It was just an internal codename, you were never supposed to actually use it! That’s Microsoft’s rather dubious line on Metro, the name we’ve all been using for months under the very real impression that it was final.

Now Metro is no more, and it appears the new name for the tablet side of Windows 8 is… Windows 8.

No, I don’t quite get it either, but according to inside sources that’s what it’s going to be called. The former Metro interface will now be known as the Windows 8 interface, and applications designed for it will be Windows 8 applications. Normal applications for the desktop will be, unsurprisingly, desktop applications.

Now, I’m not immediately against this renaming. I don’t believe the Metro name had spread far beyond our tech bubble to the man on the street, so the change isn’t a disaster for Microsoft. And simply dropping Metro is a good idea: Windows 8 is supposed to cross the divide between device types, and having a separate name for the tablet side has always seemed to run against that.

It’s also final confirmation that Metro essentially was Windows 8. That’s the interface Microsoft wants people to use, and referring to it directly as Windows 8 will cement that in consumer minds.

It’s also final confirmation that Metro essentially was Windows 8. That’s the interface Microsoft wants people to use, and referring to it directly as Windows 8 will cement that in consumer minds.

But won’t it all be a bit, well, confusing?

It’s one thing to call Angry Birds a Windows 8 app when it inevitably arrives, but what about more versatile software? Try telling a non-techie that he’s bought the Office 2013 Windows 8 app, and that isn’t the same as the Office 2013 application that runs on Windows 8. He’ll look at you like you’re speaking Swahili.

It’s confused further because users generally aren’t used to buying apps on anything other than mobile devices. OS X has an app store on the desktop, and everything in it is designed to run on the desktop. The Windows 8 experience will still centre on the desktop for most PC and laptop users, yet its app store is really built for touch devices.

I’m sure users will cotton on quickly, and wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft has chosen the name because a lot of people were referring to the tiled interface as Windows 8 anyway — that’s the picture they may have seen in the mainstream press, so to them that’s what Windows 8 is.

But I’m not sure it works. To me, renaming Metro to Windows 8 is both the obvious solution, and the wrong one. Why? Because it suggests the touch interface is the sole reason to upgrade — and that lessens the appeal even further for desktop users.