The complaints you’ve been hearing about problems with the Windows 8 combined tablet-desktop interface aren’t due to the operating system’s design, says Microsoft’s head of Windows product development. Instead, the tech press is too set it in its ways to recognize the power of the new operating system. Newbies, she says, understand Windows 8 more quickly.

Microsoft’s head of Windows product development at Microsoft, Julie Larson-Green, said that in an interview with MIT Technology Review in which she discussed the design theory behind Windows 8 and the future of Windows.

Larson-Green was named to her position when Windows honcho Steven left Microsoft several weeks ago. Although there were rumors that he left because of design problems with Windows 8, Larson-Green’s appointment to her position should put those rumors to rest. As MIT Technology Review notes, she “took the lead on drawing up the first design brief for Windows 8.”

In the interview, she says that Windows 8 was consciously designed to have two separate interfaces, one designed for touch, and one designed for keyboard and mouse: “It was a very definite choice to have both environments. A finger’s never going to replace the precision of a mouse. It’s always going to be easier to type on a keyboard than it is on glass. We didn’t want you to have to make a choice. Some people have said that it’s jarring, but over time we don’t hear that. It’s just getting used to something that’s different. Nothing was homogenous to start with, when you were in the browser it looked different than when you were in Excel.”

Keep reading…

Read also:

Microsoft says adapting to Windows 8 takes at most two weeks (BGR)

Microsoft's New Windows Chief: Windows 8 Is Not A Response To Popularity Of … (Cult of Mac)

Microsoft Has Been Watching, and It Says You're Getting Used to Windows 8 (MIT Technology Review (blog))

Explore: 124 additional articles.