I guess the Win 8 UI has already been beaten to death many times over (and I may be slightly guilty of that ;) ), but this is info from a person who (presumably) actively participated in the UI design.
Lots of reading on reddit
Shorter op-eds on BGR: http://bgr.com/2014/02/18/windows-8-design-criticism/
or on yahoo at: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-why-microsoft-forced-windows-191419978.html
A few interesting tidbits:
"Microsoft did an almost obscene level of user testing as it was developing Windows 8 1.24 billion hours of testing across 190 countries, Microsoft said. "
1.24 billion hours (!!!), and it still wasn't enough to predict the broken windows. :p
quote: Miller writes that Microsoft wanted to make the Metro UI mostly for more casual computer users who were flocking to iOS and Android devices because they offered simple and intuitive platforms for basic computing tasks.
That sounds very good, but as far as I know iOS and Android normally used on phones and tablets, not desktops.
quote: Metro is a content consumption space, he explains. It is designed for casual users who only want to check facebook, view some photos, and maybe post a selfie to instagram. Its designed for your computer illiterate little sister, for grandpas who dont know how to use that computer dofangle thingy, and for mom who just wants to look up apple pie recipes. Its simple, clear, and does one thing (and only one thing) relatively easily. That is what Metro is. It is the antithesis of a power user. I guess I can sort of agree with this: it's "Bob 2012!!"
quote: Miller goes on to explain that the Metro UI is actually a good thing for power users, however, because it will let Microsoft add a lot more features for them in the desktop mode while keeping the Metro screen separate for all of the computer illiterates out there. This is where I start to disagree -- for example, what exactly was added to desktop mode? The ability to switch to Metro, perchance? :p
Much more in the links, especially the reddit link.
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