So by now, many of you have probably seen some of the videos of Windows 8. If you haven’t, let me walk you through it.
The Windows 8 experience is going to be dominated by a new user interface currently called “Metro”. There’s no “desktop” which means no taskbar, no system tray no start menu. You work with Windows in a way that’s similar to the way one would work with their iPad or Android device.
I have to say, I think it’s pretty cool in many respects. Or more to the point, I think it will be cool once they iron out all the usability gotchas in it (which I think may take them a version or two).
Making Metro make sense
That’s where Stardock’s upcoming program, Tiles comes in. A couple of years ago, when I started seeing what Microsoft was doing with what came to be called Windows Phone, I thought about how the current Windows desktop metaphor was pretty long in the tooth.
So I got talking to Neil (the lead on such programs like WindowBlinds and Multiplicity) and sketched out how one might manage their stuff in the future. We’d already made virtual desktop programs in the past as well as various side-bar programs (Control Center and ObjectBar to name two).
What we needed was something that made sense in today’s PC world. A world where lots of people have multiple monitors and are increasingly dealing with tasks that involve lots of different programs and are running systems that might be up for days or weeks at a time.
That’s the origin story of Tiles. And as you learn more about Windows 8 and how it relegates the existing Windows desktop to being just a single “tile” in the Metro universe, I think you’ll find Tiles as being the killer app.
And don’t worry, Stardock plans to extend the Metro experience for users who are using Metro on their PC (i.e. we don’t want PC users to have to sacrifice usability so that others can use it as a tablet OS).
Stardock Tiles Beta
If you want to get access to the next Stardock Tiles beta, get Object Desktop. It’s our full suite of Windows experience enhancements.
