Mosaic: Uncanny Windows 8 Emulation, or Pallid Imitation?

Out of sheer curiosity this morning, I decided to give the "Mosaic" skin a try. I'd been watching videos describing and exhibiting the unique, if not exactly innovative, "Metro" user interface which is to be included with the next incarnation of the long-standing operating system, and I was duly impressed. "Live" tiles that seem bursting with a strange life all of their own, vibrant colors drawing you in, practically shouting that "this is an experience!"

I haven't had a great deal of time with this extremely well done Windows Vista/7 modification, but what I can say is that, for a beta, it's incredibly smooth and well-rounded. Everything the daily PC user needs is here: e-mail integration, social networking (Twitter and Facebook widgets are available in the "Mosaic Store", which we'll discuss briefly), the aforementioned "live" tiles featuring calendar and clock interfaces, and last but certainly not least, the ability to jump back into the usual Windows experience/UI we've been accustomed to since the late '80s via the "desktop" tile.

E-mail and social networking are a breeze to set up: simply enter the required information after prompted, and you're set. The Twitter application works similarly to other widgets in that you're given a pin number that you must enter at the prompt, but aside from this, it works exactly as you'd expect it to. The calendar, weather and clock widgets are full screen, and are experiences unto themselves. Sporting smooth animations and screen-filling vibrancy, they're similar to what one would see on a Zune or the Windows Phone 7 series of smart phones except these are....well....ten times larger and quite a bit snazzier due to the processing power of a PC. One qualm I have, though, is that the weather widget is just as temperamental as that of "vanilla" Windows and you may find yourself gritting your teeth in frustration after having to re-enter your credentials after the screensaver kicks in. This is something I pray the developers fix in subsequent builds, as it's aggravating and dampens the otherwise immersive interface.

The "Mosaic Store" is an attempt to replicate, on a smaller scale, the forthcoming "Windows Store", though full-scale applications aren't available -- yet. What you do have access to, however, are widgets. From "Music" to "Video", no option is out of reach. To acquire any of these accessories, simply click on the desired widget, wait a moment whilst it downloads and installs, and you're basically good to go. I'd have liked to see YouTube and RSS feed widgets made available to users, but we can't have it all. Perhaps in successive builds?

Though "Mosaic" is hardly perfect -- it's buggy, being a beta -- it brings the "Metro" experience to those who simply aren't willing to install a developer build of Windows 8 just to see what all of the fuss is about or want something visually appealing to mess about with for a period of time. In time, I see this replacing the standard desktop for myself, but until the sluggishness and occasional crashes are squared away, it's nothing more than a nice diversion. Still, if you're a stickler for aesthetics, you owe it to yourself to give it a try, if only a cursory one.