Microsoft is pushing Windows 8 and the new Metro UI extremely hard.  If you want to see Metro look at a Windows phone 7 equipped phone.  Anybody developing for Windows xp-Win7 you best take Microsoft serious…MS wants Metro to be the new standard and they aren’t afraid to shove Win7 and below quickly into the garbage heap.

In a move that took many by surprise, Microsoft dropped support for new Windows Desktop Gadgets.

Once hailed (or at least marketed) as a key new feature in Windows Vista, Desktop Gadgets are going the way of the dodo. In their stead? Windows 8 Metro, of course.

Microsoft’s official death certificate for Windows Gadgets hawks, “With Windows Developer Preview, developers can create rich app experiences where customers focus on their important tasks. Apps are at the center of the Windows Developer Preview experience and are alive with activity and vibrant content. Users immerse themselves in your full-screen app while Windows gracefully gets out of the way.”

Well, yes, that’s certainly the case if you’re talking about the Metro tiled “Mr. Hyde” interface in Windows 8 Developer Preview. The old-fashioned “Dr. Jekyll” desktop view still supports Gadgets, at least in the current incarnation of Windows 8. To see for yourself, if you have a copy of the Developer Preview handy, right-click on an empty spot on the Windows 8 dekstop and choose Gadgets, then Get More Gadgets Online — precisely the same way one would get Gadgets in Windows 7. Except now you can’t submit more Gadgets for inclusion in the Microsoft-managed collection.

via The rise and fall of the Windows Desktop Gadget | Microsoft windows – InfoWorld.