IObit WinMetro adds Windows 8 Metro/Modern UI for Windows 7, Vista & XP for Free

froggyboy604

froggyboy604

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WinMetro is specially designed to bring the newly introduced Windows 8 Metro UI to Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. It offers an easy solution for old versions of Windows users to try and enjoy the tile based Metro UI. By displaying useful information such as weather, calendar, news, stocks, and frequently used programs, it turns your desktop into an informative and productive work station.
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Iobit

Iobit's WinMetro looks good for someone who has XP-7, and wants to use the Windows Modern User Interface in 8 for free, but don't want to pay the $99-199 upgrade cost of Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro, or the $70 Student upgrade now that the $40 Windows 8 Upgrade Sale is over.

I wonder by using WinMetro by Iobit would Win Metro have the benifits of less RAM and CPU in XP-7 usage when in the Modern UI like Windows 8.
 
As nice-looking and as visually competent as it looks, I don't think a full-screen UI of any variety is worth anywhere near $100, and that's what windows 8 basically is: an unnecessarily expensive version of windows 7.
 
I don't like the look of Metro UI so I wouldn't install that even though it is for free.

I think the Metro UI for desktops is a pretty stupid idea. (I could certainly understand it's use for tablets or smart phones where everything is touch based and needs larger areas to tap to open.) But on a desktop, which doesn't have a touch screen to begin with, the Metro UI looks ugly and out of place. And it doesn't offer any real advantage over desktop functionality. I mean you want to open twitter? Use your web browser (that likely has multiple tabs so you can also open other websites too and not need to close or hide your twitter app to open your facebook app).
 
The Modern User Interface is useful for full screen apps like Video apps for watching movies and TV shows on Netflix, and full screen games like Pac-man, Pong, Pinball, etc. It also can be useful for digital signs like banners, and auto-play powerpoint presentations slideshows.

Twitter Apps for Windows 8 modern would be optimized for Windows 8, so Twitter would be displayed properly on all Windows 8 computers which is not always the case if you use the Twitter website on an outdated or less popular web browser like Internet Explorer 6.0.

The Modern User Interface could be used as a launcher to launch desktop apps without needing a mouse. You can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move to the shortcut icon tile, and press enter to launch a desktop app like a desktop web browser, MS Word, and Windows Media Player which gets launch in the desktop mode in 8.

I like the new Modern Start Screen in Windows 8 since the icons are easy to click, bigger, and I just need to click them once instead of twice like the desktop.

Plus, the Modern Desktop will never look super messy like some people's Windows 7 desktop with many files, shortcuts, folders, and widgets.

like this Desktop full of icons on the desktop, system tray, and taskbar.
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VirusZero said:
I don't like the look of Metro UI so I wouldn't install that even though it is for free.

I think the Metro UI for desktops is a pretty stupid idea. (I could certainly understand it's use for tablets or smart phones where everything is touch based and needs larger areas to tap to open.) But on a desktop, which doesn't have a touch screen to begin with, the Metro UI looks ugly and out of place. And it doesn't offer any real advantage over desktop functionality. I mean you want to open twitter? Use your web browser (that likely has multiple tabs so you can also open other websites too and not need to close or hide your twitter app to open your facebook app).
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I agree. The Metro UI is good in a certain context, and by that I mean Tablets and phones. using it for a desktop just doesn't work. It is counter-intuitive, it makes apps harder to get to, and for a desktop machine, it's nothing but a bloated presentation mode.

I hope that Windows 8 fails in the desktop market, not just because it's bad, but because it will give OSD Operating systems like Linux a fighting chance at gaining some mainstream traction. VALVE has already started porting its games to the Linux platform because of this.
 
Casual everyday users switching to Tablets, and bigger Smartphones could be a bigger reason for Windows 8 not being popular on the desktop because casual users are buying tablets like how the iPad, Nexus 7, Kindle Fire, and Microsoft Surface Pro all sold out in hours when released in the US. There are also a lot of apps, accessories like keyboard docks, and online services like Google Docs, and Office 365 Online office suites which can do most of the task on mobile devices which a traditional desktop program can do for casual users.

Fewer people may use Windows 8 on a desktop, but many buyers will most likely still buy a computer from Dell, HP, Lenovo, and other PC makers which comes with Windows 8 pre-installed on the hard drive since it is harder to find non-Windows 8 computers at Best Buy, and similar stores. There are free programs like Classic Shell which turns Windows 8 desktop mode ON after startup, and brings back the classic startbutton, and startmenu in Windows 8.

Plus, the future of Dell still making and supporting their Dell Ubuntu Linux computers and laptops is unknown since now Microsoft loaned 2 billion dollars for Dell to go private.
 
I think the direction the development team went with windows 8 was a mistake. A desktop machine, no matter what you attach to it is ever going to be appropriate for an OS like android or windows phone, any more than Mac OS X would be for a smartphone. The OS is made with the machine being used in mind.

Mobile OSes are touch-based because they are designed to cater to the limitations of a tablet or a smartphone. Lack of mouse, keyboard 15+" screens, ect...
 
The Classic Windowed Desktop from Windows 7 and below still exist in Windows 8 after you click on the Desktop Tile on the Startscreen, or use the Windows Keyboard Key + D Key on the keyboard. The classic desktop is just missing a Startmenu, but the new Startscreen can be used to open regular resizeable Windowed programs like MS Word in the classic desktop, and full screen programs in the new full screen desktop by clicking on the programs shortcut. The Start Screen is a full screen version of the Startmenu which scrolls horizontally when you move your scroll wheel up and down or use the arrow keys to move the cursor over the tile shortcut program which you want to launch.

To see all the programs and apps installed on windows 8 like the All programs shortcut in the startmenu in Vista-7, you press the Windows Key + Q key, or right click the start screen on an empty area with no tiles, and click on the all apps icon on the bottom right of the startscreen. Pressing Windows Key + Q also launches the Program search engine to search for programs and apps installed on Windows as you type in the search box.

If someone does not want to use the new Startscreen, they can install Classic Shell for free to basicly turns Windows 8 back into the classic desktop found in Windows 7 and below.
 
I love that. I also love the fact that they aren't charging up the @$$ for it like some greedy developers would.

Still sticking with 7 and vista until I can ultimately move on to a linux Distro for good.
 
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