Metro vs Desktop: the opposing Windows 8 paradigms
December 20, 2011[Note: this post was published in December 2011 and is commentary on the Windows 8 Developer Preview. It is assumed Windows 8 will change drastically as Microsoft continues development of it. I can only hope that the information below turns out to be wholly inaccurate once Windows 8 is released.]
In my previous post I discussed some major reservations I have with Windows 8 and specifically how the new Metro paradigm clashes with the traditional Windows desktop.
IE10 Metro will not support plugins on Windows 8
One thing I learned last week at the Dallas State of .NET: The Road To Windows 8 event is that Internet Explorer 10 in “Metro mode” does not support plugins (So no Flash. No Silverlight even!). Of course, plugins work just as expected in “Desktop mode”.
That a user even needs to comprehend the fact that Windows 8 really has two versions of IE and other programs is enough to spur intense discussion. But that’s not my concern here. It’s something else.
The Metro side of Windows 8 works similar to iOS and Android. It’s an OS assumed to be on hardware with limited resources, and so unlike desktop operating systems, only one application can be open at a time - all others are “suspended”. You can see that in Windows 8’s cool new task manager:

Of course, this only applies to Metro apps. Regular Desktop apps run the same way they always have. That is, they hog resources until you close them, even when you’re doing something else. Both paradigms are great on their own, but this is where Window 8’s schizophrenia can cause some serious conflicts and confusion, as I’ll demonstrate…
Let me lead you on a little picture story
Rather than rehash specs and facts, it thought it would be more effective to tell this one as a story.
It’s late 2012, and we’re chillin with our sweet new Intel Touch Ultrabook running Windows 8. What a perfect device to play FarmVille with!
Let’s boot the device up to the beautiful new Start menu app. We’ll click on that “e” icon to launch IE10.

The new Metro mode IE loads up, we log in to Facebook, ready start playing FarmVille. OH NOES! No Flash? (You can attempt to install Flash here, and it’ll let you try. But it won’t work. Thank me later.)

Geez, lets go back and open up IE in Desktop mode. Now, to get to Desktop IE we need to stop by the Start screen – again – and click the IE icon – no, no – click on the Desktop icon.

Ahh, the Windows desktop. So yesterday, eh? Let’s launch Desktop mode IE.

FarmVille at last!

While we’re waiting for some crops to grow, lets go practice some scales! Back to the start screen.
Huh. That’s funny. The FarmVille music is still playing in the background. Let’s launch the piano app. do-do-dah-de-do--do!

Umm. The FarmVille music is still playing. This could be distracting. We could mute the sound in FarmVille, but, ah well. That’s cool. We can play along!

Hmm. Why is thing so sluggish? The sound is clipping and sometimes it doesn’t play the note right when we hit a key. It’s like we don’t have enough resources to use this app.
Wonder what the task manager says. Holy Crap! FarmVille! Our Resources!!

(Yes, the numbers above were ‘shopped, but it could happen.)
You can see above the Piano app nicely suspended itself, but FarmVille has been on the whole time. It’s certainly clumsy to be bouncing between apps that are managed completely differently.
The point of the story
In its current form, Windows 8 it attempting to glue together two completely different OS paradigms, and it shows. Metro apps act one way, Desktop apps act another, both with quirks that can negatively affect your experience on both sides.
I’m still sympathetic to the idea of bringing the full blown windows OS to a tablet or ultra-portable notebook device, but I do not like the way Microsoft has done it so far. Both opposing personalities of this OS are screaming for attention and it is awkward to have to manage each of their shortcomings.
I’d honestly rather have a system with 2 entirely distinct partitions, where I can boot into Metro mode when I’m on the go and boot into Desktop mode when I’m at my desk. Having them both running at the same time causes too many problems and doesn’t even solve any to begin with.
Tags: IE10, Internet Explorer, Metro, Plugin
Categories: Windows 8








