A response to the iPad, 2012’s Windows 8 sported Microsoft’s “Metro” user interface, with a Start screen of large, blinking Live Tiles and apps designed around touch-friendly controls and swipe gestures. These elements were grafted on top of Windows’s traditionally mouse-driven user interface to create more visual consistency with the company’s phone operating system, Windows Phone, even when running on PCs without touchscreens. The result was a visual design language katakana, the Japanese alphabet used to spell borrowed, foreign words.
Ultimately, Windows 8’s approach proved untenable, and Microsoft’s exit from the phone market made cross-platform consistency less of an imperative for the company. 2015’s Windows 10 relegated Live Tiles to a portion of the Start menu, and Windows 11 finally marks their departure. But Windows 8’s Metro apps were indeed more touch-friendly than traditional Windows apps. Microsoft has continued to struggle with balancing the needs…
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Source : fastcompany.com
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