Recommended Posts

http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/18/3029547/microsoft-windows-8-drops-aero-glass

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. "We will help people get off on the right foot," the company explained in a blog post, "and we have confidence that people will quickly find the new paradigms to be second-nature."

  • Like 2
Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1078305-microsoft-drops-aero-from-windows-8/
Share on other sites

oh noes another dropppped featurezzz :rolleyes:

on a serious note good job of making Windows Uniform (Y)

No feature dropped here. They just changed the theme. The underlying stuff that Aero brought is all still there. In other words, it shouldn't take long for themers to bring back Aero Glass. At least I hope so, more choices is always better.

No feature dropped here. They just changed the theme. The underlying stuff that Aero brought is all still there. In other words, it shouldn't take long for themers to bring back Aero Glass. At least I hope so, more choices is always better.

Yeah, as soon as Windows 8 RC's I'm gonna start work on Cloud8. smh @ Microsoft.

This is classic, poor MS, damned if you do damned if you don't till the end. People moaned how the desktop and start screen don't match at all, now they're working to get the desktop to better fit with the start screen and you have a group moaning about those changes now. It never ends.

Did you notice that Microsoft changed the screenshot of the desktop in their blog.

The new screenshot doesn't show the new icon.

Compare this picture with the one in the first post (emphasis on the task bar area):

8270.Desktop_2D00_theme_5F00_0459AA86.png

You're right, guess they photoshopped it out, don't want to leak new icons right now I guess.

No feature dropped here. They just changed the theme. The underlying stuff that Aero brought is all still there. In other words, it shouldn't take long for themers to bring back Aero Glass. At least I hope so, more choices is always better.

You're assuming themers will bother with Windows 8.

I find that hideous. My next desktop might be my first mac :o

Comments like this always makes me laugh.

Have you ever tried OS X once in your life ? It has many ****ty things like no real fullscreen, lack of games etc.

Plus you'll lose all your software that have to be bought again/you'll have to find the mac equivalent and so on, so much for not staying with Windows 7/wait for Windows 8 RTM and try it!

Oh so that means the only is only designed for battery powered devices! Wait a minute, I thought Microsoft said it was designed for all kinds of PCs. Then why should powered machines not enjoy glass transparencies where there is no question of battery life?

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • That's (at least partially) on 7-zip; Nanazip (7-zip fork) adds itself properly to Context menus.
    • We have disabled advertising in the forums for now for an undetermined period. If you feel like you get a lot of value out of the site please do whitelist ads on the news articles, and/or consider getting a subscription, we offer two tiers, one at: $14 per year (support the site for just over a dollar a month) or the $28/year tier (just over $2/month) that disables advertising and affiliate link tracking throughout the site (so also on the news side). We also have a 'Buy us a coffee' page if you just want to make a one-time donation. I am not mincing words when I say it is becoming harder and harder to monetize publications like Neowin, it's a fact of life that when we can no longer afford to pay for everything we'll go like many other sites already have. It doesn't have to cost you anything There are other ways to support Neowin too, like posting on topic content in the forums (technical support/questions/helping others) and sharing our news articles.. this costs nothing but your time and is just as important as subscribing or making a monetary donation! Anyway thanks for your time and continued support of Neowin. Now in our 26th year, and hopefully many more! For all the lurkers out there that whitelist us, make a free member account, and see fewer (only inline) ads on the news side  
    • BATorrent 3.0.2 by Razvan Serea BATorrent is a lightweight, open-source BitTorrent client built with modern C++ and Qt 6, offering a clean, fast, and privacy-focused alternative to traditional torrent apps. It supports magnet links, .torrent files, resume data, sequential downloading, per-file priorities, and even imports from qBittorrent. Power users benefit from integrated RSS auto-download with regex filtering, duplicate detection, and automatic tracker lists from Stremio. Streaming is seamless thanks to auto-detected players like VLC and IINA. BATorrent includes robust VPN tools—interface binding, auto-detection for WireGuard-based services like Mullvad and NordLynx, kill switch, proxy support, and IP filtering. A full WebUI enables remote control, while integrations with Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby automate library updates. With themes, speed scheduling, system-tray alerts, and cross-platform support for Windows, Linux, and macOS, BATorrent delivers a polished, high-performance torrenting experience. BATorrent features: Core .torrent file and magnet link support Resume data — picks up where you left off after restart Import torrents from qBittorrent Create .torrent files from any file or folder Sequential download mode Per-file priority control (skip, low, normal, high) Seed ratio limits with auto-pause DHT, PEX, UPnP, NAT-PMP RSS Auto-Download Subscribe to RSS feeds — automatically download new torrents as they appear Regex filters — match only what you want (e.g. 1080p|720p, S01E\d+) Per-feed settings — custom save path, check interval (5–1440 min), enable/disable Auto-download — matched items are downloaded automatically in the background Supports magnet links, .torrent URLs, and tags Tray notifications when items are auto-downloaded Duplicate detection — never downloads the same item twice Stremio Stremio Addon System pre-installed — works out of the box Auto tracker list from ngosang/trackerslist Streaming Play while downloading — stream video files before the download is complete Supports mp4, mkv, avi, mov, wmv, flv, webm, m4v, ts Auto-detects installed players (VLC, IINA, system default) VPN & Privacy Interface binding — lock torrent traffic to a specific network interface (e.g. tun0) Auto VPN detection — identifies VPN interfaces (tun, tap, WireGuard, Mullvad, NordLynx, ProtonVPN) Kill switch — automatically pauses all torrents if the VPN interface drops Auto-resume — resumes only the torrents paused by the kill switch when VPN reconnects Proxy support — SOCKS5 and HTTP proxy with optional authentication IP filtering — load P2P blocklists to block unwanted IP ranges Protocol encryption (enabled / forced / disabled) WebUI Remote management — control torrents from any browser at http://localhost:8080 REST API with JSON responses Add torrents via magnet link or .torrent upload Pause, resume, remove torrents remotely View peers and files per torrent Dark theme matching the desktop app HTTP Basic Auth with SHA-256 password hashing Configurable port and remote access (localhost vs 0.0.0.0) Interface 3 themes: Dark, Light, Midnight (bat/vampire aesthetic) Real-time speed graph Detailed panel with tabs: General, Peers, Files, Trackers Filter bar: search by name, filter by state (Active, Downloading, Seeding, Paused, Finished) Drag & drop .torrent files and magnet links Drag & drop reorder in torrent list System tray with notifications (download complete, kill switch events, RSS auto-downloads) Splash screen with bat animation Bilingual: English and Portuguese (BR), auto-detected from system locale Bandwidth Scheduler Alternative speed limits — set different download/upload limits on a schedule Time range — configure active hours (e.g. 01:00 to 07:00), supports overnight ranges Per-day control — choose which days of the week the schedule applies Automatically switches between normal and alternative speeds Media Server Integration Plex — automatically trigger library scan when a download completes Jellyfin / Emby — same automatic library refresh via API Configure server URL and authentication token/key in Settings System Cross-platform: Windows, Linux, macOS Auto-shutdown — automatically shut down PC when all downloads complete (60s cancellable countdown) Auto-update system (AppImage on Linux, installer on Windows, DMG on macOS) CLI arguments: pass .torrent files or magnet: URIs directly Keyboard shortcuts: Space to toggle pause, Ctrl+A to select all, Ctrl+O to open BATorrent 3.0.2 changelog: Phone pairing & WebUI The browser WebUI was reskinned to match the desktop app — same dark palette, Inter font, flat surfaces, the real BATorrent logo (it was a random bat before), and a proper magnet icon. It now looks like the same product, not a separate dashboard. Pairing is one tap and zero typing: the generated WebUI password is now copyable, and the QR code carries the credentials — scanning it from your phone logs straight in (no typing the IP or password), then drops the credentials from the address bar. Search Two new providers: RuTor (CIS sources, no login, via a public TorAPI relay) and Torrents-CSV. Results are sorted by seeders (healthiest first), and each search now times out after 15 s so one dead provider can't hang the UI. Files & trackers Per-file priority is back: right-click a file in the detail panel to set Skip / Low / Normal / High. Rename an individual file inside a torrent (double-click or the file menu), separate from renaming the torrent. Remove a tracker from a torrent (the ✕ on a tracker row); adding was already there. Smart Paste on Ctrl+V — paste a magnet, a 40-char info-hash, or a .torrent URL straight from the clipboard and it's added immediately (text fields still paste text normally). Covers & titles Anime fansub naming ([Group] Title - NN) now resolves to the right show. Audio channel layouts in titles (DDP5.1, 7.1, …) are stripped so they don't pollute cover matching. Under the hood The legacy QWidget interface is gone. QML had been the only UI since 3.0.0 (reachable old code lived behind a hidden --legacy flag); with parity confirmed, the entire QWidget layer — main window, every dialog, the theme manager — was removed (~13,400 lines). The four restored actions above were features that backend already supported but the QML port had never wired. macOS: the WebUI password hash moved out of the keychain into app settings, so launching the app no longer pops a login-keychain password prompt on unsigned builds. The actual password still lives in the keychain. Cleanup: ~400 orphaned translation strings and a batch of dead code removed; internal duplication collapsed; an ARCHITECTURE.md added for contributors. Unit / security / memory tests and the ASan/UBSan/TSan sanitizers stay green. Download: BATorrent 3.0.2 | 30.5 MB (Open Source) Download: BATorrent Portable | 42.3 MB Links: BATorrent Website | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • How about a global switch to turn the awful things off instead of a registry hack? Then everyone wins.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Mentor
      grik went up a rank
      Mentor
    • Dedicated
      JKR earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • One Year In
      CHUNWEI earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Conversation Starter
      FBSPL earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • Week One Done
      I2D earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      476
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      262
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      79
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      60
    5. 5
      FloatingFatMan
      60
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!