Aero Glass UI No More On Windows 8 426
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Unknown Lamer
from the zombie-nextstep-will-eat-your-ui dept.
from the zombie-nextstep-will-eat-your-ui dept.
New submitter closer2it writes with news of interface changes in Windows 8. From the article: "Microsoft has revealed that it has made some big changes to its desktop UI for Windows 8, which includes moving away from Aero Glass — the UI first introduced with Vista. According to the company, this means visual changes that include 'flattening surfaces, removing reflections, and scaling back distracting gradients.' Despite all of these changes with the interface, the company doesn't appear to be worried about the issue of 'learnability.' Instead, Microsoft believes that with a little help it won't take long for users to adapt to the new operating system."
Re:Less eye candy (Score:5, Informative)
There's an option in Windows to adjust the border width (it defaults to 4 but can be lowered all the way to 0).
Appearance -> Window Color -> Advanced appearance settings.. -> Border padding
Re:Relearn an OS? (Score:4, Informative)
The biggest improvement in Windows 7 (or rather Vista) is the sudo-like interface for running things that require elevated permissions. It is much better than the su-like interface in Windows XP which doesn't always work, or having to log out and log in as administrator.
Re:They got it all wrong (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Less eye candy (Score:2, Informative)
Not exactly. I noticed that look creeping into webcomics and anime long before it was implemented in OS X. Instead of a flat cartoon, you add highlights (especially on the eyes and the hair) and a shadow along one edge to give it a more 3D look. I think the increased use of computers in drawing and animation made it easier for artists to draw over otherwise completed art in order to enhance it.
The glossy look in OS X is just this carried over to icons and windows. While OS X may have been the first widespread implementation on a computer UI, in no way did they start it. (I'm not even sure they were the first to do it on a computer UI. I vaguely recall playing around with an early version of Enlightenment which made extensive use of gradients and faux-transparency. This was on my Thinkpad 600e which would put it in the late 1990s.)
Re:Less eye candy (Score:4, Informative)
But don't take MY word for it, download the free Win 8 consumer preview yourself. Just fire up a VM and give it a spin if you don't have a spare machine to try it on
I don't have a spare machine to try it on, so I did try to test it in a VM. Turns out, it requires hardware virtualization features which I don't have in my Core Duo laptop, which has otherwise been adequate for my needs for the past several years. Which pretty much negates any chance of me buying Windows 8 for the computer I've been planning, because I can't give it a thorough test run.
Anyone know why the CP requires hardware virtualization, or is it just a quirk of VirtualBox?