. So why in the same breath do they try to force the same UI over everything like some quick copy paste job? They did it with the ribbon. It was great for Office and as a result a natural fit for Wordpad. But for example, it has made Paint far harder to use.
No single UI works in every situation and it is something Microsoft desperately needs to pay more attention to. I get the impression that some there do get this but then other departments go all "ooo shiny" at any new UI that comes along and starts slapping it on everything they make.
