Whatever the reason, “Metro” is out, and Microsoft is temporarily referring to the colorful, tiled interface of the impending flagship operating system as “Windows 8 Style UI”. That lacks flare, though, and isn’t exactly a name that captures the imagination. Microsoft needs something catchy to brand the unique interface and differentiate it from the desktop mode.

I’m a little surprised that Microsoft is getting blindsided by the “Metro” naming conflict so close to the official launch of Windows 8. Microsoft is generally obsessive about avoiding name conflicts. There is a reason that all of its fictitious companies and networks are named “Contoso”—Microsoft has done its homework to find names it can safely use without running into these sort of legal quagmires.