Work on the revamped Windows 8 user interface had begun long before its public announcement in June 2011. The team doing the work needed to keep their efforts under wraps to avoid any leaks or other premature disclosures.
Humphrey: Can you keep a secret?
Bernard: (expectantly) Of course.
Humphrey: So can I.
— Yes, Minister, Season 1, Episode 1, “Open Government”.
The mechanism for hiding the Windows 8 features from anyone not authorized to know about them was known as Redpill (one word, accent on the red).
The name was, as you might suspect, a reference to the scene from the movie The Matrix in which the main character is offered a choice between taking a red pill or a blue pill. The blue pill returns him to his previous state of ignorance, and the red pill takes him forward into knowledge of the true state of reality.
Okay, so it was kind of obvious. Sometimes the obvious answer is the right one.
BetaWiki noted in their page about a build leak of Server 2012 (8064 fbl_srv_msp_std) that a piece of included tooling checks for Redpill, and if failed prints the path to an internal file called “Welcome%20to%20SuperPill.docx”.
Is SuperPill Redpill’s original name, an alternative name for Redpill, or a generic name shared between Redpill and Windows 7’s equivalent whom people call “Bluepill”?
Why the need for secrecy? In fact, the Win8 UI was a huge disappointment, one we still have to deal with if we want to change windows settings, etc. If the biggest reason you think people will be excited about your UI was "oh what a surprise" then it's a pretty big fail. Methinks maybe they realized they were working on a real dog of a UI and were hoping to get to the point that it was too late to throw it all away.
If I wanted my apps to look like web sites... I'd make a website,...
Edit: Buggy website. This is in reply to Shawn Van Ness.
I’m personally a huge fan of Windows 8 UI/UX (and I do use it on desktops) and think Windows UI has been mostly going downhill since Windows 10. (I still couldn’t get over why Windows 11 removed the drag gesture for jump list, which has been there since Windows 7.)
Methodologically, there’s no clear advantage between small-team and global-feedback development models. They will surely have different outcomes: Windows would never get such a revolution as Windows 8 UI/UX if Microsoft asks what the customers want.
Also, the big picture was somewhat predictable...
I’d love to hear more from you about the history of WinRT, in particular the Metro XAML model.
My suspicion is that the Metro UI evolved from DirectUI.
Was Microsoft playing around with the core of WinRT prior to Win8?
Imagine all the unscrupulous things high ranking leaders often get away with without any accountability. Now imagine screwing up a GUI so badly that, somehow, that becomes the straw the breaks the camel’s back and you get let go. It was a hilarious time to be around on campus for that. Well deserved. Too bad Panos the Poser was permitted to stick around for as long as he did to eventually trash the taskbar.
“Too bad Panos the Poser was permitted to stick around for as long as he did to eventually trash the taskbar.”
And then leave almost immediately after doing so.
If only the Windows 8 team kept their insipid “Metro” start screen under wraps, and implemented a more conventional Start menu, then maybe Win8 wouldn’t have landed with a thud. OR at the very least, have a simple toggle switch for “desktop” and “tablet” options.
The term “redpill” should live in infamy – it was an echo-chamber culture that sheltered the UX development from any visibility or critical feedback, even from most of the rest of the Windows team, until it was far too late for leadership to change course without losing face. Today, feature-flags are everywhere.. but if you are redesigning the face of a $100B product, and trying to keep it secret — stop yourself and ask why.
Yet somehow Apple manages to keep everything a secret prior to the announce event, and people like it.