Modern UI Platform

With Windows 8 and even more so Windows 10, Microsoft wants to promote a single platform in the office and mobile devices.

Modern UI is a touch interface that provides access to classic applications or other services such as video, meteorological service, etc., which replaces the screen with icons .
Tiles support notifications, show the current state of the application they represent.

It seems that all applications can work both touch and using a mouse or keyboard, and the start interface, consisting of tiles, like on Windows Phone, which we see on the right, is built in HTML 5 and JavaScript.
Therefore, modern applications from Windows 8 can use the HTML interface.
These applications will run on the network or connect to the network, but have access to local features. Says the head of Microsoft:

We have clearly left ourselves influenced by motives.

Microsoft has developed weapons to counter Google Chrome OS and Android, which are popularized on netbooks. They will have market share because they are free, but most users will prefer the first system that can rotate local applications (and these are mobile applications).

The name Metro was first chosen because the tiles resemble placards often used by public transit. However, since it is already a registered trademark, the name is officially dropped by Microsoft, which speaks to Modern UI. What can be simplified in MUI.

In May 2015, Microsoft announced that it was removing its "Skype app under Modern UI in favor of a desktop version. So it seems that this interface is not intended to replace the classic platform!

What is immersive

appendix?

The word is constantly returning to blog posts dedicated to Windows 8. What is an immersive app ?
This is an application whose interface completely disappears in favor of the useful part, text or images required by the user. 
In the classic application, content is placed in a frame containing buttons, menu bars, etc. All this becomes invisible or turns into tools that look like specific objects with levels the user interacts with. 
Modern UI and HTML programming 5 will be for immersive applications. Classic applications will save their interface to Windows desktop.

Immersive applications over the Modern UI interface can be encoded in HTML 5 or in their native language, or with XAML over the Jupiter interface. Modern UI has a specific browser version that does not accept any plugins .
Only these Modern UI apps run on tablets and PCs. It will be very easy to implement and synchronize with online services. 
In the long term, they are intended to replace traditional native applications.

Modern UI and developers

To eliminate the incompatibility of the Modern UI with immersive apps made for tablets and PCs with common apps that users will not want to give up, Windows 8 offers two independent interfaces.

• Modern UI for touch screens. This is also the Windows Phone 7 interface. Modern UI applications run on all versions, 32-bit or 64-bit.
• Windows Desktop for regular applications. Compatibility is the same as for Windows 7, but x86/64 applications do not run on the ARM version of RT.

Any interface is suitable for the current task. Each user action will display icons associated with the user. 
For graphics, the Aero Lite is a lightweight version of the Aero for limited configurations, based on the Modern UI. 
Windows Desktop also runs on a tablet. A tablet connected to a keyboard and video monitor perfectly replaces a bulky PC.

For developers, this is also the end of the free distribution .
Microsoft is clear in this regard, no programmer can distribute software running on this interface, as it has been so far in Windows and as is always the case in Linux, and on mobile devices (along with the AppStore and other stores).

All apps must be downloaded to the Windows Store. To place your application there, the developer must have a license, and each application he executes must go through a certification process. Then the store will receive 30% of the revenue from the software. This explains that there are so few developers for the platform so far.

Alternatives

Resistance movements are emerging to avoid such taxation. This applies to SteamOS - the version of Linux designed for games, which until now was the prerogative of Windows. Manufacturers also want to install Android in a virtual machine for immersive apps that are exempt from Microsoft's restrictions. And in fact, any developer can create their own interface for immersive applications, as does, for example , Tiloid, created... Scriptol!

Own customer

The native client allows you to use native code in the browser, and WebGL allows you to use the interface to the native 3D API in the browser, which makes it obvious that the ability to completely evade Windows becomes realistic for most users .
In fact, game publishers are starting to implement versions in NaCL. And the game is Microsoft's main selling point to individuals: Windows compatibility makes this system indispensable. This dependency will end with NaCl, as chrome can work on Windows or other systems.

The Modern UI, consisting of native HTML 5 + API, can be replaced by Chrome + NaCL + WebGL. There remains the XAML interface, which rather concerns professional applications.

Asm.js

Asm.js is a shortened and very fast version of JavaScript implemented in Firefox. It allows you to completely transfer all types of applications. This may work in Modern UI, but hardly fits into Microsoft projects, for which portability to other operating systems is not a priority.

Nothing prevents you from creating a tiled interface on an HTML page and using it to run applications in Asm.js.