The Origins of the “Modern Experience”
It has been over 15 years since Microsoft first unveiled Windows 8 on June 1, 2011. While the operating system eventually reached the end of its support cycle in 2016, a recent entry in the The Old New Thing blog series by veteran software engineer Raymond Chen has shed new light on the project's early development phase.
According to Chen, the team lacked a creative internal title for the project, leading them to simply label it the “modern experience” to contrast it with the “classic experience” of Windows 7.
The Rise of “Microspeak” Abbreviations
True to Microsoft’s culture of generating internal jargon, employees quickly began shortening these terms. This specific style of communication, often referred to as “Microspeak,” became a hallmark of the company’s internal workflow. Chen noted that the development team had a habit of applying the prefix “Mo” to nearly every new component:
“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.”
Key Development Codename Examples
- MoSh: The shorthand for the new “modern shell.”
- ClaSh: A less common abbreviation used for the “classic shell.”
- MoGo: Derived from the “Go page,” an early concept for the Start menu where users would “go” to search or perform actions.
- MoSet: The internal name for the settings control panel.
- MoCo: Shortened from “modern collection control,” previously known as the ListView control.
Evolution of Microsoft’s Internal Projects
Internal naming conventions at Microsoft continue to evolve alongside their software. Recently, the focus shifted to “Windows K2,” an umbrella initiative aimed at resolving major usability issues within Windows 11. As part of this effort, the company has begun addressing user feedback, such as reducing the visibility of Copilot integrations and providing users with more flexibility regarding update installations—a degree of control not seen in the ecosystem for many years.