Today's Building Windows 8 blog post, written by Steven Sinofsky, isn't really about a new Windows 8 feature or tweak, but rather about how the new-style Metro tablet UI will interact with the traditional Windows desktop.
Specifically, Sinofsky says that the Metro UI won't sit on top of the Windows desktop on tablets, but that the Windows desktop wouldn't even load unless specifically invoked by the user - "you can think of the Windows desktop as just another app," he says. At the same time, Sinofsky affirmed that Microsoft understands the importance of the standard Windows desktop, and acknowledged that the traditional mouse-and-keyboard interface was just better for certain tasks, including the running of legacy apps. He sums all of this up best toward the end of the piece:
"Our design goal was clear: no compromises. If you want to, you can seamlessly switch between Metro style apps and the improved Windows desktop. Existing apps, devices, and tools all remain and are improved in Windows 8. On the other hand, if you prefer to immerse yourself in only Metro style apps (and platform) and the new user experience, you can do that as well! Developers can target the APIs that make sense for the software they wish to deliver."
If Microsoft can deliver on this promise and give us one device that can serve as a satisfactory tablet and a satisfactory PC, I for one would definitely be interested.
Source: Building Windows 8 Blog
And the Metro UI has it's own developer platform and apps, so it is a little like a separate OS. From earlier leaked builds of Win 8 there was also some new frameworks and API's for Metro it seems.
If Metro was simply a new interface it wouldn't cut it for tablets, the battery would drain too fast and performance wouldn't compete with dedicated mobile/touch OS's like Android and iOS so i expect there to be many changes when running Metro.
MS should atleast include it for the rest of the world and just leave it out of the U.S version.
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Many people seemed to think the Metro UI would be like an add-on on top of the desktop, and that the tablet capabilities wouldn't be a really good alternative for OS's completely aimed at touch like Android and iOS. But the way MS are doing this is basically like having two completely separate OS's in the same package, one finely tuned for tablet and one for desktop/laptop. If you use a Windows 8 tablet there should be no need to ever even use the usual widows desktop. And for desktop/laptop users there should never be any need to use the Metro UI, or even see it. But you always can use either on any device if you wanted to. It's perfect.
This could seriously be an amazing OS is MS get it right, and so far they seem to be on the right track.