I think they made a mistake combining the 2 OS's. Microsoft, like any other incumbent, they prefer to continue to work on top of the old technology. And that pretty much always turns out to be the wrong strategy when disruption happens. It's like Nokia deciding to improve on Symbian instead of going full force on Maemo or Meego later on.
The Windows7/desktop mode is creating problems and confusion for the Metro mode, and the Metro mode is frustrating those who want to use the desktop mode. This is why it's never good to combine the 2 worlds: the dying one, and the new one.
This is something Steve Jobs also saw, and it's why he kept Mac OS X and iOS separated: one OS for the old world, and one OS for the new world. As the old one fades into the background, the new one gets more and more popularity. That's how you make disruption happen, and how you can embrace it. But Microsoft seems to repeat every mistake in the book. I'm not saying they're not on the right track with Metro, I'm just saying they're choosing the wrong strategy for it, and it will probably ultimately fail.
I found Windows 7's learning curve bad enough coming from XP (never used Vista). I used to know where everything was in XP, and I still don't know where a lot of stuff is in Win7, and I've been using it since beta. Imagine how bad the learning curve will be for a "normal" user when they get all that plus the Metro stuff being forced on them, when all they expect is "Windows". Microsoft is in a very vulnerable position with this paradigm transition. It would've helped if they kept them separated.
Windows' biggest asset is their software library, and it's turning out to be a giant anchor preventing them from innovating like they need to. If they could find an elegant solution that leveraged their legacy software library into a useful touch-based experience, they'd have a great shot at succeeding. It appears they took too long to move (iOS and Android both have large software libraries already), and aren't able to leverage their legacy software in a meaningful way. They've just strapped "legacy" support on top of Metro, and are only providing it for some hardware. It was possible to "do everything for everyone" in the PC world, when that just meant hiring more people to provide driver support. It's not possible now.
I don't mind having both worlds, in fact I like it, I just don't want them so intermingled.
When coding, doing a research paper, or going through my finances, I want classic desktop mode. I'm probably at my laptop, and mostly typing, searching files, etc... I don't want to see Metro.
But I'd love to be able to take that laptop and sit on the couch or in bed and either convert it to a tablet or treat it as one (with a touchscreen) and go into Metro mode.
The thing I like about the two worlds is that I like the ability to get disrupted while on my tablet, due to some work email, and be able to quickly address it on the same machine. I like the fact that I could get a link to a Flash site, and drop out of Metro and check it out. I like being in classic desktop and get hankering to play a game and drop into the Metro app store to get some .99 cent game to kill an hour.
But most of the time I don't want the two worlds to collide. And when they do I want to explicitly choose to do so.
And it seems like everyone has this feedback. I can't help but believe MS is going this direction.
Wow, I'm actually getting excited about win8. Microsoft has really made a radical change to the GUI and seems 100% dedicated to Metro. So far I'm not that impressed with how widget centric win 8 will be but I'm assuming there will be an option to completly turn it off and use win 7's GUI.
The Windows7/desktop mode is creating problems and confusion for the Metro mode, and the Metro mode is frustrating those who want to use the desktop mode. This is why it's never good to combine the 2 worlds: the dying one, and the new one.
This is something Steve Jobs also saw, and it's why he kept Mac OS X and iOS separated: one OS for the old world, and one OS for the new world. As the old one fades into the background, the new one gets more and more popularity. That's how you make disruption happen, and how you can embrace it. But Microsoft seems to repeat every mistake in the book. I'm not saying they're not on the right track with Metro, I'm just saying they're choosing the wrong strategy for it, and it will probably ultimately fail.
I found Windows 7's learning curve bad enough coming from XP (never used Vista). I used to know where everything was in XP, and I still don't know where a lot of stuff is in Win7, and I've been using it since beta. Imagine how bad the learning curve will be for a "normal" user when they get all that plus the Metro stuff being forced on them, when all they expect is "Windows". Microsoft is in a very vulnerable position with this paradigm transition. It would've helped if they kept them separated.