Windows 8 designers are blind.

[encarta]

This is what I think too. Don't get me wrong, I like the new desktop theme, but it could have used more polish.

And what do you like about it? I'm seriously asking, because I find it horrible. The whole OS is a mess. Even the Metro part is ugly as hell on large screens. I can't even begin to understand what people at Redmond were thinking. I mean seriously, a company with billions and billions of dollars can't afford to hire 20 good designers or what? Or are Ballmer and Sinofsky blind and completely retarded?

[anidais]

And what do you like about it? I'm seriously asking, because I find it horrible. The whole OS is a mess. Even the Metro part is ugly as hell on large screens. I can't even begin to understand what people at Redmond were thinking. I mean seriously, a company with billions and billions of dollars can't afford to hire 20 good designers or what? Or are Ballmer and Sinofsky blind and completely retarded?

The new theme is simple, feels modern and digital. It also matches the new start screen much better than aero. I know some people may not like it, but some people didn't like aero either. And just because the new theme is simple doesn't make it badly designed. Have you heard the KISS principle? While I liked aero, in retrospect, it had many distractions and unnecessary effects that added nothing to the usability of the OS. Microsoft just went for a different direction with Windows 8.

[Dot Matrix]

And what do you like about it? I'm seriously asking, because I find it horrible. The whole OS is a mess. Even the Metro part is ugly as hell on large screens. I can't even begin to understand what people at Redmond were thinking. I mean seriously, a company with billions and billions of dollars can't afford to hire 20 good designers or what? Or are Ballmer and Sinofsky blind and completely retarded?

I think they did a good job. From the screenshots I've seen, the final theme looks sharp and clean. Like a UI should. Gradients are nothing but a distraction.

[br0adband]

Yeah, this is why the theme should have been included in the Release Preview so that real world testers could provide feedback. If you want thinner Window Borders, save below as window_border.reg and merge (restart required)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics] "BorderWidth"="0" "PaddedBorderWidth"="0"

This does not require a restart - it just requires you to log out and back into your account. Most changes never require an actual machine restart, just log out, log back in, voila.

[bandit_liberty_rumble]

The new theme is [...] digital.

It sure is.

[rakeshishere]

The User Interface of Windows 8 is a complete mess. :/ No unified GUI instead I see combination of Riboon UI on Windows Explorer,Metro Start screen,legacy Windows 95 dialog boxes , old style apps with menus. :cry:

[Ci7]

The User Interface of Windows 8 is a complete mess. :/ No unified GUI instead I see combination of Riboon UI on Windows Explorer,Metro Start screen,legacy Windows 95 dialog boxes , old style apps with menus. :cry:

*sniped*

oh god , i hate that pie chart :s

[anidais]

It sure is.

What I am trying to say is that it isn't trying to imitate faux textures. In my opinion aero tried to be so much like actual glass windows that it felt overwhelming at times with all those effects and heavy shadows. Really, at the end of the day it's all a matter of preference.

[x-byte]

The User Interface of Windows 8 is a complete mess. :/ No unified GUI instead I see combination of Riboon UI on Windows Explorer,Metro Start screen,legacy Windows 95 dialog boxes , old style apps with menus. :cry:

1. Desktop is an application. Apps inside it isn't suppose to look like Modern UI.

2. RTM looks a bit better

3. You don't need to show the ribbon

Too me it looks like a lot of people here just looks at their computer the whole day, without using it for any tasks. I understand the wish for consistency, but that will not happen with Modern UI and the desktop app. The Desktop is for legacy and productivity tools, the Modern UI is for apps.

[Defcon]

Desktop is not an app, no matter how many times MS repeats it. Its the primary area of interaction for people with the OS and 99% of people will use it more since all legacy apps run in it.

Modern UI 'apps' are toys meant for tablets and have 1/10th the functionality. Do you really think people are going to use these limited apps to get any work done?

[encarta]

The new theme is simple, feels modern and digital. It also matches the new start screen much better than aero. I know some people may not like it, but some people didn't like aero either. And just because the new theme is simple doesn't make it badly designed. Have you heard the KISS principle? While I liked aero, in retrospect, it had many distractions and unnecessary effects that added nothing to the usability of the OS. Microsoft just went for a different direction with Windows 8.

Yes, I know what KISS is, I'm a web designer. And I never said I like W7 aero. In some ways, yes, the new desktop theme is an improvement, but overall it's a complete mess. Too much white, glossy icons from vista, combined with the Metro part... horrible.

Just look at how cool the Zune software is:

Or check out these concepts:

http://www.neowin.ne...dows-8-desktop/

http://www.theverge....ktop-ui-concept

EDIT: Just look at this The Verge Windows 8 app concept.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Verge-on-Win8-(concept)/4778783

I think it looks fantastic.

[anidais]

Yes, I know what KISS is, I'm a web designer. And I never said I like W7 aero. In some ways, yes, the new desktop theme is an improvement, but overall it's a complete mess. Too much white, glossy icons from vista, combined with the Metro part... horrible.

I don't think it's a complete mess. It just needed more polish. I agree about the icons. And no, I don't think it has too much white, unless you use white as the window color.

[x-byte]

Desktop is not an app, no matter how many times MS repeats it. Its the primary area of interaction for people with the OS and 99% of people will use it more since all legacy apps run in it.

Modern UI 'apps' are toys meant for tablets and have 1/10th the functionality. Do you really think people are going to use these limited apps to get any work done?

No one have said that. And that is not the topic either.

[libertas83]

Yes, I know what KISS is, I'm a web designer. And I never said I like W7 aero. In some ways, yes, the new desktop theme is an improvement, but overall it's a complete mess. Too much white, glossy icons from vista, combined with the Metro part... horrible.

Just look at how cool the Zune software is:

Zune was the real Metro UI and the designers behind need to be on the Windows team fixing the themes. Just look at how Zune handles the Tiles scrolling left and right with the mouse, it is perfect and what I was expecting Windows 8 to be like. Instead off scroll wheels and scroll bars it should have been a simple moving along the tiles from left to right to scroll with a click somewhere to scroll quicker.

Also, love the Zune's minimize, close buttons and that alone would make the Windows 8 Theme look so much better. I can't stand the big red X. It's silly, they emphasize close so much on Desktop but get rid of it in Modern UI.

Then, just look at how horrible the Xbox Music App is. Nowhere close to Zune in functionality and design. I just tried it a minute ago and I can't stand it. The volume control doesn't exist! It is tied to the new one-system control which horrible. They need to bring back the guys who used to run Windows Media during Vista days because those guys knew what they were doing with Audio and Video quality. I think the VP there got canned or moved around because of the HD-DVD failure.

[contextfree]

Also, love the Zune's minimize, close buttons and that alone would make the Windows 8 Theme look so much better. I can't stand the big red X. It's silly, they emphasize close so much on Desktop but get rid of it in Modern UI.

It actually makes sense, the role and importance of Close is very different between desktop and Metro style apps.

Desktop apps will use system resources unless you close them, so the close button is an important reminder of something you probably want to do. Metro apps are automatically managed by the system, so a close button isn't needed and would even be misleading since people might see it and think it means they're expected to manage app lifetimes manually.

BTW, most of the Zune designers still at Microsoft are working on Office these days.

[contextfree]

Anyway ... I don't think it's a big deal but I have to agree that more consistency would be nice. Hope in the next wave they'll bring Office, Windows Explorer and Visual Studio closer together and a little closer to the new Metro style stuff, along with modernizing some of those old Win9x dialogs ... although I think a problem with doing that is a lot of them support third-party addins, so it's tricky to change the design and stay compatible. (For example my "Mouse Properties" dialog has an extra Synaptics tab, and a lot of shell addins add tabs to the file "Properties" popups).

[anidais]

Desktop apps will use system resources unless you close them, so the close button is an important reminder of something you probably want to do.

Also remember that since XP the close button has been red so maybe Microsoft wants to keep it familiar.

[StevenJ]

Well, I like the design. These minor things mean almost nothing to me. They mean almost nothing in that I am disappointed that they rushed it or didn't care enough to get it right the first time around. Aside from that, I couldn't care less.

You're comparing it to the Windows 7 desktop in terms of quality.. the windows 7 design had 14 years worth of revision. It's time for a change. No more skeuomorphic design and other b.s. We have grown past that. Efficiency, clarity, and simplicity will always be superior to complex and battery draining color schemes and designs.

[Ahmed Alrasheed]

i dont think MS really had time to work on the desktop UI, they were trying to prefect metro

i guess the "blue" update will fix that

[SubZenit]

Another issue would be the "Desktop Widgets", they were completely removed. WT* ?!

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Another issue would be the "Desktop Widgets", they were completely removed. WT* ?!

Because MS consider gadgets a security risk these days. See also: http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/11/3151143/windows-gadgets-security-vulnerability

[Ehsan Shanbehzadeh]

hi guys

srry for this question but i want to know , rtm is final version ?

[Vegtro]

hi guys

srry for this question but i want to know , rtm is final version ?

Yes.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

hi guys

srry for this question but i want to know , rtm is final version ?

Yes, it is. It's what will be on Windows 8 disks or disk images come the general availability on October 26th.

[encarta]

Zune was the real Metro UI and the designers behind need to be on the Windows team fixing the themes. Just look at how Zune handles the Tiles scrolling left and right with the mouse, it is perfect and what I was expecting Windows 8 to be like. Instead off scroll wheels and scroll bars it should have been a simple moving along the tiles from left to right to scroll with a click somewhere to scroll quicker.

Also, love the Zune's minimize, close buttons and that alone would make the Windows 8 Theme look so much better. I can't stand the big red X. It's silly, they emphasize close so much on Desktop but get rid of it in Modern UI.

Then, just look at how horrible the Xbox Music App is. Nowhere close to Zune in functionality and design. I just tried it a minute ago and I can't stand it. The volume control doesn't exist! It is tied to the new one-system control which horrible. They need to bring back the guys who used to run Windows Media during Vista days because those guys knew what they were doing with Audio and Video quality. I think the VP there got canned or moved around because of the HD-DVD failure.

I completely agree with you. Why do I have to look at those scroll bars? They become visible as soon as you move the mouse. The xbox music app is a jaw-dropping app. In the worst way possible. You have to go to the desktop and manage your libraries there. SERIOUSLY!? And the time slider is laggy as hell. Basically, the app is nothing more than a fu*king music store (the same goes for the video app). Anyway, I've deleted all Metro apps, they're just useless piles of junk.

Also remember that since XP the close button has been red so maybe Microsoft wants to keep it familiar.

And yet they went, and completely alienate people with hidden corners, horrible app switcher and charms bar on the right. And don't get me started on search. Why search isn't universal by default? Sure, filter options are nice, but please. Whoever thought this was a good idea is retarded. Windows 8 is full of bad UX decisions and people who were in charge for the UI/UX should be fired ASAP.

i dont think MS really had time to work on the desktop UI, they were trying to prefect metro

i guess the "blue" update will fix that

They didn't have time to work on the desktop UI? Really? A company with almost 100.000 employees couldn't find 20 designers (or even less) to make desktop pretty? Very unlikely.

EDIT: typos