Microsoft has officially ditched the Metro name in favour of the uniform and ambiguous Windows 8 title.
Initial reports indicate legal rife between Microsoft and German company Metro AG prompted the change; however, Microsoft hasn’t commented on the potential lawsuit and claims the moniker ‘metro’ was an in development name.
According to CRN, Microsoft has reached out to third party Win-8 developers and asked them to remove ‘Metro’ mentions. I don’t think I’ve ever head of a manufacturer spruiking a product’s code-name over its official title, or even producing collateral for it, such as the one featured below.
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In a statement, Microsoft said the Metro name will be replaced with Windows 8, despite the tile-interface having origins as early as Microsoft’s Zune.
“We have used ‘Metro style’ as a code name during the product development cycle across many of our product lines. As we get closer to launch and transition from industry dialogue to a broad consumer dialogue we will use our commercial names,” the company said in a statement.
Metro UI will now be referred to as Windows 8 UI, while metro apps will now be known as Windows 8 Apps.
Expect marketing for all things Windows 8 to be more aggressive as its local launch on October 26th nears.
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