Capital-M Modern ⇥ theverge.com

Yesterday, Mary Jo Foley wrote for ZDNet that Microsoft would be using the term “Windows 8 UI” for the interface formerly known as Metro. I thought the new brand was terrible:

That’s so weak. “Windows 8 with Windows 8 UI” is redundant, and “Windows Phone 8 with Windows 8 UI” is just weird. It should appeal to the executives at Microsoft who want Windows in everything, though.

The Verge is now reporting that Microsoft has rebranded it (again?):

Microsoft employees have started using “Modern UI Style” to refer to the new Windows 8 Start Screen and “Modern UI” design in reference to Windows 8 apps. The software giant has used modern, immersive, fast, and fluid to describe its Windows 8 operating system previously — in the early stages of its development — but the common name was always Metro style. In a step that’s bound to confuse developers and consumers, several listings for upcoming events about Windows Azure, Bing Maps, and Windows 8, reference a Modern UI design language and principles, Modern UI Style apps, and even a Modern UI-Style UI.

“Modern” still seems weak. The word has become so diluted as to have lost all its original meaning. It’s not a brand, it’s just some word.

Maybe they should have pulled a Prince and named it “ª¬”. Now that’s a brand.