If it's done right...
If it's done right, I could see it working.
It would be nice to have a single computing device that has a touch-screen and fits into a pocket, with a phone UI. Yet if attached to a monitor, mouse and keyboard it has a desktop UI.
Done right, it would need little or no change to application code. Done right, the contextual mode handling would be in OS (well, GUI layer really, but it's all lumped as part of the OS these days) and handled transparently.
Simplified example. App needs a menu bar. It calls the "construct a menu bar" library and populates it. If the device is in desktop mode that results in a standard menu bar being rendered. If the device is in phone mode it gives a hamburger menu button.
Yes, there's a hell of a lot more to it than just that simplified example. A lot of work. But it's not inscrutably complex. Feasible. If you wanted to produce a modal GUI that worked well in both modes, it could be done.
It goes without saying that Win 8 and Gnome 3 did it exactly wrong. You're going to have a common OS and it is going to look like a phone. Even on a desktop. That worked out soooooo well.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
