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Which software environment changes its UI the least?


Which software environment amongst these changes its UI the least?  

45 members have voted

  1. 1. Which software environment amongst these changes its UI the least?

    • Mac OS X
      26
    • iOS
      10
    • GNOME
      2
    • KDE
      6
    • Android
      1


Question

Considering my possible migration from Microsoft platforms to other platforms that I have tried but don't know that well, which platform's UI has changed the very least over the years? Can Neowinians please tell me? :) I want some guidance on how frequently Apple overhauls the UI and features of its products, how frequently does Google do that with Android and what about KDE, GNOME. Please vote and reply too, but at least vote.

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I would say Mac OS has had the most consistent interface since it's inception. Though that's not to say the UI doesn't get changed much.. it does, cosmetically, and features get added, some get taken away..

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I think iOS and Android are to young to value. KDE in v4 is a big change to v3 also GNOME 3 to v2.

So my choice is Mac OS.

Isn't Apple starting to bring more iOS elements to the Mac just like MS?

Considering my possible migration from Microsoft platforms to other platforms that I have tried but don't know that well, which platform's UI has changed the very least over the years? Can Neowinians please tell me? :) I want some guidance on how frequently Apple overhauls the UI and features of its products, how frequently does Google do that with Android and what about KDE, GNOME. Please vote and reply too, but at least vote.

If you don't want the UI to change then don't upgrade and don't switch platforms. All the listed operating systems change per new version.

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Android/iOS will not replace a desktop OS. In this case, iOS has changed the least but with Droid (like Linux) you can pick the way your phone looks by picking your version/interface flavour.

With regards to Linux OS's: You can choose your desktop environment that runs on it, thus you can pick to stay on whatever you want.

Every single one of the operating systems you listed has changed significantly over time. The only one which will give you independence from change is Linux as stated above. Try Gnome 2 for the most static GUI.

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Yeah I was thinking Linux too. Customizable, very power user oriented, KDE and GNOME UI doesn't change that frequently across versions. How is software compatibility for Linux distro versions that have gotten old? And which of the two, GNOME and KDE changes has changed less from GNOME 2 to GNOME 3 vs KDE 3 to KDE4?

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Next to non-existant.

Although you can run old packages, many time the old packages have dependencies that have moved on and can't be rolled back without breaking something else.

For all your lack faith in Microsoft, it's not a bad place to be.

There is literally nothing wrong with Linux, I run it as a primary OS on a couple of my devices, but it's no Windows.

Everything works with it because everyone uses it.

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iOS is the most consistent so far, but if you want to look at the long run of a decade (iOS doesn't even exist that long as you know), it'd be OS X.

Cheetah (10.0) public BETA

mac-os-x-pulic-beta-veroeffentlicht-13-september-2000-bild-via-wikipedia9366.jpg

Cheetah (10.0)

mac-os-x-100-alias-cheetah-veroeffentlicht-24-maerz-2001-bild-via-wikipedia9367.jpg

Puma (10.1)

mac-os-x-101-alias-puma-veroeffentlicht-25-september-2001-bild-via-wikipedia9368.jpg

Jaguar (10.2)

mac-os-x-102-alias-jaguar-veroeffentlicht-13-august-2002-bild-via-wikipedia9369.jpg

Panther (10.3)

mac-os-x-103-alias-panther-veroeffentlicht-24-oktober-2003-bild-via-wikipedia9370.jpg

Tiger (10.4)

mac-os-x-104-alias-tiger-veroeffentlicht-29-april-2005-bild-via-wikipedia9371.jpg

Leopard (10.5)

mac-os-x-105-alias-leopard-veroeffentlicht-26-oktober-2007-bild-via-wikipedia9372.jpg

Snow Leopard (10.6)

mac-os-x-106-alias-snow-leopard-veroeffentlicht-28-august-2009-bild-via-wikipedia9373.jpg

Lion (10.7)

mac-os-x-107-alias-lion-veroeffentlicht-20-juli-2011-bild-via-wikipedia9374.jpg

Glassed Silver:mac

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Are Mac OS X and iOS pretty much similar in basic concepts, although form factor requires some changes. Or comparable to Windows Desktop vs Metro?

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Are Mac OS X and iOS pretty much similar in basic concepts, although form factor requires some changes. Or comparable to Windows Desktop vs Metro?

What basic concepts do you mean?

As iOS is based on OS X it's technically close to it.

However, it's based on the ARM architecture as opposed to OS X being on PPC (not the latest release anymore) and x86.

In terms of ecosystem integration, "Apple style" simplicity iOS is right on OS X's tracks, just that of cause OS X will allow you to do more out of the box (say applications don't have to be sandboxed etc all that).

Of cause a jailbroken iOS device can have more possibilities again.

There are many apps that sync with desktop counterparts or play together with them in some other way.

There's even a Mac App Store category dedicated to such apps, but it doesn't feature all of them in the least.

Glassed Silver:mac

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What basic concepts do you mean?

Considering this thread is about UI, I mean interface concepts. Btw when you think iOS and Android, think tablet, not phone when voting.

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Considering this thread is about UI, I mean interface concepts. Btw when you think iOS and Android, think tablet, not phone when voting.

Okay, thought it was a side question.

To be honest with you, I don't have an iPad, but yes, iOS for iPad leans quite a bit on OS X.

Compare Mail for OS X and for iPad.

That's just one example.

However, as you might have different priorities I think comparing videos of both GUIs on Youtube or even better yet: trying them out in the store will be your best bet.

For the other stuff I said I will say it ports to the iPad concept, so you can take those technical tidbits and think I would have spoken about iPads! :p

Glassed Silver:mac

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heck OSX still looks like OS6/7/8/9 just more graphical and some new features added.....

The exact same can be said of Windows 95 ~ 7... It's largely the same interface just more refined with added functionality. I also don't see it as a bad thing: If something works really well why radically change it?

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OSX is changing significantly, in the direction of iOS, so everyone who voted for it is wrong. iOS is probably going to stay the same, given that OSX is going to be morphing into iOS. Anyone who has used Lion knows it's a significant departure from Snow Leopard and earlier. Mountain Lion will be taking that further.

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heck OSX still looks like OS6/7/8/9 just more graphical and some new features added.....

There was a significant change in how you did things going from 9 to X. The Apple menu is something completely different now, for instance. It's obviously been a while since I used Mac OS 9 and earlier, but there's still the odd thing I run into with OS X where I expect things to work one way and they don't, because they have been arbitrarily changed.

Windows 95-7 is much more consistent, especially if you turn off Aero and Luna. Then there's almost no change from 95-XP, and Vista and 7 make the taskbar fatter and change how the Start Menu looks. 3.11->95 is a bigger change than 9-X, but that doesn't mean 9-X wasn't a big change.

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X11? Runs basically everywhere and the apps using it haven't changed in a good long time, although it's a bit clunky on OSX.

In terms of a commercial OS UI, I guess Windows. There was a big change from OS9 to OSX, but there hasn't been any fundamental changes from 95 to 7.

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Another question essential to know for me:

In Windows 7/Vista Explorer, when you rename, or paste or extact or create new file(s), they are automatically sorted by sort order. I can't stand this behavior at all and manual sort/refresh option is only available on Windows XP. Is the behavior of auto sorting the moment a file is renamed, pasted or extracted in a folder the same in OS X's Finder, KDE's Konqueror and GNOME's Nautilus? Is it at least configurable on any of these platforms?

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OSX is changing significantly, in the direction of iOS, so everyone who voted for it is wrong. iOS is probably going to stay the same, given that OSX is going to be morphing into iOS. Anyone who has used Lion knows it's a significant departure from Snow Leopard and earlier. Mountain Lion will be taking that further.

Nothing wrong about it. While OS X Lion and Mountain Lion are definitely incorporating features from iOS those features are still being wrapped into an Aqua environment. Sure, multi-touch gestures have been added to OS X if you use a trackpad and to a lesser degree a Magic Mouse. Beyond that not much has changed how I interacted with OS X Cheetah back in 2001 compared to OS X Lion today. Does the OS offer a lot more features? Yes. Did Aqua see a massive revamp in OS X Lion? Yes. However the basic principles are still the same, again not a bad thing.

OS X Mountain Lion will feature a pretty big change though: The way tool bar buttons work. Right now you have a largely static tool bar within an app that looks the same regardless of content. Sure in most cases you can add/remove toolbar buttons yourself but you still end up with a static bar, bit it customized to your own likings. OS X Mountain Lion will shift to a non-customizable content aware tool bar that automatically changes its items bases on the type of document you open. The Menu Bar's dominance is greatly reduced this way.

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Heh, you didn't say it had to be graphical.

The command-line UI hasn't really changed on any OS ever.

So any OS, just boot into console/terminal.

I vote Ubuntu Server.

:laugh:

Nice suggestion, how about MINIX3 then? :)

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I'd have to say KDE, although MacOS X has usually been rather consistent. KDE3 is long dead (except for the Trinity project) and the developers don't seem inclined to make major changes in new versions of KDE4 but simply improve on what's there.

I have no idea where Gnome 3 is headed, just that it's a huge change from Gnome 2

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