Well this is going to be weird. After calling Microsoft's radically wonderful UI design "Metro" for a couple of years now, The Verge says Microsoft is ditching the name for legal reasons. So now what the hell do we say?


According to a source "who wishes to remain anonymous," Microsoft is telling Metro developers to stop calling Metro things Metro, because Metro is already taken by some cranky German company called Metro. Metro? Metro! So do we need a new term for the common DNA between Windows 8, Windows Phone, Xbox, Outlook, and Office? Subway?

Or, as is extremely likely, we'll all just go on calling it Metro, because German Metro can't sue us all at once. I am Spartacus. [The Verge]


Update: A statement on the matter from a Microsoft spokesperson:

"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 dialog to a broad consumer dialog we will use our commercial names."

That sure sounds like a "Yes, Metro is done" to me. But... Metro!