Windows 10 and the fate of the Modern UI

A few weeks back I wrote about my initial impressions of Windows 10 Technical Preview.

One of the areas of note was the absence of the Modern UI work space.  While the Modern Apps still exist, the UI itself has effectively gone away for desktop machines.  

At the time I then asked the question - why have the modern apps at all ?  I like the live tile concept for things like news feeds, weather, etc., but be be honest the overall UI experience on a desktop of Modern apps is somewhat mixed.  

In my opinion MS has a challenge on their hands.  When Windows 8 and the Modern UI was introduced, there was a lot of negative feedback and confusion on usability between Modern and Traditional desktop apps.  Especially when you couldn't close a Modern app in the traditional "X" method and had to press the Windows Key which sent you back to the Modern Start screen but then had a different experience when you closed a traditional app...

Folks then also asked - where is the touch version of Office ?  And here we are 2 years later and still no signs of it.  Sure there are some touch support for Office 2013 - but there is no true touch version.  

The Modern UI did allow MS to create apps for their Bing content which was nice - but the Photo, Video and Music apps where horrible and there was no Modern UI apps for things like Windows Explorer.  

MS did address some of the navigation and usability issues with Windows 8.1 - but overall it was obvious that MS had developed W8 for the Surface format and not traditional desktop/laptop.

So now here we are with W10 TP and MS has reeled back the Modern UI and tried to replace it with a hybrid start menu.  But here's the challenge - if you use the capabilities of the new start an drag out a mix of traditional and modern apps - you then run into a battle over real estate in that space and if you compress the Modern tiles - they loose Live update support and become much less effective.  

Also there hasn't been much improvement in the Modern apps themselves.  Yes the MS apps have been revised several times but to be honest I'm not blown away by the improvements. And many of the 3rd party apps have not been revised as much and I've found in most cases you had more capability with the traditional versions of the apps than the Modern - which is just poor execution on MS's part.   I've often stated that if you removed all the MSN apps from the Modern UI - it would be a very lonely place.   Even today - some 2 years later I only have about a dozen or so 3rd party Modern UI apps.  Many of which I barely use since the vendors web experience is so much better.  Open Table is a perfect example of this.

Also just like WP, I'm not seeing banks, airlines, etc creating Modern Apps.  Yes there are some, but I feel that most have determined that their investment is with their web site and that is what desktop folks will use.  If they do create a touch app - it will be for iOS and Android, not WP and W8/10.  

So with MS reeling back the Modern UI in W10 for desktops/laptops - what is the tablet experience going to be ?  MS mentioned in their W10 TP conference that the touch version will be coming later.  I have not tried to load the current builds on my Dell Venue Pro - but will as soon as MS announces a proper touch release.  

The assumption here is that the Modern UI will be more prevalent for tablet form factors - but will that really be true ?   And obviously the potential branching of user experience raises even more questions.  And when will Windows tablet users see a real touch version of Office ?   

So what does all this mean ?   It's obvious that MS is trying to put Windows 8 behind them as quickly as they can - but the reality is they created this Modern UI and have ISVs who have created content - especially game makers.  But W10 TP is really more focused toward corporate users.  Does MS think that W10 will give Corporate IT a clear upgrade path from Windows 7 ?   I don't think so.  

Is W10 a better product than W8 ?   Sure.  MS is continuing to make improvement on the internals, security, etc that provide value.  

Over the years MS has been criticized for changing the UI with a new Windows release for no real good reason.  With W8 and the Modern UI, MS has created a situation now where they have two UIs and are now trying to figure out some level of balance between the two across platforms and use cases.  They also have the challenge of how to best support two development scenarios.  To date there is no killer app for the Modern UI and until there is I can't see it gaining a whole lot of traction.  

MS has stated that Windows 10 will provide one experience across phone, tablet, laptop, desktops and game consoles.  It will be interesting to see if they can actually execute against that vision.

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