I could obviously read the wiki but I’m looking for a more “behind the scenes” take on how it evolved and the personalities involved. Anything like that been written?
This is an excellent question. It was the biggest change ever in Windows and has a pivotal role in computer history. It should be documented, but to my knowledge there is nothing like you requested.
Windows 8 came in the wake of tremendous internal debate about how to handle mobile devices: The inside story of how Microsoft killed its Courier tablet - CNET
There was a lot written by and about the different Windows 8 managers prior to release, but virtually nothing after the release. A few were discussed in this InfoWorld article: More Microsoft exec departures mark end of a Windows era | InfoWorld
This August it will be four years since Windows 8 was released to manufacturing.
Within one year of Windows NT being released, there was Inside Windows NT by Helen Custer and David N Cutler which told the inside story, personalities and conceptual basis. Likewise within one year of SQL Server 6.5 being released there was Inside SQL Server 6.5 by Ron Soukup which covered similar areas on that product.
It is often forgotten today but one of the first and most compelling “inside story” books about computer product development was Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder, which won a Pulitzer Prize. The movie rights for that book were sold to Columbia Pictures and they assigned a writer but it was never developed.
It is very unfortunate nothing like that has been written about Windows 8. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, success has a thousand fathers but failure is is an orphan. Although Windows 8 is often considered a failure there were some good ideas behind it and the “Metro” interface. Who knows, in time it may be viewed differently.
Regardless of how it’s commonly viewed, from the standpoint of proper computer history and scholarship a detailed inside story about the decisions, personalities and development behind Windows 8 should be written. Maybe someone will eventually.
What a great question! It’s always fascinating to see differing design considerations and what ends up being shipped.
One Microsoft design that is nicely documented is the appearance of the ribbon in Office 2007. The link at The Story of the Ribbon (Harris) includes a long video and the PowerPoint slides showing the design alternatives.
Yeah, good question OP.
Windows 8 is one of those rare innovations where I basically agreed with the idea, basically agreed with the execution, then only decided after the fact that something about the whole thing was wrong. If I was in a Windows 8 focus group at the time it was being developed, I would have enthusiastically endorsed the conceptual design, and enthusiastically supported the push in this new direction. “You’ll be ahead of the curve!”, etc.
Windows 8 taught me that PCs are not tablets. For some reason, if I can’t touch the screen to interact with it, but instead rely on a tactile keyboard and a physical mouse that I push around, then… these “tiles” aren’t so attractive anymore. It still kinda works I guess, I can’t say it’s non-functional… but… I’m just… I’m not sure. On a PC, something just doesn’t feel right about it.