A lot of great stuff out of Microsoft today for Windows Phone 8, and I don’t say that sarcastically. I’ve liked the Metro interface since I played with its predecessor on a Zune and reviewed the Zune Marketplace back at Ars Technica. This UI looks great, and Microsoft is making some really smart moves here, save for one very, very large, very bad misstep: no existing Windows Phone 7 phones get an upgrade, paid or otherwise.
It finally makes sense, though, at least to an extent, as to why Microsoft insisted on keeping the “Windows” brand through all this, despite the fact that Windows Phone and Metro have absolutely nothing to do with the actual interface concept of windows: Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 will share the same kernel, which will be leveraged in various ways. For example: game developers can now write a game for both platforms and have a much, much easier time doing it.
I want to get my hands on a Windows Phone review device now more than ever.
