Windows 8 on ARM - There are no apps behind the curtain (desktop)

Office will run on the desktop, but nothing else. They should have made them run in the Metro UI even if they aren't Metro apps. This just looks bad. [Link]

Ending months of speculation on the matter, Microsoft has revealed that Windows 8 on ARM will indeed contain a desktop—and that desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote will all be pre-installed.
Microsoft insists that the desktop holds real value, and that it makes Windows less valuable to users if it was missing (a view we're sympathetic to). To that end, Windows 8 on ARM ("WOA") will have a desktop, with a taskbar, that includes Explorer, most of the current desktop utilities that ship with Windows (though not all, and Microsoft hasn't said what won't be included), and supports applications. All WOA machines will support USB and Bluetooth mice and keyboards, so users who want to will be able to use the desktop in a traditional way.
To prove the point, the company has produced a video showing the desktop running on an ARM system. The video gives a first look at Office 15, and though we don't see much of it, it appears to be a Metro-esque evolution of Office 2010: it still uses the ribbon, though it's now collapsed by default, and the aesthetic is much flatter and simpler (and so it unfortunately doesn't match the conventional Aero styling of Explorer's ribbon).
But though it looks the same as the traditional desktop, it has one major difference: it won't run any old application. Microsoft has long said that WOA will not include an x86 emulator, so legacy applications would never run directly on the platform, but there was always the possibility that existing desktop applications could be recompiled. That option is now unambiguously eliminated, with Microsoft saying "WOA does not support running, emulating, or porting existing x86/64 desktop apps." Office is a special, unique case. All third-party applications for WOA will be Metro applications delivered via the Windows Store, and must meet the restrictions imposed on those applications.