I have to see more to judge this. There are a few more details at
pcmag.
I can see ms's thought process, but I don't know if it will work. The basic is that their goal is a no compromise touch-oriented interface that will work the same on all devices. You can go to tablet or a desktop and still know how to use the system. It works on all form factors including processors from qualcomm and Nvidia. This also overcomes some of the biggest problems with the current stuff. True multitasking means that you can more easily run and move between multiple applications Than with current systems. And built-in interprocess communications allow (as the example they used) twitter or flicker to access a photo stored in another app. I also assume these are live tiles such as on wp7. This means you can see information without ever opening the app. All of this and power users can quickly jump to a win7 style interface with one or two buttons.
... But, I'm not sure they can pull it off. To me, the secret sauce for the tablet form factor includes instant-on, lightweight and long battery life. This leads to several constraints that I hope ms has figured out how to overcome, but I'm skeptical. Multi-tasking requires much beefier processors and it really chews up the battery. Bigger batteries mess with the lightweight goals. And let's not forget the screen size tradeoff. Lightweight and portable equal smaller screens, but smaller screens aren't good for multi-app, multi-processing. It just seems to me that small screens and battery limitations force you into compromises that you don't want or need for full blown computers. So why would you force yourself to use the same interface for both?
I'm also not a fan of dumbed down interfaces. I've never used windows media center because I'd rather navigate myself, but maybe that's just becaUse I'm an old dog that can't learn new tricks. The one backup is that the old style interface is still there underneath it all.
On the other hand, on Monday, Apple announces their next version of OSX, and one of the biggest design changes is that it is shifting closer to IOS. Apps get installed as tiles on the desktop and of course there is the new Mac AppStore. It may be that this unified interface is the direction that everything is headed.
P.s. Ardeegee, next time you hit up a win7 computer try holding down the windows key and typing an e (for windows explorer). You should get a file navigation window similar to what you are used to using. The biggest problem will be that they've moved the locations of some of the folders, but they are all still there.