Taking inspiration from its Windows Phone 7 smartphone platform, Microsoft brought to its full fat desktop OS in Windows 8. These colorful squares and rectangles were effectively a three in one solution, combining the best elements of app icons, widgets, and notifications. Elsewhere, the OS replaced the classic Start Menu with a Start Screen, introduced a new mobile esque app framework and a centralized app store, and ushered in the flat Metro design language. In retrospect, Microsoft made a...
