OMG Commodore Invented WIndows 8 on the C64

[Matt_H]

I saw a TV ad for Windows 8 tonight, and they're making a special point to remind people that the traditional desktop is still there. I think Microsoft finally recognize that Metro is a dismal failure for non-tablets and are desperately trying to repair the damage.

[Matt_H]

That's the really hilarious part of this whole debacle, they completely ignored the public outcry over this in the - what, year and a half leading up to release? - and it's taken them another half a year and adoption rates just over half of Vista's to finally get it through their heads that even a $1.5 BILLION advertising budget can't force people to like the New Way...and that's assuming that that rumor is even true...

Idiots.

Yup. My guess is that they used a pool of beta testers that was not representative of their end-users and that either:
a) said beta testers were fully dosed with the proverbial Microsoft Kool Aid and continually reported "ZOMG IS TEH BEST EVAR!!!!!1111"
or
b) said beta testers' criticism was ignored by management people who thought they knew better

[Matt_H]

I do have to admit, one thing that I read about Windows 8 that I thought was kinda cool is that programs can have Metro and desktop interfaces compiled into the same executable. With "dockable" tablets becoming popular, I could appreciate walking around using Metro and having my screen and running programs automatically flip into desktop mode when I got back to my desk. Something about that struck me as Amiga-like. In the UI Style Guide, Commodore encouraged developers to include Shell, Workbench/GUI, and ARexx interfaces in their programs, to allow users to work with whichever interface they felt most comfortable.

It was some time ago that I read about this feature for Windows 8, maybe even during the public beta. I don't know if it's still even true. It certainly doesn't seem to be widely promoted or encouraged.