PCWorld - Brace yourselves, faithful PC
enthusiasts. You aren't going to like what I'm about to say. Heck, I don't
really like what I'm about to say. In fact, I'm almost terrified to lay out my
case in black and white. But that doesn't change the fact that it needs to be
said.
There's a very good chance that
Microsoft will kill the desktop in Windows 9. No more Task Manager. No more
File Explorer. No more legacy compatibility. It'll be 100 percent Live Tiles,
100 percent of the time.
That day is still on the distant
horizon, but it is coming. Indeed, if Windows Blue, the just-leaked update to Windows 8, shows us
anything, it's that Microsoft is willing to de-emphasize desktop functionality
in deference to the modern UI.
A
finger-friendly Windows
By now, everyone knows that Windows
8 (and its dumbed-down cousin, Windows RT) is Microsoft's answer to the massive
success of smartphones and tablets. A touch-friendly interface! An app store!
Bing Maps! Even an airplane mode! How mobile.
The very introduction of the
modern-style Start screen was a bad omen for desktop diehards, but the clouds
truly darken when you consider how much of Windows core functionality is
already being leeched away from the traditional desktop interface.