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A Windows 8 Glossary

Michael Muchmore
 & Michael Muchmore Contributor

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Windows 8 start screen

Microsoft didn't just introduce a new operating system this week. It also introduced a new terminology to go with the concepts the OS embraces. Most people following Windows 8 by now have heard the term Metro (even though Microsoft no longer uses this term), but there are a lot more behind that. The operating system also brings terms from the mobile world, like "lock screen," though that's pretty self explanatory. But what about things like "Charms" and "Contracts"?

Some of the new terms directly affect consumer users, while others are probably only of interest to developers and IT personnel. WinRT is probably not something Aunt Edna needs to know about, but I'm sure she might be interested in knowing the difference between Metro and Desktop-style apps. Of course, it's very possible to use the new operating system without having to know the terms for each element. Here at PCMag.com, we think you want in on these details.

Of course, an operating system is a huge mass of functionality, and there's no way we could possibly produce an exhaustive lexicon this quickly after the software's availability. But the annotated glossary in the slideshow here should give you a good head start. For a deep dive into the operating system as a whole, read my hands-on with Windows 8 Developer Preview. Check out 8 Things You Need to Know About Windows 8 for more information on the operating system's stand out features, Upgrading to Windows 8 Developer Preview On a Windows 7 Laptop, and Unboxing the Samsung Windows 8 Developer Preview PC to see what we picked up at BUILD.

Charms

Wherever you are in Windows 8, whether the Metro or Desktop interface, you can easily get access to the Charms. This is just a cute Microsoft term for the icons that appear when you swipe from the right side of a touch screen or move your mouse cursor to the bottom-left corner of a mouse-and-keyboard PC. The five Charms are these: Settings, Devices, Share, Search, and Start. All of these only lead to Metro-style pages.

Contracts

Windows 8’s Metro-style apps will be able to exchange information among one another. How? Through "contracts." Apps will be able to use Windows features like Share and Search, but third-party developers will be able to offer shared data and search capabilities, too. Think of the way a social network app could share with a photo app for an idea of how this can work.

Desktop

In Windows 8, the Desktop is a completely alternative interface mode from Metro. Yes, it’s the familiar interface we know from Windows 7 and earlier versions of the operating system, but in Windows 8 the term refers not just to the background, taskbar, icons, and so on, but to a separate class of applications.

You get to the Desktop and its separate class of applications through its large tile on the Metro Start page, and when you’re in the Desktop, the start button takes you back to the Metro Start page. The Desktop is also where you’ll find system fine-tuning dialogs like the newly beefed-up Task Manager, and the full-fledged Control Panel (there’s also a separate Metro Control Panel, which could lead to some confusion among users).

Device App

In Windows 7, we got Device Stage. Though the concept took a while to flesh out, these pages details all your device’s specs, status, and capabilities, and even allows you to perform any of the device’s actions. That means you could choose to scan, print, fax, or copy on your printer from the Device Stage page. Windows 8 replaces these with Device Apps. These are clean Metro-style applications that will hopefully offer the same capabilities sooner.

Lock Screen

Just like the lock screen on a mobile Phone, the Windows 8 lock screen shows not only wallpaper of your choice, but also notifications for things like email, battery charge level, internet connection, reminders, and IMs. A Facebook app could easily use this for notifications as well. On a touch screen, you just swipe up or down to move from the lock screen to your login screen, and on a desktop or laptop, you just hit the Enter key.

Metro

This is probably the most important Windows 8 term, but it's no longer an official Microsoft term. Many tech outlets still use it however, just for clarity. Windows 8 is divided into two modes--Metro and Desktop. The Metro look comes from the Windows Phone 7 interface, and is designed for touch and tablets from the ground up. The Desktop is the old familiar Windows interface with wallpaper, a Task bar, icons, control panel, file explorer, and so on.

The Metro Start page is where you’ll always start in Windows 8. Even when you hit the Start button in the old Desktop view, you’ll launch the Metro Start page. Then there’s Metro-style apps. Microsoft is really gung ho on these. These apps all run full screen, use a modern sans-serif font in their interfaces, and take advantage of the same simple menu and control styles. Even though Metro is designed for touch and Desktop for keyboard and mouse, each is surprisingly usable with the opposite input type.

Semantic Zoom

Pinching the Metro Start screen on a touch interface shrinks the tiles so that you can see multiple pages of tiles on one screen. It's not a simple zoom, but items are reformatted to fit the new smaller size. From here, you can move pages of tiles to different spots on your start screen.

Tiles, Live Tiles, User Tile

The tile is a keystone of the Metro style. Tiles are what you first see when you first arrive at the Metro Start screen, after passing through the Lock screen by either swiping on a touch interface or hitting Enter on the keyboard. Live Tiles can take on two sizes: A smaller square and the larger rectangle. They mostly use a standard mod color palette, but the developer can use any image or solid color that strikes his fancy.

Live Tiles take the tile concept a bit further, and are an advantage Microsoft touts over older-fashioned icons such as those used on the Desktop and other operating systems (notably from a company named after a healthy fruit). Live Tiles can display updated text such as the current weather, stock quotes, or notifications relevant to the app behind the tile.

The User Tile is what it sounds like. It’s the square tile you see when you log in. You can customize this with a photo, and some Metro-style apps can be used to customize it as well, though on my test system a message said, "No user tile applications are installed."

Windows To Go

One less touted capability of Windows 8 is that you’ll be able to run it from a USB key, Microsoft calls this Windows To Go. Microsoft has noted that this is an enterprise business feature, so it probably won’t be widely available, at least at first.

WinRT

Not to be confused with Windows RT--the tablet-only version of Windows 8 that runs on mobile CPU-powered devices. Short for Windows Runtime, WinRT is the set of APIs that allow developers to write programs for Windows 8 using a large variety of programming languages, including Web languages like JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5, and more hard-core languages like C++ and C#.

About Our Expert

Michael Muchmore

Michael Muchmore

Contributor

My Experience

I've been testing PC and mobile software for more than 20 years, focusing on photo and video editing, operating systems, and web browsers. Prior to my current role, I covered software and apps for ExtremeTech and headed up PCMag’s enterprise software team. I’ve attended trade shows for Microsoft, Google, and Apple and written about all of them and their products.

I still get a kick out of seeing what's new in video and photo editing software, and how operating systems change over time. I was privileged to byline the cover story of the last print issue of PC Magazine, the Windows 7 review, and I’ve witnessed every Microsoft misstep and win, up to the latest Windows 11.

I’m an avid bird photographer and traveler—I’ve been to 40 countries, many with great birds! Because I’m also a classical music fan and former performer, I’ve reviewed streaming services that emphasize classical music.

Technology I Use

For everyday work, I use a good-old Dell tower with 16GB of RAM, a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, and an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti GPU that runs on Windows 11. I pair it with a 4K Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-10 monitor and a Logitech MX Vertical mouse. For offsite work, I use a 2024 Microsoft Surface Laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor. Camera-wise, I moved to mirrorless from a Canon EOS 80D with a Canon 70-300mm IS USM lens. I now have a Canon EOS R7 with a 100-400mm lens, but I miss my DSLR for several reasons.

In order of usage, the software I turn to most frequently is the Edge web browser, Slack, Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365, Firefox, Brave, and WhatsApp. I use the Windows Phone link app to see everything on my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra phone, which has excellent telephoto capability.

For fitness monitoring, I have a Fitbit Charge 6 and use an Anker Smart Scale P1. I’m also a streaming fan, so I subscribe to both Amazon Music Unlimited (especially for its Dolby Atmos content) and Qobuz (for its high-res sound quality and classical catalog). I recently added a Vizio 5.1 Soundbar SE, which sounds surprisingly good given its low price. To holler commands instead of using a remote control, I have the Amazon Fire TV Cube in the living room, which lets me verbally tell the TV what I want to watch. It hooks up to an LG B4 OLED TV. I have a Sonos One speaker in my kitchen that also ties in with Alexa, as does the Echo Dot 2 With Clock in my bedroom. For serious listening, I have B&W 601 speakers plugged into a Conrad-Johnson Sonographe amp and preamp, with a Cambridge Audio AXN10 streamer as source. For reading, I also have a Nook GlowLight 3.

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