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Microsoft to stop using ‘Metro’ name, calling it Windows 8 or ‘Modern UI’
Microsoft has put an immediate cessation on its use of ‘Metro’ in referring to Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7 design or apps. The company is presumably preemptively trying to avoid a lawsuit from German firm Metro AG, and has told its partners and developers to begin calling the UI by its Windows 8 roots, or just by ‘Modern UI’.
The change has happened very quickly — in less than a week, most mentions of Metro have been removed from Microsoft support documents and portals — but could have a lasting impression on the company’s ability to identify its unique style from its competitors. Metro was a terse, unifying brand that users recognized.
According to an internal document, Microsoft is to pick a replacement name for Metro as early as next week, so it’s unlikely that we’ll forever be referring to the colourful, attractive design interface as ‘Modern UI’ for long. In the meantime, try to acclimatize yourself to the new reality: Metro is dead.
Source: The Verge
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24 comments for “Microsoft to stop using ‘Metro’ name, calling it Windows 8 or ‘Modern UI’”
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Play will forever be known as Android Market, and this will forever be known as Metro.
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to Microsoft: METRo , METRO , METRO , METROOOOO ;b
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Difference being that everyone is and has been calling this Windows 8 and few people outside of publishing have been calling it metro
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@Matt,
First it is not Windows 8 it is Windows Phone 8. Second, this is not about the name of the OS it is the name of the UI style and absolutely no none has been referring to Window Phone UI as anything but Metro.
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@Matt,
Sorry, I don’t kow what I was thinking because Metro UI is in Windows 8 too as well as other Microsoft products such as X-box. But when describing the UI, everyone does refer to as Metro.
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Attractive UI? This is a huge step backwards in the desktop market… I have some words to describe this UI but attractive isn’t one of them.
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msft actually stated a few weeks ago that they were bringing an end to the name, didn’t know it was due to Metro AG which really doesn’t make sense that there could be confusion between the two… that’s like saying people would be confused with the metro station
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I wish Metro was dead in more ways than just the name, in what concerns the desktop market.
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As long as they do a better job with a backup plan than BlackBerry did going from BBX to BB10.
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Metro is one of the few names MS has come up with that doesn’t make me cringe. Bunch of i****s.
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This is absurd. Metro is a European version of Wal-Mart, and Metro AG doesn’t have any kind of software division. Microsoft could EASILY win any kind of trademark infringement suit against them. They could also have just changed the name for the European, Asian, and African markets. I think non-English speaking customers couldn’t care less what it’s called, but this is such an unnecessary 180 for the North American market.
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which leads me to believe that this name change is due to the bad taste in many peoples mouths regarding the Metro UI
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I would say that there is no way Metro AG would be able to file a lawsuit against this, so Microsoft is likely doing it in good faith.
It’s too bad though – it’s a good name and they have been using it for years now with Windows Phone and the Zune before that.
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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i=I O=obviously S=Suck
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Does this mean Nestle can sue Microsoft for using ‘Aero’ in their UI name?
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Metro is also a newspaper and grocery store.
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calling s**t by any other name is still s**t. This ui belongs on touch devices so FFS remove it from desktop version of win 8 otherwise it will go the winME/vista route.
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I don’t know about the subway board thing but my local community bulletin board would be a better match. It’s all about rectangles and squares of varying sizes and colours vying for attention.
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They should’ve called it Surface UI, I think its a suitable replacement name.
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Vista was called longhorn before it was Vista..
of course it ranks up there as one of the worst OS’s ever. that award would prob goto Windows ME.
software having a diff name while under development is nothing new..
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MS should’ve just bought Metro AG, Metro PCS, Metro station, etc… Ballmer is too “nice”.
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I’ll still call it Metro.
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I’m not even sure they have a right to call it “Windows” anymore, considering “Metro” (or whatever they decide to call it) has completely removed the concept of a “window” from the OS. Yes, they have the “legacy desktop” code still there, but with the radical design shift to “chromeless” full-screen apps, I don’t understand why they would even call the product “Windows” anymore.
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