First look at Windows 7's User Interface

[Axemantitan]

A little look at what the competition is doing:

At PDC today, Microsoft gave the first public demonstration of Windows 7. Until now, the company has been uncharacteristically secretive about its new OS; over the past few months, Microsoft has let on that the taskbar will undergo a number of changes, and that many bundled applications would be unbundled and shipped with Windows Live instead. There have also been occasional screenshots of some of the new applets like Calculator and Paint. Now that the covers are finally off, the scale of the new OS becomes clear. The user interface has undergone the most radical overhaul and update since the introduction of Windows 95 thirteen years ago.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081028-first-look-at-windows-7.html

 

[~Shard~]

I must honestly say that I think this has potential, and should have been something Microsoft implemented years ago - however, I'll still take my OS X any day of the week. And although the GUIs look improved and more user-friendly, how Microsoft implements them will be the key - that and overall system response, performance, etc. Even if they make an interface that looks great, if it is not implemented properly then it's rather irrelevant.

 

[Shadow]

It is a bit of a rip of Mac OS X...they even have the docklets now but apart from that its looking pretty nice. Hopefully it'll support the GMA950 so I can run it on my MacBook

OP: Could you please

 

[mkrishnan]

It's cute. If the features work, it manages to not have viruses and exploits in the wild before it even gets released, runs smoothly on launch day computers, and is actually compatible with accessories that are on the market at launch day, it might not be bad.

But in order to be good, they need to make their eye candy usable.

 

[dukebound85]

i hope it doesnt pull a longhorn on us lol

 

[Aranince]

Meh..it's ok. I'm not a big fan of the glass UI.

 

[Eidorian]

Wha wha...you can finally move taskbar "icons" now? I've been waiting for that since Windows 98!

 

[knightlie]

Still looks ugly, cluttered and gimmicky, no taste. What's this, the fourth different photo viewing method they've put in? And that's the biggest new feature so far?

What will they call that Dock clone? The Rack? Deck? Kcod? Shelf? No, Shelf is taken, isn't it?

Wha wha...you can finally move taskbar "icons" now? I've been waiting for that since Windows 98!

It's so obvious, they didn't think of it.

 

[~Shard~]

It's cute. If the features work, it manages to not have viruses and exploits in the wild before it even gets released, runs smoothly on launch day computers, and is actually compatible with accessories that are on the market at launch day, it might not be bad.

But in order to be good, they need to make their eye candy usable.

Well said, it's like what I said in my previous post - Microsoft can make it look as clean, sexy and cool as they want, but if the OS doesn't perform well as a whole then it doesn't really matter.

 

[0098386]

It still actually hurts my eyes to see that blurry-ness in the fore window title bars. What they needed to do was compress the range of colours in there too, since the blurred black part absolutely sucks my eyes to that area. And what's with the gradient ending halfway down in that above screenshot? I get that they're trying to make it look shiny but that doesn't always work! For example - see the pic.

And I've got perfect vision! Maybe too perfect for Microsoft.

But they've never been good at making the whole thing look smooth and pleasing to the eye. Older Windows were much too sharp looking, I think OSX has it right but it's also a little slower at dragging/resizing.

 

[petvas]

I do not want to sound like a Mac fanboy, but many of the UI elements currently under development have been a part of the Mac OS X UI for years...

Despite that, I think that Windows 7 will solve many of the Vista issues. Let's see what 2009 will bring!

Windows 7 is trying to solve the many windows chaos that is typical on any windows system. This is my main complain in the Windows UI and I hope they make it better. Competition doesn't hurt anyone...I just wish they had some original ideas and didn't copy Apple again...

 

[dukebound85]

i really think MS should just take a linux distro and run with it. Legacy apps be damned!

 

[Eidorian]

Still looks ugly, cluttered and gimmicky, no taste. What's this, the fourth different photo viewing method they've put in? And that's the biggest new feature so far?

What will they call that Dock clone? The Rack? Deck? Kcod? Shelf? No, Shelf is taken, isn't it?

I'm hoping that they at least put out interface guidelines after the mess that we had in Vista. The taskbar is still the taskbar.

It's so obvious, they didn't think of it.

It made sense that you'd want to drag around minimized applications and to my surprise you couldn't.

 

[~Shard~]

I do not want to sound like a Mac fanboy, but many of the UI elements currently under development have been a part of the Mac OS X UI for years...

Despite that, I think that Windows 7 will solve many of the Vista issues. Let's see what 2009 will bring!

Windows 7 is trying to solve the many windows chaos that is typical on any windows system. This is my main complain in the Windows UI and I hope they make it better. Competition doesn't hurt anyone...I just wish they had some original ideas and didn't copy Apple again...

I agree with this - an improvement as far as Microsoft goes, and what Vista (and arguably XP!) should have been in the first place, but still behind OS X regardless. It's great that Microsoft is trying to clean up and optimize Windows, but even that, in a way, is simply copying Apple, as that is the direction OS X is taking with Snow Leopard. And as usual, I think Apple will do a better job in this regard with 10.6 than Microsoft will do with Windows 7.

 

[yrsonicdeath]

Meh..it's ok. I'm not a big fan of the glass UI.

]

Agreed. I don't agree that it looks like a huge step away from what they have done in the past. It still looks like windows to me. I'm not saying this in a good or a bad way, I just don't see what's so drastically different.

 

[Mackilroy]

Windows 7 really reminds me of the OS X Beta from 2001... the color, the 'Dock' at the bottom, and the egregious eye candy.

 

[edesignuk]

Apparently, crucially, they have tidied up the code significantly. There's a new guy in charge, and he's dealing with things in the right way.

So for now it seems promising, just hope it doesn't bloat up as it nears completion.

Windows Vista is better than its reputation, but its reputation is pretty bad. During the press briefing for Windows 7 at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference (PDC), corporate vice president for Windows product management Mike Nash insisted Microsoft had learned from the Vista experience.

Judging by early Windows 7 code released at PDC, the signs are that it really has.

Microsoft is making all the right noises: everything that works on Vista will also work on Windows 7, it will be faster on the same hardware, it will run longer on the same batteries, it will be more reliable.

In other words, whereas Vista was two steps forward and one step back from Windows XP, there should be no downside to Windows 7 over Windows Vista.

A day spent with a Windows 7 preview build - Milestone 3, running on a laptop loaned for the purpose (Dell XPS M1339, Core 2 Duo 2.3Ghz, with 3GB RAM) tends to confirm that view. Windows 7 feels more polished than Vista, even in the preview, and performance is good.

The Register.

 

[bengal85]

it looks cool and in that I don't have the money to buy a mac I will upgrade to it if I can but it depends on if there is a certain amount of ram or something needed to support all the files.

I will have to research it because LOOKS ARE NOT EVERYTHING

 

[JNB]

Based solely on the UI, it's not very inviting. In fact, it looks like any of a number of Linux distro front ends. Except that it'll come in six (or more) versions, starting at $199, as opposed to two and free. I'm far more interested in what they're doing under the hood, like finally, maybe, implementing all the promises of Longhorn (we hardly knew ye).

All in all, it needs to be solid, supported, and ready for prime-time from the get-go. Not only will the institutional XP hangers-on finally have something worthy to migrate to, but MS really can't have too positive of an outlook with another failed release. Oh, they'll ship (not necessarily "sell") hundreds of millions regardless, but another blown OS release can't bode well, other than the MS board of directors looking for a head to lop off.

 

[petvas]

For more infos about Windows 7 go to http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/win7_preview.asp

 

[sn00pie]

Wow, to be honest it looks like Linux or something... such a thick taskbar on the bottom but it does have potential.

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

Ugh... Blur by default is the worst idea.

 

[Schtumple]

It'll be good, Microsoft have learnt from Vista, I wouldn't be surprised if Windows 7 was the release that enticed back alot of quick mac switchers.

I really like the design too, much more cleaner, simpler, the way it should've always been.

 

[Eidorian]

Ugh... Blur by default is the worst idea.

I'd tell Apple to tone down the shadows in Leopard. Try taking a screen grab of a window.

 

[11800506]

It's actually not that bad. The UI seems much better and more streamlined but it still isn't perfect. Now all MS has to do is implement it correctly and they should be on their way.