You don't prohibit change. You make affordances. What people are complaining about isn't the new interaction paradigm, it is how hard it is to figure out that paradigm.

The iOS example is valid, but not as valid as you think. You could happily use you iOS device forever without learning that (especially now that Apple put the same functionality in the settings app, probably because it wasn't discoverable). The same is not true in Windows 8.

Given you have to know a gesture just to get logged in, you can't even start using it without knowing the magic incantations.

I think it's great MS is experimenting. They have had he same metaphors since 1995. But you have to be very careful when you change 15 year old metaphors, and I don't think MS has been careful enough. I hope I'm wrong, because that will mean users are getting more savvy, which can only be good for making more interesting apps. But my experience has taught me to never rely on users being more savvy.

> What people are complaining about isn't the new interaction paradigm, it is how hard it is to figure out that paradigm.

People always complain about change. Always. That's not to say that there couldn't be improvements to the W8 interactions, but it's good to remember that a lot of complaints are really about the fact that something has changed, and not how that thing has changed. Look at the hate Facebook gets every time they change, and then notice that despite all the complaints, everyone is still using Facebook, and that the next time Facebook makes a change, those people loudly demand that Facebook revert to the version they complained so much about last time.

I am certain that the Windows team is listening to the feedback they are getting. The removal of the Start button was due to that feedback. People complained that it was confusing and misleading that the old start button did something so different. Whether that was the appropriate reaction is obviously something that not everyone agrees with.

> especially now that Apple put the same functionality in the settings app, probably because it wasn't discoverable

Out of curiosity, where? I looked and couldn't find it there.

> Given you have to know a gesture just to get logged in, you can't even start using it without knowing the magic incantations.

I feel like this is kind of a ridiculous claim. The login screen "swipe" is extremely discoverable. It's so understandable that Apple stole it (bounce and all) to use for exposing the camera functionality from the lock screen in iOS.

On top of that, any key will invoke the "reveal", as will the scroll wheel.

> But you have to be very careful when you change 15 year old metaphors, and I don't think MS has been careful enough.

I agree. I think the Windows team realizes that they have to change, though, or they will get passed by.

Settings | General | Storage

Click on an app, and you have the option to delete it.

Oh, I was actually talking about rearranging, not deleting. The scenario that the storage page supports is actually much different from the ones that the "wiggly icons" supports. Wiggly icons are for deleting apps the user doesn't want and rearranging the icons according to preference. The storage page is for reclaiming storage. The behavior is similar, but the root user desire is somewhat different, which is why it's in a separate place with different information provided.

You can rearrange icons in iTunes. The "wiggly" interface us completely redundant. I agree it is not discoverable; I've had to show each of my kids. It just isn't a comparable example.

I would put the original MacOS eject behavior as much closer. That was horrible.

Hmm, I think of the iTunes interface as an affordance for the awkwardness of the wiggly icon interface, rather that its discoverability. But I suppose it is more discoverable as well.

The old MacOS eject behavior was indeed horrible. It was a miderable design. I can't understand how anyone ever thought "throw the floppy away" was a reasonable abstraction for "eject".

Actually, touch-and-hold-to-move/delete apps is one of the few interactions that iOS specifically pops up a message to let you know about the first time it becomes available to you (after initial setup). It's an interaction that works well once you know it but isn't easily discoverable, so while a popup message explaining it is undesirable, it's probably a good/needed thing to have. But obviously those kinds of interactions must be kept to an absolute minimum - you don't get very many opportunities at all to go outside of the user's workflow and teach them something without becoming extremely annoying... most learning needs to be through intuition/discovery.

Anyway, to a large extent I agree with you - change is often OK and users, while complaining, will pick up on it.

Really? They must have added that later. I've never seen that message, and there are a few iOS devices in my house.

I'm almost certain that it's been there since they added "wiggle mode" — which I think was pre-App Store: back then it was just so you could rearrange the built-in apps or web sites you had added to the Home screen.

Here's a screenshot, obviously from a long-ago version: http://www.pdastreet.com/images/articles/MoveIconsC.jpg To the best of my knowledge it's still there, though I think only if you set up the device as new.

Assuming it is still there, it wouldn't at all surprise me if a huge percentage of users would say they've never seen it, which is exactly what I was trying to say is the problem with such messages.

Fair enough. All I know is that I can't recall ever seeing it, and I've set up a couple of iPhones and an iPad. I'm not willing to wipe a device to confirm, though.

Basic things should be easy. What is the most fundamental, basic action in a UI? On an iPhone, it's calling someone, which can be done by touching the green icon with a phone on it, and dialing like on any other physical phone. That's easy. Rearranging icons is not basic--many people might use an iPhone happily for years without rearranging their icons. Requiring some extra hunting around for that isn't a huge problem.

The big flaw of Metro is that you can't do anything without figuring out the non-obvious edge of screen elements. That's not a learning curve, it's a learning cliff.

Hot corners and edge gestures are quite non-obvious. So is double-clicking to open a file, but not surprisingly, people learned it. Everything we know about computers is learned. The question is whether the learning curve (or "cliff") is worth it.