The placeholder name for the Windows 8 experience was "modern" - The Old New Thing

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Raymond Chen

During the development of Windows 8, we needed a name for "that thing we’re creating." Not being a particularly clever bunch when it comes to code names, we just called it "the modern experience," to distinguish it from what we had in Windows 7, which was called "the classic experience."

And then, as Microspeak demands, we started abbreviating like mad.

The new shell was called the "modern shell" or "MoSh" for short. By comparison, the old shell was called the "classic shell", which some people started calling "ClaSh" for short. (That name didn’t stick.)

When we couldn’t come up with a name for a component of the modern experience, a common fallback was to stick the prefix "Mo" in front.

The new Start menu derived from some earlier explorations known as the "Go page" (since it’s the place you go when you want to do something). Its new code name was therefore "MoGo."

The portion of the screen for snapped applications was called the "MoBar", and the portion of the screen used for filled applications was called the "MoBody."

The settings control panel? "MoSet."

The ListView control? It started out with the more tedious name "modern collection control", which got shortened to "MoCo."

Even the new applications got the Mo-treatment. The new Web browser initially called itself "MoB", but then decided that an even hipper name would be "MoBro."

And the new photo manager? The people who worked on that didn’t want to get left out of the "Mo"-party, so they called themselves (wait for it) "MoPho."

I hope somebody put their foot down out of frustration. "Enough already. This Mo thing is completely out of control."

Windows 8 was announced fifteen years ago today, on June 1, 2011.

Category<br>Old New Thing

Topics<br>History

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Raymond Chen

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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Windows 8 == DOS 4; Windows 10 == DOS 5 (almost); Windows 11 == DOS 6.22 (not really)

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