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Microsoft Drops 'Metro' Name For Windows 8 UI
hawkinspeter writes "The BBC is reporting that Microsoft is dropping the 'Metro' name for the new Windows 8 UI. Apparently, the catchy new name they've settled on is 'Windows 8 style UI!' This has happened due to a (potential) trademark dispute with Metro AG, a German retail giant. Microsoft said, 'We have used Metro style as a code name during the product development cycle across many of our product lines. As we get closer to launch and transition from industry dialogue to a broad consumer dialogue we will use our commercial names.' I'm wondering if Microsoft planned this to get publicity for their new OS and UI or whether they just forget to check on how 'Metro' is used around the world."
the chose to use Bing to check. Shoulda used Google!
I'm sure "SlashdotMedia" will improve on all the wonders that Dice Holdings blessed us all with
Did Ballmer come up with it himself?
M$ set to release the all new Ford Tablet, the Walmart Phone 9, and the Trader Joe's Web Application Framework!
I have better UI name in mind... Windows Start UI
just look up metro on google
a bunch of transit authorities use the word, there's metroPCS, some library consortium, a few other government entities, etc.
clearly, the word is common and abstract enough that anyone can claim it's usage
trademark law, copyright law, intellectual property: it is such an absurd, useless pox on civilization. i foresee and fervently hope that history will write of this century about how the whole concept of intellectual property law became abolished. it's such useless wasteful, lawyer mongering nonsense by trolls
we really need to just lose the entire concept of intellectual property from our societies. it is utterly destructive to the free flow of culture and ideas and does NOT do what it purports to do: protect creators. no, it empowers litigious rent-seeking parasites. so much wasted money energy and time
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Apparently, the catchy new name they've settled on is 'Windows 8 style UI'
Well, it was either that, or "Microsoft Office Live Style UI Media Center Edition for Windows Genuine Advantage".
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Window Pain
Watch those corners
Not strictly true. Metro was chosen originally for the UI because the tiles slide from side to side, like the windows of a metro train when you're standing on the platform.
Dont ask how i know. ;)
Remember when Carl Sagan got upset with Apple for using Carl Sagan as a code name for the Power Mac 7100? They renamed the project BHA for "Butt-Head Astronomer".
I wonder if any Van Halen fans at MS pushed for "UI812".
I'm sure "SlashdotMedia" will improve on all the wonders that Dice Holdings blessed us all with
Yea that's not what this was though, this was a marketing term and they started pushing it very early. Similarly technical documentation for developers refers to it all as Metro, if they were going to change that because it's not the real name, they would have done it before it went RTM.
Consider this: they have no other name for it. "Aero" is still "Aero", but "Metro" is now "Windows-8 style UI".
They've been calling it Metro for quite a while, including on all that stuff put out about Windows Phone 7. You know WP7, that phone OS of theirs that's in production. If codenames really don't stick around once its in production, then how do they explain that?
The truth here is that Windows 8 has been poorly received, and Metro is the reason why. Too many people hate it on the desktop. In an attempt to change the conversation they're going to change the name and hope that the negative buzz doesn't carry over.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
They should have call it how it looks like: Sokoban
Not strictly true. Metro was chosen originally for the UI because the tiles slide from side to side, like the windows of a metro train when you're standing on the platform.
Dont ask how i know. ;)
Close. Microsoft's design team says that the Metro UI is partly inspired by signs commonly found at public transport systems, for instance on the King County Metro transit system, which serves the Seattle area where Microsoft is headquartered.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
He just wanted billions and billions of dollars...
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
You seriously think it's cool to first name a product after someone without their permission, then change the name to imply negative things about the person because they didn't like that?
It's not cool at all; however, Sagan overreacted, and deserves to be laughed at for such. Even great men are not perfect. Sagan is my personal hero, and this episode humanises him to me.
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
Metro : US and French name for an underground railway system, aka Underground, Tube, Subway, etc .etc .etc ...
Also, in US at least, slang term for a straight guy who acts/dresses like a homosexual.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
The UI formerly known as Metro
I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the Internet. Blog
I suggest "TOMBSTONE".
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Actually, it's a shortening of the original name of the Paris underground trains: Compagnie du Métropolitain de Paris.
> Apparently, the catchy new name they've settled on is 'Windows 8 style UI'
I'm no Microsoft fan, but TFS is wrong. Both linked articles aren't that long, so it's not hard to find what they've actually said. Microsoft has dropped "Metro" and is looking for a new name. Until they figure out a new name, they have asked developers to stop referring to the interface as "Metro" and use "Windows 8 style UI" instead. But the point is, Microsoft has not settled on this as a new name.
From the BBC article:
Instead of Metro, Microsoft has told developers to simply refer to the blocky display as a "Windows 8 style UI" for the time being.
From the Verge article:
Until then, employees have been advised to refer to the Metro style user interface as the "Windows 8 style UI."