

Interesting thoughts on Windows 7 design from a long-time Mac user - zimbabwe
http://www.marco.org/137217915

======
endtime
These thoughts aren't interesting at all. Most of them are smug and vapid.

>I'm slightly amused that there were 8 updates already.

Why? It's RC software.

>There’s an odd dichotomy with using text labels...

I actually turned text on in the taskbar, but nevertheless, it's pretty much
the same as OS X. Doesn't one typically recognize a program by its icon in
both OSes?

>The use of color is odd for OS X users.

The only place that seems overtly colorful is the login/locked screen.
Certainly personal preference; the implied value judgement (that OS X is
classy and Win7 is gaudy) is just silly.

>It seems like Microsoft is really hammering the Windows branding into your
face as frequently as possible. Everything has Windows logos, the Start
button’s logo glows eerily on hover, and everything is called Windows-
something. Apple is much more subtle and conservative with the use of their
name, the Mac name, and their logos.

This is just silly. The _only_ place I see the Windows logo is the Start
button. And the use of loaded adjectives - "eerily" for Windows, "subtle" and
"conservative" for OS X - betrays any objectivity the author might have
claimed.

------
taitems
It's not often you hear of Microsoft setting design or usability trends, but
the Office ribbon has seen a pretty vast uptake. As a UI designer I have
personally implemented it in various web apps. I'm looking forward to what
Microsoft does next, honestly.

~~~
makecheck
I know an engineer who was not only frustrated with the ribbon, but actually
attributed it to Vista (i.e. to say she "didn't like Vista" when what she
described was clearly a feature of Office).

I suspect she was just too used to the old way (for better or for worse), but
that's still valid. Maybe the ribbon isn't bad, but Microsoft should have
introduced it more gradually, e.g. alongside a familiar menu bar instead of
replacing the menu bar completely.

~~~
taitems
I won't deny the Microsoft ribbon has a really steep learning curve, but it's
valuable even if just to learn how not to design/implement a ribbon.

The people that I have met that have difficulty adjusting to the ribbon (my 60
year old father, other 20 year old students etc) have either adjusted to it
over time, or simply never made an effort to learn how to use it, and continue
to complain about it.

------
drawkbox
Windows is dead. I know of no developers using Windows anymore, myself
included, except for gaming, visual studio or directx development. Everything
programming-wise is __nix focused and Mac won because of that. OSX is the
perfect *nix backend with usable front end.

When you win over the developers, things are gonna change. Developers,
developers, devel...

~~~
makecheck
I can see how this would be true, and hopefully not too optimistic. :) To add
some data points...

Part of this is the hardware (MacBooks, etc. are very powerful). Syncing and
staying mobile are very easy with Macs. It's becoming more typical to get
useful work done in airports, coffee shops, back porches, etc. over wireless.

If a shift to web applications continues, the majority of them will surely be
developed on Macs. If you're using Ruby, Python, Apache, etc. _anyway_ , it's
sure nice to have them all pre-installed. On Windows, not only do you not have
any of this, you don't even have SSH or a decent terminal, or equivalents to
the core Unix utilities. (Oh wait, you don't even have _a real text editor_!)
There's always a few hours of work to download enough to make Windows usable.
Not to mention doing it all again 6 months later, when the machine is hosed
and you reinstall.

I don't use Windows over VM, but I know many do, and it would seem perfect for
web development. From anywhere, you can basically run the vast majority of
likely browsers and test changes immediately. That is a killer feature.

I prefer it for desktop application development too. While the environment can
sometimes be "weird", there are good reasons for most differences. For
example, I'm used to passing the same options to GCC on Solaris and Linux;
although Mac OS X does its own thing, it's hard to argue with the fact that -F
is simpler and loses no real information over -L + -I.

Apple also includes some amazing code analysis tools in Instruments. You could
spend a lot of money just acquiring those tools on other platforms, even if
the Mac had no other advantages at all.

~~~
derefr
> On Windows, not only do you not have any of this, you don't even have SSH or
> a decent terminal, or equivalents to the core Unix utilities.

Couldn't Microsoft just _start doing this_?

~~~
berntb
You'd have to trust Microsoft to not play their usual compatibility games with
everything (from web standards to gaming the ISO standard process).

Good luck with that.

------
makecheck
Interesting observations.

The Windows branding one is kind of funny; this isn't new for Microsoft,
they've just decided to replace "Microsoft" with "Windows". I remember being
amazed at the stupidity, I think almost every version of Windows since 1.0 has
used the name "Microsoft" 5 times on the splash screen alone ("Microsoft
Windows 95" with "Microsoft Internet Explorer", "(c)1995 Microsoft
Corporation", a stylized "Microsoft" logo in the corner, "Registered trademark
of Microsoft", etc.). Someone in that organization is basically nuts. :)

------
varaon
Mixed feelings on the updates, but Microsoft seems quick to patch security
vulnerabilities lately. Same topic but unrelated, W7 will fetch and download
drivers that it doesn't have installed.

I find OS X to be too monochromatic - I've made several modifications to get
bolder icons, Dock, white text on black menubar. Granted, W7 does lack the
same tightly controlled consistency as OS X, but I like the look.

I'm impressed with the Ribbon interface. The point about the large bezels -
they make them stand out; it's a good design idea for Windows (note the
distinction - it's good within their UI paradigm).

ed: clarity

~~~
makecheck
If you want a really unique look, try control+option+command+8 on a Mac. :)

~~~
varaon
I used to use that for easier reading. Irony being, now that my Firefox skin
and menubar are both black, it just makes them obnoxiously bright.

f.lux is wonderful though - lowers the colour temperature based on time of
day, so you don't have a harsh 9100K monitor at 11 pm. Windows and Mac -
<http://www.stereopsis.com/flux/>

ed: for even more fun, play with 'Filters' in the ColorSync Utility

------
jsz0
Anyone who doesn't live in a certain environment can't really give an
objective view of these things. We may look at it and say "wow that's
annoying" but a long time Windows user may look at it and say "Thank you
Microsoft! Thank you for the Updates! I feel so much safer now! Oh and you
hide those annoying system tray icons for me too! I LOVE YOU" Long time
Windows users will probably be quite happy with Windows 7. For everyone else
there are several good alternatives these days.

------
bep
_"I’m slightly amused that there were 8 updates already."_

There were up to 10 test updates for the RC:
[http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/2009/05/08/upcoming-
upda...](http://blogs.technet.com/mu/archive/2009/05/08/upcoming-updates-for-
windows-7-rc.aspx)

~~~
msc
"First impressions of Windows 7 from a Mac user:

    
    
        * I’m slightly amused that there were 8 updates already."
    

3 months after buying my first Apple product (MacBook Aluminium), I find out
that an old Java vulnerability was still unpatched. They finally patched it,
what, a couple of weeks ago? I welcome updates, I don't know what's so
amusing.

~~~
froo
_I welcome updates, I don't know what's so amusing._

Exactly, the update manager in Ubuntu boots up every couple of days for me to
make sure my installation is the most up to date possible.

Is this the part where Marco starts slagging off Linux too?

Updates are good - it shows that someone is taking an active interest in
maintaining a stable product and I think it is foolish to present blatant bias
here when that aspect of your argument can be easily disproven.

Yes, Microsoft is copying Apple - They did it before with the first Windows,
they'll more than likely do it again in the future.

Get over it fanboys.

~~~
skalpelis
The Mac software updater actually runs weekly in the background, it just
doesn't bother you in case no updates are available.

------
towndrunk
Still no system wide spell checking in edit fields. The simple word processor,
write.exe doesn't even have spell check after all these years either.

