# Windows 8 Desktop Environment for Linux

13 Hacker News commenters recommended Windows 8 Desktop Environment for Linux and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A Metro-style Linux desktop that people praise for its typography and for suiting phones and tablets, but critics find the look and UX poor compared with Windows 8.

## Why people recommend it

- Suits mobile and tablet Linux (3 comments): "I would be okay to use this DE on a mobile Linux but I'm afraid the usability on desktop is going to suffer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46588953)) "I want this for everything, including my phone, tablet, and tele!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46588359)) "This would be nice for a Linux phone." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46589312))
- Revives Windows 8 style on Linux (2 comments): "This implementation gets one thing most Metro clones miss, i.e the typography as structure paradigm." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46588672)) "Glad to see an attempt to revive it on Linux" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46588684))

## What people warn about

- Looks poor compared to Windows 8 (2 comments): "Sadly, this clone looks very‐very bad, just like millions of WP8‐like launchers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46598296)) "the actual UI and UX are abysmal compared to what Windows 8 was" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46589246))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [LXQt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lxqt.md): 15 recommend
- [NsCDE](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nscde.md): 7 recommend
- [DMS (DankMaterialShell)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dms.md): 6 recommend
- [NextSpace](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nextspace.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Windows 8 Desktop Environment for Linux", https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows-8-desktop-environment-for-linux/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).