Windows 8 Metro is DEAD – long live Windows 8 Metro.
That may well be the internal feeling at Microsoft over the past few days, as it obviously became clear to the company that it could no longer use the Metro name to describe its new user interface technology and design ethic.
Why? Well, Microsoft hasn’t officially explained what caused the Metricide, but everyone’s pointing the finger at German supermarket chain “Metro AG”, which is presumed to be the “European retail partner” reports have suggested Microsoft has been in talks with over concerns about who owns the “Metro” trademark.
Microsoft has issued a statement quoted all over the Internet, which states: “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 dialog to a broad consumer dialog we will use our commercial names."
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Microsoft, however, did say in its “Windows Phone 7 Metro book” from 2010 that Metro was a “code name”, as quoted in The Verge: “Metro is our code name for our design language. We call it Metro because it's modern and clean. It's fast and in motion. It's about content and typography. And it's entirely typographical."
Now, the wait for Microsoft’s new name for Metro begins, along with the interminable wait for the Windows 8 RTM to arrive on MSDN and TechNet networks from August 15 (US time), along with the October 26 release of Windows 8 at retail and pre-loaded onto desktops, notebooks, ultrabooks and tablet.
So, while some out there aren’t fans of Metro and wish it was dead, Metro has indeed been killed off – but not like that.
