Why would Microsoft remove the beautiful Aero Glass effect and replace it with flat colors and cheesy translucency?

Microsoft wants people to move away from the start menu and desktop, glass aero, gadgets, custom themes, startup and shutdown sounds and more cool stuff, honest,y Microsoft shouldn't do what they want, they should do what customers want. I might as well downgrade to windows 7 via Linux.

Hi,

Thank you for your feedback.  Now is the time to voice it so it gets heard by Microsoft.  It may take some time before any "changes" will be made but it will be heard.

As for why Aero is being removed, the reasoning is probably twofold. First, while the Desktop paradigm can never be shoehorned into a Metro-style touch-friendly interface, these changes definitely go some way towards unifying the Desktop design with the Metro Start Screen and apps, Windows Phone 7, and the Xbox. The second answer is much more direct: Microsoft is simply trying to save on CPU and GPU cycles, thus making Windows 8 devices faster and more power efficient. All of those drop shadows and transparencies add a significant resource overhead to Windows Vista and 7, which is OK for a high-power desktop computer, but crippling on a laptop, netbook, or tablet

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/129620-windows-8-kills-off-dated-and-cheesy-aero

Paul Thurrott, over at his blog Supersite for Windows, argues that Microsoft is getting rid of Aero to save battery life.

“Aero, with all its glassy, translucent goodness, is bad for battery life. Metro, meanwhile, which is flat, dull, not transparent, and only full screen, is very good for battery life. It’s predictable,” he writes.

And battery life matters much more to the on-the-go tablet or laptop user, not the always-plugged-in desktop user. According to Thurrot, Microsoft no longer cares about its traditional desktop user base and has ditched Aero in order to cater to a “mythical” tablet user.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/microsoft-drops-aero-glass-ui-in-windows-8/

Enable Hidden Aero Lite Theme In Windows 8 For (Slightly) Improved Performance

http://www.redmondpie.com/enable-hidden-aero-lite-theme-in-windows-8-for-slightly-improved-performance/

I agree completely. Windows 8s flat theme looks like microsoft have taken a massive step back to windows 98. Aero in windows 7 looks so much better and I understand about the cpu usage but heres a crazy idea.....let the user decide what theme they want? people with decent computers can have the awesome aero look and people who have a lower spec computer or for some bizarre reason prefer 8s theme they can choose to stick with that. I was condsidering updating to windows 8 after i saw the fast boot times etc. the metro start bar isnt ideal but i can deal with that but aero, stupid as it sounds, is the main reason im not upgrading. I guess im just tempted by the latest OS because really windows 7 is perfect and theres no need to upgrade at all. I'll definitely be sticking with windows 7 for as long as possible. On a side note, why the **** are they discontinuing xna? Stupid

EDIT: Didnt mean this as a direct reply to Mike Halls comment, that was accidental

I totally agree. Microsoft's incredibly stupid decision to completely remove Aero from Windows 8 onwards is one of the stronger reasons why I'm sticking to Windows 7.

Even Nintendo's weird decisions these days can't compare to Microsoft's absurdly daft decisions, such as this - the act of dumbing down graphics just to match/balance mobile devices. It's another reason why "mobile first" is single-handedly killing the computer industry (at least, it is for me): high-end computers are getting graphics dictated by cheap, buttonless phones/tablets, of all things, for illogical reasons I can't even fathom.

How come Microsoft killed off Aero six years after its inception, yet hasn't killed off Metro for the same reason, after almost the same amount of time? By that, I mean:

• Windows Vista debuted in 2006, and introduced Aero (later used in Windows 7 in 2009). Aero lasted until 2012 (6 years), when Microsoft declared it "dated".
• And yet Metro truly debuted in 2010 with Windows Phone 7 (and to some extent, Zune), and even today (2016, six years after Metro's inception), it's still around. Microsoft should've moved past Metro by now, looking at Aero's lifespan.

My point is, Metro has almost been around for as long as Aero has been (in Microsoft's eyes), so why isn't Microsoft showing any signs of succeeding Metro in the same way they succeeded Aero?

Claims that Aero graphics (or similar) reduce performance are, though sometimes understandable, only partially true. In fact, Metro, from my first-hand experience, is actually more hardware-intensive than Aero. The fact that Windows Phone 8 (Metro graphics) has way higher hardware requirements than even Windows Mobile 6 (Aero-esque interface), must scream that Metro is bloated in itself. Either that, or it's an inconsistent level of optimisation between the two mobile OSes. (If that's not the reason, I wouldn't know what is.)

Removing Aero Glass from Windows 8 onwards without even letting users decide which style to use is one of the many reasons why I lost nearly all of my respect for Microsoft starting from 2012 (among other things, like Windows 8's bland/awful logo, shutting down Windows Marketplace for Mobile, etc.).

Microsoft also called Aero "cheesy"… No words will describe how hurt I was to see them use that adjective to describe what they once loved and cared for (as users did as well, some of whom still do).

So, by their logic, are they going to call Tiles (whatever you call the successor to icons) "cheesy" as well? Those've been around for almost the same amount of time.

What, were they just trying to come up with wording to make Metro sound better? It wouldn't surprise me if the conversation in their offices leading to slandering Aero sounded something like:

Guy 1: "We need to find a way of advertising Metro graphics without upsetting Aero fans…"

Guy 2: "Err… Let's just call Aero "dated and cheesy"!"

Guy 1: "Whoa, whoa, don't just randomly pull words out of your head. That'll just hurt everyone's feelings, and Aero isn't even that ol-"

Guy 2: "END OF STORY."

Guy 1: "But-"

I haven't heard of (or even read about) a single person gullible enough to think, "hey, maybe I should bandwagon upon calling Aero "stale" just because Microsoft randomly said so". Anyone who actually does think that, and somehow support Metro, would be outnumbered by the people who're furious with Microsoft for forcing them into a visual style they didn't even ask for.

(Side-note: I would've been OK-ish with Microsoft removing Aero…if they didn't get Paula Scher to ruin the Windows logo afterwards, thereby knocking out the last remaining part of Windows 8 that truly felt like 'Windows' at a glance.)

If a few users do happen to decide that maybe Aero's getting a bit stale for them, why not add some selectable alternative themes for a fresh look every now and again, with Metro being one of said alternative themes? If Windows 95-2000 graphics could co-exist with Luna back in Windows XP, why can't Metro co-exist with Aero Glass? (Or the hidden-in-registry Aero Lite?)

I do hope Microsoft reads this Question and its Replies (including this one). Surely, after all this uproar, they must be aware that people want Aero Glass back for the same reasons why I'd like Windows 7's beautiful logo back as well? Hopefully they add both of those back by the next Windows version (or Windows 10 update, whatever).

I'm pretty sure there's someone else out there who can bring up more of an argument towards bringing back Windows 7's visual styles (complete with the aforementioned flag-of-a-window logo) than I can. I've probably said enough.

Bottom line: Please bring back Aero graphics (and whilst at it, Windows 7's perfect flag-of-a-window logo as well) for the next iteration of Windows.

…Please, Microsoft?

I simply cannot fathom why Microsoft would have tossed the rich UI experience from Windows 7

in favor of such a flat, 2D experience as we now have with Windows 8 Metro. I've been a developer

using Microsoft products for over 30 years and seen all of the mistakes that Microsoft released

over the years, but this one is probably at the top of that list. But, just to make sure I wasn't

being one of those "Stuck in the mud" types when it comes to something new, I shared the Metro

desktop with friends, customers and family to get their initial thoughts. The response was

overwhelming. Not a single person I spoke with will even consider Windows 8, ever. Some of

my customers even made the statement that they would rather switch their business OS to a

Linux distro rather than using Windows 8.

   Microsoft has stated repeatedly that the new UI has much less resource and CPU/GPU requirements

than previous UI releases, which in turn makes the OS faster. Microsoft has also stated in releases

that the Metro UI makes significantly more sense for the Tablet and Phone OSes since neither platform

has the processing power to support the richer UI. Although both of these statements make sense from

a certain standpoint, they still miss the mark when dealing with a Desktop UI experience. Most

desktops, from the $300-$400 entry models to the very powerful workstation and gaming systems

have more than enough CPU/GPU available to handle the resource and processing requirements that

a rich UI (such as Aero) demands.

   Another way to look at this is from the Users perspective. Simply show any number of users

Metro side by side with any Rich UI (Aero, Gnome, KDE, Mac, etc.) and ask them which they would

prefer to have on their desktop. The results are what you would expect, Metro loses hands down.

Users like the rich UI no matter what the cost in processing. The most common responses I received

from my little show-and-tell session was "Why does it look so flat?". Second to that was "It reminds

me of something from the 1990's". And in reference to the new Start screen "But my system doesn't

have a touch screen so why would I want that?"

   The new Metro desktop is designed around a "Touch Screen" experience which is great for the

smaller hand held devices such as a Phone or Tablet but it completely dismisses the everyday

Desktop user. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that the everyday desktop user is

no longer an important consideration. We all know about the rise of the hand-held market, but

the Desktop is still at the top of the heap for both Home and Office use. While many business

users also employ a hand-held device on the road, once they are back in the office the Desktop

is still the primary device used simply because it can handle many more simultaneous tasks.

   Hopefully Microsoft will take a hint at the recent declines in PC sales from the major PC

manufacturers. This is a direct response from both Business and Home users that states simply

"We don't like (and don't want) Windows 8 and Metro". Every one of my friends, family and

customers have decided to cancel any purchases until they can buy Windows 7 instead of Windows 8

with the new PC(s) of their choice.

   Are you listening Microsoft?