Windows 9 Technical Preview screenshots leaked

Windows 9 Technical Preview screenshots leak - GSMArena Blog

 

I always say this and I will say it again - dammit, I want that Aero Glass back!

 

I don't need Aero glass back... I'm ok with different... but the "Microsoft Bob v2" look can go anytime it wants.
Can we go with something that doesn't look like something you'd see in a preschool class?

Maybe give us more control over the interface like perhaps more depth into what was once called themes?

 

I still wish there was more aesthetic consistency. The folders and other icons in File Explorer still look like something out of Win 7, whereas the start menu still looks like something out of Win 8.

I like the idea of themes. Have a "classic" aesthetic theme and a "modern" aesthetic theme. The "classic" theme should consistently use the aesthetic style that still exists in File Explorer. The "modern" aesthetic theme should look like Jay Machalani's mock-up of Windows 8.2. Problem solved.

Spoiler

 

Your not the only one here asking that....

Well they should do this let the user customize the look if they want the W7 look and start menu looks let them do that and if they want W8 Metro on the start menu UI then let them. This is so hard M$ can't seem to get their head out where the Sun doesn't shine again.... W9 look and looks more like a failure at this point in time. Aero had good results and for newer power system Laptop and Desktop Aero works just fine taking it out because system resources is just plain excuse...let the users themselves decide if they want Aero on/off what is so hard about this??? Must be very hard....

 

Simply put, why not let the user determine how the GUI looks...

Linux users have GNOME, Unity, KDE, Cinnamon, LXDE and more.

Honestly, I'd love the lightweight and clean look of LXDE, but some users might prefer a lot more eye candy like Cinnamon or Unity. Frankly most of these GUIs are built on the same baseline anyway similar to the way Windows XP, windows 7, or windows 8 are.

Just take a baseline, (like Win 7) and strip it down and call it the CleanWin7 theme. Have a modification or customization wizard to add little touches like translucent windows and allow me to actually make them all but clear for once.
(Heaven forbid they look like real windows.) Then let me color the windows like stained glass.

Colorful, window-like, but simple and elegant. Something I'd enjoy but not have to pay a hefty price in performance.
(I hate pop-up anything)

The same actual kernel can run under the GUI no matter what the user picks... its just what and how much fluffiness the user wants or needs.
If its too much support nightmare... add it as an unsupported powertool after release.

 

what a hideous looking operating system !!!

 

Nope. Still don't like it.

Flat design it's pointless on a notebook. It will work on a tablet or a mobile telephone, but on a laptop is not right.

 

Its not perfect, but I think its enough change for me to leave Win7 and go to Win9.
Start Menu are there, desktop instead of Metro, typical Win7 folders, taskbar like I know it.

 

I actually like the Start Menu with the tiles extended. I use the live tiles for weather, email, news, sports etc.

 

Looks like Windows 8.x. That's exactly the same as saying that it looks like crap.
Oh well, Windows 8 was such an awe-inspiring success, why not build on that, right?

 

They should just give the option on initial install: Classic or "modern"

Is it THAT hard to include 2 different styles?

And for the record, I want aero glass back too.

 

Looks like I'll be sticking with Windows 7 until 2020...

 

Same. I just can't understand the current obsession with flat design. It's why I hate iOS 7 as well. I'd take a skeuamorphic Windows 7 or iOS 6 any day.

And the thing about Aero in Vista and 7 was that it wasn't just about looks. Glass and Flip 3D had real usability benefits on a day-to-day basis.

 

From the video, it looks like users can choose between start screen & start menu, although in a moderately obscure location. And Metro apps no longer have to be fullscreen. Looks like a good start to me.

As for the theme design, they didn't show that so we don't know yet. There may indeed be a number of different looks.

 

That's my current status, too. It's not impossible that they will introduce real improvements going beyond what can be seen on the surface right now, but I'm not holding my breath. And, yes, Aero has more than just cosmetic value, whereas the current theming is all about form over function, and that's exactly the kind of crap I won't have on what, for me, is a pure productivity device.

P.S.: By the way, on the themes front, Windows 9 takes the insanity to new levels. If you look at the original screenshots you can see that the Windows now seem to have a near borderless design, with the sides and bottoms of the windows not having a (noticeable) border. Great if you have, say, two Windows Explorer windows side-by-side, or vertically overlapping. What moron is capable of coming up with idiocies like that? This stuff is clearly designed by and for people who do not use computers.

 

No bad now is much more desktop friendly Hopefully it will be a free update

 

I just want to have light text with a dark theme. Right now you only can have black text in Windows title bar.

 

Well, no interest so far. No aero glass as mentioned for the desktop. everything looks flat and bland, just blah. The borders without Aero Glass are still too distracting for me but it does appear more desktop friendly out of the box.

 

I have a feeling I will be skipping this one as well and sticking to the trusty Windows 7 (AKA the new XP)

 

That should be something the user can toggle on/off. also, where are my jumplists in that start menu, that is one thing I really do miss from 7.

EDIT: Looks like the jump lists are back in the video. That is one thing I'm glad to see. I don't mind the flat look at all personally. That said, if they could modify the Windows 7 default theme so that it works with and is included in 9, that would likely make a lot of people happy.

 

Here are some leaked videos......looks fugly to me:

Windows 9 Start Menu Leaks Out in New Videos | TechnoBuffalo

 

Amen to that! You can't imagine how happy I was to see jump lists back!
I would also like for them to include a classic start menu design, as in having all those Control Panel, Run, Devices and Printers, etc. shortcuts on the right side of start menu. However, seeing how you can pin shortcuts to the start menu I don't think that this will be a very big problem.

And once again, I want that damn Aero Glass back!!!

 

I intentionally got Win 7 when I bought my new laptop in April. I have some very niche applications that won't run under Win 8 and even if it did the software supplier hasn't certified it for Win 8 so I would get zero support even if it were to actually run. It's always been this way with them. Hell, they finally got good Win 7 support 3 years ago. Crazy, eh?

 

I actually like it.
I like that you can unpin and pin stuff to the side of the ususal start menu. You can have a Win7 start menu by just disabling everything if you want to

Plus you can put in shortcuts to software and programs that you have to click to a dozen times to get to, on the side of the start menu, which makes it very easy to start the programs. Plus you can resize the pictures if you want to.

 

well if you can remove the metro crap out of the start menu then it's fine, I just got turned off when I watched the first few seconds of the video watching those mtro tiles infiltrate our lives even more by now sneaking into the start menu.........then when I saw them launch the Metro calculator was the moment where I turned off the video

 

This looks flat, but an improvement over 8. AeroGlass would be nice, but if this can run like 8 does on low GPU and RAM, I could live with this and be happy.

 

I was very happy to see them launch the calculator. The calculator in Windows 8.x takes up the whole screen for no good reason. They finally got it back down to a reasonable size.

 

Now you're seeing the benefit of being able to run Metro apps in a window on the Desktop environment.

Although I still wouldn't touch Metro apps with a ten-foot pole. The Windows Store is just flooded with low-quality and scam apps.

 

Just like the Android market. I never even bothered to see what's on the Windows Store after having had checked it in the early stages of Windows 8.

 

Exactly, but with less of the piracy and malware that plagues Google Play. There's a case to be made for a walled garden such as the iOS App Store over an open platform if it ensures quality, but Windows Store somehow manages to be both closed and mediocre.

 

The Windows Store is beyond mediocre. It's pretty pathetic, actually. There are only a handful of Apps that I can honestly say are quality apps. Everything else, has poor UI, lacks features (vs it's Android/iOS counterparts) or is as unstable as you can possibly make it or just doesn't work.

 

At screenshot seem they return aero

 

Nope, they didn't.

 

In the screen shot, and with Windows 8.x, the task bar has translucency. The problem is M$ broke DWM and the borders can no longer be translucent and the other issue of course is how bland and dull they are now.

 

It's so weird Microsoft went for the flat, solid windows.. I sure am glad nobody else thinks it's a good idea, and I'm sure MS's competitors will use shiny windows to lure the masses that hate flat simplified themes. Certainly nobody in the mainstream tech world thinks Aero should have been retired.

Given how everyone else is going, I'm sure MS will see their mistake soon enough!

 

Heheh, have you actually read that article? It's from 2012 as you know, and with today's hindsight it's truly hilarious! Thanks for a good laugh!

 

I actually prefer translucency over Aero because you can actually see what's behind it unlike Aero where it looks like you're viewing the background object thru painted glass. With the StartIsBack utility you can actually make the translucency virtually ZERO.

Which brings me to my point. It's a shame MS did not apply the translucent effect throughout the UI and windows.

 

That's because they retired Aero theme in Windows 8. In 2012. That's why it's in the future tense. In 2012.

 

Yeah, I know, that one went right over your head. Never mind...

 

You're contradicting yourself?

 

I prefer the Windows 8/8.1 translucency over the Windows 7 translucency.

 

You just contradicted yourself again. Previously you said "it's a shame MS did not apply the translucent effect throughout the UI and windows." W8 only has translucency on the taskbar.

 

I like the translucent effect in Windows 7. I think Windows 8 did a better job with the Windows 8 translucent effect. It's a shame MS did not add it to the entire Windows 8 desktop UI because it does look nice and is more effective. Is that better? If not maybe you can just type the words you would like to hear.

In summary, I have no problems with Aero, I have no problems with Windows 8 translucent effect. MS should have applied it to the rest of the UI instead of the solid borders on the open windows.

 

I think the main issue this boils down to is simply the one of choice. I have no serious problem with Microsoft deciding that, from now on, the Windows UI should look coma-inducing boring, and make no use of any of the advanced features that all modern graphics chipsets come with, in order to go back to a 1990s-area primitive UI. It still mystifies me why anyone would make such a choice, but tastes differ, so there's not much else to say. One may note in parentheses, however, that Windows 7 always has given its users the choice to make the desktop UI look almost exactly like the Windows 8 UI, with the sole exception of the slight rounding of the window borders: Simply turn off transparency, all Window animations, and choose the same boring colors and fonts that are used by Windows 8, and voila, there's your Win8-style UI, complete with the fake "snappiness" that some people imagine exists in Windows 8.

So, the real issue is that, with Windows 8, Microsoft has taken away a number of choices that users had, for no good reason other than wantonly forcing them into the design style that Sinofsky's team had decreed for Windows. In other words, Microsoft has eliminated features in Windows 8 that a number of users had appreciated and, I repeat, they have done so for no good reason at all. The only part of this story that is mysterious at this point is that there are people who were surprised that a big part of the user base was upset. That this would happen should have been obvious to anyone who hasn't slept through the last couple of decades of computing: While Apple has always jerked around their users, and made hard, immutable choices for them, Microsoft, and the PC platform at large have always (until Win8, that is) stood for choice. Taking this away was a blunder of massive proportions, and it rightly got a number of people fired, up to the very top of the company.

The question at this point, of course, is: Has Microsoft learned its lesson from the disaster that is Windows 8? Unfortunately, the real, huge disappointment with what we have seen of Windows 9 so far is that the answer seems to be a resounding "NO". Like I said, too bad. Many of the many, many years I had with Microsoft were good, but all things have to end eventually, and for me the writing is on the wall.

 

As I have stated I will not be participating in Windows 9 development or testing it for them. There seems to be no interest in getting it together and making Windows 9 the desktop/production improvement that Windows 8 should have been. They are so concerned with the advancement of Metro and their app store the end consumers are being lost in the shuffle. Right now, for their base consumers, they have Windows 7 and Office to hold them over. This soon will end though and then where will they be?

Fortunately 2020 is still a ways off, leaving plenty of time yet to jerk people around. We could easily see a Windows 10 still trying to push metro and Dullsville on the desktop. Then there could be the save grace of Windows 11 coming to the rescue for the PC user. This is assuming this tablet, practically only, OS has not killed the PC market by then. So many possibilities but one thing seems to ring true.

That is the Windows Dominant stature is not as sure as it used to be. There was a day, not too long ago, no one saw M$ being knocked off the top of the totem pole. Now it is hard to find anyone with other than gloomy predictions, discounting fanboys of course. I should also mention that I was a fanboy but as a disclaimer at first for many years I wasn't.

 

MS and Windows isn't going anywhere soon until corporations start adopting another OS entirely in droves. I'm just surprised more companies aren't screaming at MS about their boneheaded decisions. In my mind I can't rightfully see any serious corporation using Windows 8. I truly hope Windows 9 is an about face and as Pirx mentioned, give back *CHOICE* to users instead of shoving something down our throats.

 

Maybe cause most of them just barely transitioned to W7 and care less what the next iteration of Windows looks like until their next upgrade cycle, 10 years later.

 

the thing is there are many users who WANT this type of interface .. all the kids who grew up on tablets and smartphones and now are trying to enter the workforce. I keep getting told that the OSX 10.6 and Windows 7 interface is sooooooooooo OLD.

 

Again... why not cater to both?

Most versions of Windows can be run in "classic" mode which makes it look like the previous incarnation to encourage upgrades and ease the transition.

Why not let users pick from any or ALL of the Windows' interfaces? If I want it to look like Windows 3.1... why not?

Honestly... the number one thing I want fixed is Win 8's nagging incompatibilities. I had to downgrade recently not because I couldn't put up with the interface, but because not a single Cisco switch or router would stay connected via USB to serial. It's supposed to work... and works fine in Win7. It even works in 8 provided its connected to any other managed switch. (not so much routers) Why does it keep dying while I type in Win 8? It's a simple terminal emulator! When it first came out... ok... but Win8 isn't new. Why is this still a problem?

It isn't just me... many programs designed for Win7 or earlier versions simply do not work in 8. I never found anything I couldn't run in 7 (even stuff made for Win 3.1)with some manipulation. Windows 8 is extremely picky and some programs just plain won't work without buying the Windows 8 version.