The Benefits of Windows 8's Metro Interface

[playXray]

Using Metro on a touch screen device seems pretty cool, but what if you don't have a touch screen device? Sure you can get around using Metro if you really want to, and the Start menu is hidden away somewhere if you need to get to it, but that's not the point.

So can anyone tell me, without flaming either way about Windows 8, what the specific benefits are to using Metro over the old 'explorer' interface? I've really struggled to get to grips with Metro so far, but I want to give it another go to see if I can get used to it, especially if I can see what Microsoft are aiming to do with it.

Any tips would be appreciated.

[firey]

Here is a benefit:

I hate metro so much, that I don't have to worry about getting the RTM, I don't have to worry about going through an upgrade or downgrade.

[Danielle1989]

I wouldnt say its good to use Metro interface, but I would say its good to use WinRT apps. As someone who has a really old PC I appreciate everything that helps me to reduce memory usage. WinRT apps do this. Using the interface that surrounds them is just a matter of habit. I have used metro IE only a few days and now even that I know im not on the desktop I right click to switch between tabs. Silly me.

P.S.

Im a developer and its not true (in my case) that I have to run bazillion apps and stare into bazillion windows.

[spaceelf]

Using Metro on a touch screen device seems pretty cool, but what if you don't have a touch screen device? Sure you can get around using Metro if you really want to, and the Start menu is hidden away somewhere if you need to get to it, but that's not the point.

So can anyone tell me, without flaming either way about Windows 8, what the specific benefits are to using Metro over the old 'explorer' interface? I've really struggled to get to grips with Metro so far, but I want to give it another go to see if I can get used to it, especially if I can see what Microsoft are aiming to do with it.

Any tips would be appreciated.

It's quicker to find things in the start screen than the start menu, without all the extra folders in the way. I didn't really see anything so terribly different in using Metro as long as you know to right click and manage things.

For day to day usage nothing's really going to change, you still alt tab to go to another app, you can still use win-r to run win-f to find or whatever...you just won't need to use search for everything anymore cause it'll be right there.

Also, the power tools being a right click on the lower left of the desktop will save me craploads of time.

[giantpotato]

Live tiles displaying dynamic information one button press away.

Larger targets, meaning you don't have to be as precise when clicking an icon/tile.

Unified interface across devices.

Scalable display across different DPIs.

[BoyBoppins]

How would Microsoft handle 'apps' with the current Windows desktop? The Metro interface creates a way to organize, open, and view live tiles in a nice way. The old way would be a vast number of icons in a row on the superbar?

Next Metro allows for both the present and the future if one wants both. If you want a future with touchscreen devices, you need to do something in the present to get there. Microsoft feels this is the best way and I can see why they think that.

Microsoft would probably fail if they tried a separate OS for tablets so they put Metro on Windows and do it in a way that really isn't that much of a problem for people who dont ever want to use it and they put the Windows desktop on Metro in a way that isnt too much of a problem for tablet users who dont want to use the dekstop.

People have to consider that Microsoft isnt here to serve them specifically. They have a business to run and billions of people to consider as well as their own future and sticking with only the desktop puts them at a disadvantage.

So if you want a tablet future with Windows, deal with the two faced nature now, which really isnt that big of a deal. If you dont want a tablet future, stick with Windows 7 or get Windows 8 and find a way to turn Metro off without moaning to everyone else.

Plus Metro is much more than just the UI; WinRT is great and brings a lot of new cool things developers can do to make our computing better.

[Stoffel]

I think the Share charm will bring some cool functionality if developers include it properly in their apps

I also prefer the start screen over the start menu, just easier to organize and find your apps

System wide spell check is also nice

[lunarworks]

Here is a benefit:

I hate metro so much, that I don't have to worry about getting the RTM, I don't have to worry about going through an upgrade or downgrade.

Good point. I don't have to worry about upgrading.

Of course, I'll miss the joy of upgrading...

[Rudy]

Personally I think the Metro part should be on the main desktop instead of being in its own screen

[Lels]

Here is a benefit:

I hate metro so much, that I don't have to worry about getting the RTM, I don't have to worry about going through an upgrade or downgrade.

Using Metro on a touch screen device seems pretty cool, but what if you don't have a touch screen device? Sure you can get around using Metro if you really want to, and the Start menu is hidden away somewhere if you need to get to it, but that's not the point.

So can anyone tell me, without flaming either way about Windows 8, what the specific benefits are to using Metro over the old 'explorer' interface? I've really struggled to get to grips with Metro so far, but I want to give it another go to see if I can get used to it, especially if I can see what Microsoft are aiming to do with it.

Any tips would be appreciated.

You must of skipped over that part, firey.

[Josh the Nerd]

The Start screen is easier to organize than the Start menu. With Windows 7, I would have to deal with the fact that some of the shortcuts are shared with Public, and need to give myself permission to do anything to a Public shortcut.

[zeta_immersion]

I will try to pass judgement at RTM .. now it is too soon to tell but to me it seems that it would work well for touchscreen but not desktop ... unless it is modified somehow could be interesting ... (don't like it though)

[burnblue]

I like it. I went to upload a photo to Facebook the other day and realized I really wanted to use the File Picker (that lets me access my SkyDrive, and is basically an app instead of the old Explorer open dialog). So I closed Firefox and went to Metro IE.

I like how you can always switch by flicking to one corner, the same corner everytime. You actually require less precision than picking the spot on the taskbar your app is, to switch to.

I don't really love how you need to right-click to get the app bar though. I feel like if I could just flick my mouse somewhere (like you can to get Start or Switcher) then this would be easier.

I don't love how big everything is in some apps like SkyDrive. But that's a design decision, it doesn't have to be that way, and that's not a limitation of WinRT. Look at Bing Maps for example.

I like how you can now, after snapping two windows in desktop, also snap a metro app to the side. Three-way snap. Not that I really ever need this for anything.

Fullscreen is very zen.

[burnblue]

Oh and if by 'Metro' you meant the Start Screen, I'll say that when I return to Vista/7, trying to use the tiny scroll bar to look through that narrow list of apps in that tiny corner of the screen, while guessing which folder an app is in, is an inferior experience to just using the space of the entire screen to show me my apps.

[migo]

The big advantage is for laptops. With a trackpad I find I have to drag the cursor around quite a bit before selecting exactly what I want, whereas with a mouse or trackball I can select it instantly. Click and drag like stuff as well. Fitt's Law really applies with a trackpad as much as it does with touch.

If you're a desktop user and hardly ever use a laptop, you won't see that major benefit as your mouse/trackball already offers you the precision you need.

The other major benefit is removing legacy baggage. It's way easier to start from scratch and have something work smoothly and without a hiccup than it is to try to build on something existing and retain backwards compatibility while improving performance. MS has obviously done a good job already with Vista-7 and 7-8 in that department, but there will be a more noticeable benefit there going to Metro. The down side there is it'll take a while for Metro to have enough features so it's not a trade-off.

For when I'm using a trackball, I don't really get a huge benefit from Metro specifically, but I do enjoy that things work consistently. For instance, I like having the taskbar set to auto-hide, usually that means that a few pixels of the taskbar show on the side of the screen, but with Vista, 7 and even 8, for some reason that I've been unable to pin down, the active window obscures those pixels and I can't move the cursor over those few pixels to reveal the taskbar. The only way to get it is to either minimise everything (which isn't easy if the taskbar won't show) or to hit the windows key. That's been stuck in Windows for years, it's not going to go away. With Metro I've got the task list on the left that works essentially the same way as the taskbar, but it works consistently - every time I move to the left corner, I'll get it.

That's a worthwhile improvement for me (now of course I'd like to see apps pinned to the task list on the left, and for Aero Peek to make a comeback while moving the cursor over the open apps, as well as more seamless integration of legacy apps with it, so that they behave more like Parallels does, and yeah, that's essentially feeding back stuff that was in Windows 7, but I'd prefer that than have to deal with some of the lingering crap that's been with Windows for ages (program installation is terrible on Windows compared to OSX, and Windows 8 Metro apps finally catch up).

[bgjerlow]

I'm starting to find metro really useful on my netbook - however only as an alternative start menu.

It's easy to switch between it and the normal desktop, and you can pin your most used apps to the screen. I am going to say something here which may make a few people dislike me: The metro start screen is better than the traditional start menu.

HOWEVER, if it was up to me, I would still include the traditional start menu with Windows 8. Metro wouldn't work well with business computers.

As for the metro applications, I haven't used them that much yet. But I prefer to run the applications in the normal desktop.

[firey]

You must of skipped over that part, firey.

I didn't flame it at all, I gave a solid opinion on the benefit I see to Metro.

[techguy77]

I didn't find any benefits of it since Desktop offers more for same things therefore i still ask myself what is the real purpose of this.

[bandit_liberty_rumble]

- Metro interfaces are uncluttered, feel 'designed', are easy to use and reduced to the essential

- Consistent presentation

- Program settings are finally presented and accessible in a predictable and consistent way

- ?

[playXray]

Thanks for all the info guys. In terms of actual improvements over the old Aero/explorer interface, I've got these down as the main ones so far:

• WinRT apps reduce memory usage.
  
• It's quicker to find things in the start screen than the start menu, without all the extra folders in the way.
  
• Live tiles displaying dynamic information one button press away.
  
• Power tools being a right click on the lower left of the desktop will save time
  
• Larger targets, meaning you don't have to be as precise when clicking an icon/tile.
  
• Scalable display across different DPIs.
  
• The Start screen is easier to organize than the Start menu. With Windows 7, I would have to deal with the fact that some of the shortcuts are shared with Public, and need to give myself permission to do anything to a Public shortcut
  
• I like how you can now, after snapping two windows in desktop, also snap a metro app to the side. Three-way snap.
  
• The big advantage is for laptops. With a trackpad I find I have to drag the cursor around quite a bit before selecting exactly what I want, whereas with a mouse or trackball I can select it instantly.
  
• The other major benefit is removing legacy baggage
  

Considering how big a change the move to Metro will be, that doesn't seem to be a huge list. I'm going to have another blast with Windows 8 at the weekend, and see if I notice anything else. The last point above (legacy baggage) is probably the most interesting - I guess MS plan to drop the old interface altogether in the future, as having a dual interface doesn't seem like a sensible plan in the long run.

[FalseAgent]

yet another thread...

[Subhadip]

- FAST and efficient

- Live tiles. Instead of opening websites and applications one-by-one to check for status updates you get all your information summarized on one screen. It will be a huge feature once all our apps are WinRT'd.

- Share contracts. It's like a super-clipboard, except instead of finding what to copy, copying it, open new app, paste, you just have to do click share without leaving your app.

- Expanding on that, everything is closely integrated. Search in one place, manage apps / updates in one place, etc.

- Snap mode, the fact that snapped view is more appropriate and different from snapped view.

- Chromeless. I am a big fan of F11 / full screen, and it is great to have all apps as such. Obviously many apps, particularly productivity, require additional interface elements, in which case those can be within the app.

- Searching for files, I rarely use Explorer now!

- Type, as beautiful as it is functional, same goes for animations.

- A unified experience among all devices, using the cloud.

- Connected standly, app suspension.

- And other minor details...

My only complaint is it is incomplete and lacks customisability and multi-tasking. The half-arsed task switcher should be fixed come RC time. But still, there will be some things we would need to fall back to the Desktop.

[FalseAgent]

- Consistent-looking toast notifications across all applications

- No more annoying flashing system tray icons and balloons

- Ability to turn off all notifications at your disposal

- SLICK ANIMATIONS!

- Volume adjusting heads-up display (YAY!) (see screenshot to see what I mean):