Hey Look: Aero is NOT Gone in Windows 8 RTM!

By Nazmus Shakib Khandaker
in The Fast Ring (Insider Previews)

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Nazmus Shakib Khandaker

Posted
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The title is not misleading in any way. Aero is fully enabled and thriving in Windows 8 RTM. In fact, Aero is the ONLY theme available. Unlike in Windows Vista and 7, YOU CANNOT EVEN TURN OFF AERO in Windows 8. In this thread, I am going to prove it to you.

The screenshots are of the Release Preview. However, I disabled transparency to mimic, as closely as I could. to the final UI of Windows 8 RTM. Every feature you see here works flawlessly in RTM.

The only thing gone in Windows 8 RTM is transparency in window boarders. Everything else about Aero is present in Windows 8 RTM

Aero Animation (Closing Window)

Close%20Effects.png

Aero Annimation (Minimize Window)

Minimize%20Effects.png

Aero Peek

Aero%20Peek.png

Taskbar Aero Peek

Taskbar%20Peek.png

Taskbar Thumbnails

Taskbar%20Thumbnails.png

Fullscreen Magnification

The fullscreen magnification requires Aero; and it works fine in Windows 8 because Windows 8 has Aero.

Magnification.png

Aero Snap (with Glass effect)

Aero%20Snap.png

Again, these screenshots are done in the Release Preview with transparency off. But they are exactly the same in RTM.

Important Notes

The Aero branding is gone, but the actual features are not.

Only the glass effects are gone. Everything else exists.

The visuals are still GPU accelerated.

The window drop shadow is still present in RTM but is very subtle. If you look closely in the following screenshot and you will see it.

RTM.png

Unlike Windows 7 or Vista, you cannot turn off Aero in Windows 8.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Final Remark: STOP CRYING ABOUT "NO AERO IN WINDOWS 8".

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Anthonyd

Posted
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Aero never got removed, they only ditched the glass effect, period.

It's still GPU accelerated, it's still using the same amount of ressources (so they didn't disabled it for laptop and so on).

Seriously, who came with the idea that Aero was gone? It took them years to put it into Vista and improving it other 7 & 8.

Grand Master

theyarecomingforyou

Posted
Posted

If you're going to talk about Windows 8 RTM then at least use screenshots from Windows 8 RTM and not the much older Release Preview, as they use different themes.

However, you're partially right. The Windows 8 RTM theme is basically just a variation on the original Aero and for people to claim that it is "hideous" or "ugly" - as I have seen in other threads - just defies logic. It Windows 8 is ugly then Windows 7 should be too, as the differences between them are very subtle.

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Nazmus Shakib Khandaker

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The reason I din't do RTM screenshots is because these screenshots would look almost exactly the same in Windows 8 RTM.

I think people are "crying" about transparent window boarders missing in Windows 8.

While some are, many people are misunderstanding what's happening with Aero in Windows 8. I have seen many people claiming "because Win8's UI isn't GUP accelerated, it will consumer less battery." This statement is false because Win8's UI is GPU accelerated.

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Anthonyd

Posted
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True, the Aero Glass UI might be gone in Win8, but Aero in of itself lives on.

It's pretty sure that somebody will find a way to re-enable it through regedit, they probably just desactived it by default and removed the option to enable/disable it into Windows settings.
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Noir Angel

Posted
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Trolltastic

My complaint is about the transparency being gone, and the general ugliness of the new design. I'm well aware that the UI is still GPU accelerated, that doesn't make it any less ugly though.

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Nazmus Shakib Khandaker

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My complaint is about the transparency being gone, and the general ugliness of the new design. I'm well aware that the UI is still GPU accelerated, that doesn't make it any less ugly though.

I love the solid chrome so much, that I can't Windows 7 anymore. in the release preview, I have turned off transparency because a solid chrome looks much better, in my opinion.

"almost exactly the same" != "exactly the same" is the point people might be trying to make. Posting screenshots from the RTM will help your case immensely I would guess.

I just don't have the time to hunt down a leaked build, find a way to install it, and spend hours just for the sake of this thread. The RP screenshots are good enough. If you would like to replicate these screenshots in RTM and post them, be my guest.

Grand Master

bandit_liberty_rumble

Posted
Posted
Seriously, who came with the idea that Aero was gone?

Microsoft themselves haven't been very clear about that, sometimes talking about 'Aero' then about 'Aero glass' again.

We have moved beyond Aero Glass
Aero was designed to help the app?s content to be the center of attention, and for the Windows system UI to recede into the background. This is still relevant today, and while we are moving beyond Aero, we don?t want to lose sight of these goals.
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Nazmus Shakib Khandaker

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Microsoft themselves haven't been very clear about that, sometimes talking about 'Aero' then about 'Aero glass' again.

As I meantioned in the main thread, only the branding of Aero is gone. The actual features of aero is still present.

well yeah, I always thought that was a well known fact. Who in their right mind would think Microsoft just threw away everything they did with vista en 7? :s

Not really getting the purpose of this thread.

LOTS of people think the entire AERO technology is gone, including GPU acceleration. Trust me, I have read the complaints. People just don't get it

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anidais

Posted
Posted

I agree with the OP, but keep in mind that the new theme is not just the Release Preview theme without transparency. The window frames are different. The taskbar is also different (no more smoked corners at the left and right of the taskbar and also no more blur effect). It looks much simpler now. Oh, and the theme is still called aero in Windows/Resources/Themes.

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Nazmus Shakib Khandaker

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I agree with the OP, but keep in mind that the new theme is not just the Release Preview theme without transparency. The window frames are different. The taskbar is also different (no more smoked corners at the left and right of the taskbar and also no more blur effect). It looks much simpler now. Oh, and the theme is still called aero in Windows/Resources/Themes.

I KNOW that the RTM theme looks really different, including different close/minimize buttons, Window frames, taskbar, ribbon, etc. However, those have nothing to do with the point of the thread. The look of the ribbon won't prove anything about Aero. The screenshots in RP are good enough to explain the point. If someone is skeptical, they can try replicating these in RTM.

Nice to see it's still called aero internally. But the branding is gone. If you open the personalization window, it doesn't say "Aero" themes anymore.

Grand Master

bandit_liberty_rumble

Posted
Posted
the branding of Aero is gone. The actual features of aero is still present.

Take it up with Microsoft if you feel they're being unclear about what 'Aero' is.

Aero gave the appearance of highly-rendered glass, light sources, reflections, and other graphically complex textures in the title bars, taskbar, and other system surfaces.
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Nazmus Shakib Khandaker

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Take it up with Microsoft if you feel they're being unclear about what 'Aero' is.

I won't disagree that MS made description Aero a but unclear. But I think what you are describing there is just a portion of the entire Aero experience. But again, from Microsoft's description, Windows 8 is not Aero. But I think Aero is the entire DDWM experience.

Grand Master

xendrome

Posted
Posted

Aero is the GUI hardware acceleration engine, and Aero Glass was the Default theme that ran on it and had transparent effects.

Aero Glass is gone... not Aero (engine/code)

This really isn't hard to understand..

Grand Master

bandit_liberty_rumble

Posted
Posted

Aero is the GUI hardware acceleration engine, and Aero Glass was the Default theme that ran on it and had transparent effects.

Which MS calls the 'Aero visual style' or even just 'Aero' at times which might be the source of part of the confusion here. MS have moved beyond the Aero visual style (alternatively called Aero Glass ).

Experienced

Lirodon

Posted
Posted

Aero is the GUI hardware acceleration engine, and Aero Glass was the Default theme that ran on it and had transparent effects.

Aero Glass is gone... not Aero (engine/code)

This really isn't hard to understand..

Actually, the engine is called the Desktop Window Manager. Its clearly still there.

Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

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Seeing how even in the RTM they left the taskbar with a bit of transparency then then option or ability to turn it back on to how it was at the RP should still be in there, just hidden. I doubt they actually went though all the trouble to just rip out the code for windows borders yet left the taskbar with it.

I give it a few weeks and someone will find and release a hack or a tweak tool that will let you go crazy with transparency again, or if not that then some custom theme will add it back

Personally I'm ok without glass borders as long as I can tweak the thickness of the new solid borders. I'm all for the Office 2013 style thin borders with a thin drop shadow.

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