Everybody seems to assume that Enterprises and Businesses will skip Windows 8 and wait for Windows 9, because by then the "crazy" Metro Interface will be gone again (or at least toned down), so that it's actually usable for businesses. While I think that businesses are going to skip Windows 8, I don't think that Metro will be going away. I would even say that the desktop will be gone completely in Windows 9 and that businesses will love it.

Windows 8 is for consumers - Windows 9 is for businesses

The Metro Interface is great to give an overview of what is happening in your world, if you are a consumer that is. That's because the current Metro Style Apps are all consumer oriented. And consumers will give feedback on the usage while we are waiting for business centric apps.

Business management software will catch up

If you ever worked in a international corporation you have had experience with business management software. This software is often dashboard driven and one of the key features is that it enables the user to get a overview of what is happening in the company.

I expect that SAP and all the other leading providers update their solutions with Metro Style Apps that integrate with the main backend - just like they do now with mobile.

This way the start screen will deliver the information needed for the day to day work and the need to go back to the desktop will be diminished.

If it's better nobody complains - at least not for long

People fear change, even when change happens all the time - and if you are working for a corporation you are used to change anyway. Remember how people where upset about the Ribbons in Microsoft Office ... People came to me all the time asking me, where did this option go, where can I find that? I always answered without looking - "It's right in front of you in the ribbon."

People didn't need to be trained on the Ribbon itself, they just needed to break their habit of searching for stuff in complicated menus. The Ribbons are great because they adjusted to the task at hand and people actually could work better.

I immagine that the tiles of the start screen in Windows 8 (and later in Windows 9) will achieve the same result. People will find the information they need on the start screen and launch the apps directly from there instead of searching for them in a overcrowded messy desktop (be honest, every desktop is messy and overcrowded).

So even though everyone expects Windows 8 to be a big flop, it will turn out to be just the first step into the next generation of Windows.

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