Why are people calling Windows vista
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Because people don’t seem to remember that Mac OS X 10.2 used Aqua and glassmorphism in 2002 to match their iMac’ brand new translucent style 5 years before Windows Vista was released (2007).
Yeah and odd they don’t see the fundamental difference between these, Apple was always “glass widgets on/in a solid rectangle”
Only on Windows were windows windows
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I like Windows 11. It's the only OS currently in existence to actually implement HDR properly, and that's just sad.
Nothing else works but hey the blacks are blacker!
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I've run into gen-z people talking very nostalgically about 2000s UI design trends. They've even retroactively dubbed the era as 'futiger aero'.
I'm a bit older and don't as fondly remember that era; I remember a lot of excesses like nonsensical reflections and calendar apps with leather textures. The 2013 turn to "flat" design felt quite fresh to me, and I haven't really gotten tired of it yet.
There was the unreleased Windows “Blackcomb”, basically prior to Redmond seeing Apple’s Aqua, which was like a bit Windows 2000, a bit ME, flatness, outlines, square corners, and it could’ve been metro.
But resolutions and anti-aliasing were getting (slightly) better, so copy Apple, XP instead gets texture and rounds everything.
Vista was another interesting take, especially weird was the window controls. We are still living with those weird long controls with a margin below, but not above them, a lot of the time, even in flat land Windows 11.
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We've seen all the window border/ui design cycles by now. You can have:
- Glassy
- Metallic
- Bubbly
- Flat
- Chiseled stone
They will just rotate every 7 years or so from here on out.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]The exact same trends go round and round in web design too (and now apps).
At first things were square (because that was all the technology could do) then in the 2000s CSS exploded and everything went colour gradients and rounded corners, just because people could, then that became old-hat and everything went flat and square again, and then rounded came back (but without so many gradients)
Everything is cyclical.
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Also, everyone hated the UI in Vista at the time.
Man I loved Aero and I’m excited for iOS and iPadOS 26. Shit looks beautiful.
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Nothing else works but hey the blacks are blacker!
Nothing else works
With the exception of some UI elements I need third party tools to restore to their previous customizability, I’ve had no problems making anything that worked in 10 work in 11. Which isn’t surprising, 11 is 10, with a shitty UI redesign.
What doesn’t work?
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From day one of Windows 11, I wrote that Windows 11 felt like an unnecessary replacement for Windows 10. I’ve since changed my mind about that, in part because Microsoft has pivoted toward features like Windows Spotlight and adding AI capabilities like Copilot. MacOS Tahoe looks and feels somewhat like Windows Vista’s Aero Glass design language, but you can’t hold that against them—some of Microsoft’s early Windows efforts were fondly remembered for their UI.
Oh so he doesn't know what he is talking about. How has 11 gotten better with 'AI' or anything else.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Who's "he", and where did that quote come from? I only see an image, did I miss an article cross-posted or something?
EDIT: Apparently, it's from PCWorld.
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Windows XP was the peak of Windows' UI.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Disagree. 2000, Vista, and especially 7 all looked better than XP. XP was childish.
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Apple hates giving users choices, though, so I hope they do ok for those folks.
They’ve definitely improved on this front. It’s fun comparing my iPhone homescreen (a user who moved to iPhone after over a decade of Android customization and arrived at almost just the right time) to people who’ve used iPhone all along. They don’t know what to do with themselves, they’re still pages of app icons.
Meanwhile I’m sitting here with a single beautifully minimal screen with some folders and a big ‘ol weather widget, a swipe gets me to a page full of useful widgets, a swipe the other direction gets me to my app drawer or whatever the hell Apple calls it.
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I've run into gen-z people talking very nostalgically about 2000s UI design trends. They've even retroactively dubbed the era as 'futiger aero'.
I'm a bit older and don't as fondly remember that era; I remember a lot of excesses like nonsensical reflections and calendar apps with leather textures. The 2013 turn to "flat" design felt quite fresh to me, and I haven't really gotten tired of it yet.
The 2013 turn to "flat" design felt quite fresh to me, and I haven't really gotten tired of it yet.
Man, I have. I liked it at first, but I’m so ready.
The processing power wasn’t there yet in 2007 for the level of refraction and skeuomorphism that makes this look work on a system-wide level. In Vista and 7 Aero was just fancy transparency with some blurring and flares. But this design language Apple is showing off is beautiful. I hope others copy it (which will probably happen, since everything in tech is everyone copying everyone else).
(That said, I would probably also take a return to the 9x/NT4/Windows 2000 2.5D grey UI over the flat stuff at this point, so maybe I’m not a good source of opinion.
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I've run into gen-z people talking very nostalgically about 2000s UI design trends. They've even retroactively dubbed the era as 'futiger aero'.
I'm a bit older and don't as fondly remember that era; I remember a lot of excesses like nonsensical reflections and calendar apps with leather textures. The 2013 turn to "flat" design felt quite fresh to me, and I haven't really gotten tired of it yet.
If they are really nostalgic for that, tell them to use react os.
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That, and it had a lot of technical changes that broke a lot of drivers and programs. All the technical changes also had lots of bugs that needed to be fixed. And also, Microsoft OK’ed Vista for 512 MB RAM when it should have had at least 1 GB.
When everything started to smooth out, bugs fixed, drivers and programs updated, and computers came with 2GB+ RAM, then Microsoft released Windows 7, based on all of this, and that made Windows 7 shine.
People say that Windows Vista should never had been made but without it, Windows 7 would have suffered the same fate as Vista.
but without it, Windows 7 would have suffered the same fate as Vista.
Alternatively they could test their shit in advance. It's not like Microsoft is too poor to afford an array of average computers and a dozen of testers.
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Necessary "BTW, I'm using arch linux" comment coming through!
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Make way kid, I'm on my Gentoo flying through
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From day one of Windows 11, I wrote that Windows 11 felt like an unnecessary replacement for Windows 10. I’ve since changed my mind about that, in part because Microsoft has pivoted toward features like Windows Spotlight and adding AI capabilities like Copilot. MacOS Tahoe looks and feels somewhat like Windows Vista’s Aero Glass design language, but you can’t hold that against them—some of Microsoft’s early Windows efforts were fondly remembered for their UI.
Oh so he doesn't know what he is talking about. How has 11 gotten better with 'AI' or anything else.
Copilot is literally the last nail in the coffin for me to finally switch. 365 has been bad for some time now, with copilot it's basically unusable
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I am definitely older (my first programming job involved a mac plus) and personally, I can't stand the flat look era.
It would be fine if it had more ways to differentiate elements from each other - darkening around the edges of windows, buttons that actually look raised so they aren't identical to a text box, scroll bars that aren't SO FUCKING TINY that it's clear MS is embarrassed that they exist in the first place, etc. etc.
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The exact same trends go round and round in web design too (and now apps).
At first things were square (because that was all the technology could do) then in the 2000s CSS exploded and everything went colour gradients and rounded corners, just because people could, then that became old-hat and everything went flat and square again, and then rounded came back (but without so many gradients)
Everything is cyclical.
Everything is cyclical.
Be me still waiting for that cozy skeumorphism and UI with depth to come back. =/
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The 2013 turn to "flat" design felt quite fresh to me, and I haven't really gotten tired of it yet.
Man, I have. I liked it at first, but I’m so ready.
The processing power wasn’t there yet in 2007 for the level of refraction and skeuomorphism that makes this look work on a system-wide level. In Vista and 7 Aero was just fancy transparency with some blurring and flares. But this design language Apple is showing off is beautiful. I hope others copy it (which will probably happen, since everything in tech is everyone copying everyone else).
(That said, I would probably also take a return to the 9x/NT4/Windows 2000 2.5D grey UI over the flat stuff at this point, so maybe I’m not a good source of opinion.
)(which will probably happen, since everything in tech is everyone copying
everyone elseApple no matter how good or bad their ideas are at the time.)FTFY although I wish it wasn't so. ._. Lol
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Who's "he", and where did that quote come from? I only see an image, did I miss an article cross-posted or something?
EDIT: Apparently, it's from PCWorld.
Source: him
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I miss the glass and translucent looks, the flat boring look of today is very bleak and dystopian looking imo.
Don’t miss vista though, that was what started my move to Linux (with Compiz fusion and as many of the ridiculous effects as my poor $300 laptop could handle).I feel the same way! I think a lot of hate for Vista was just instability and high system usage.
I feel like things have definitely come a long way, where my KDE machines can have pretty glassy UI without crunching the whole system.
I also really liked ME before XP, where there was a heavy emphasis on personalizing and theming.
flat boring look of today is very bleak and dystopian looking imo.
100%. It feels very corporate and like any artistic touch was forcibly extracted from it because trends say that aesthetic hurts readability or something. Blegh.
It's like the UI equivalent to that "Memphis techbro" art style with the freakish flat purple people with wonky arms and tiny heads.
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Cool, I'm glad to see UI that makes tech look fun and hopeful again instead of barebones corporate-flat, spartan rectangles.
"Oo look, they come in muted pastels and you can round the corners!"
Pfftftfttft...
