Topic awaiting preservation: Longhorn screenshots

WinBeta
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So, how does it look like?



Sasha »

Yucky.

There's nothing improved on the 'clean' look XP had, and I stronlgy dislike the shade of gray they used for the main windows. I suppose the designers are still working on the graphics, and what we now see is just the outer shell of winXP that's being reused. The only new things I see are the updated clock, and the "my-first-sony" way-too-big buttons on top.

I think the folks who downloaded the beta should focus more on the options and upgrades longhorn has, than to post random screenshots.

Thank you for sharing.
I don't dislike the gray theme, and I guess it's just the default one. Graphically speaking, the interface seems to take more place with each version of windows, and it all looks all flat and vectorial, I mean there's some effects of volume here and there but, since that's just some simple linear gradients, it rarely works.
The internet browser showed in these screenshots looks more like MSN explorer than to IE. I'm a little disappointed by the lower position of the File Edit View ... bar, but that way the drop down menu don't overlap the adress bar.
I hope there's still a way to browser your files like in win98, without all the assistants attacking you and not showing the files on your hard drives as is.

Mathieu "POÏ" HENRI

It's MacOSX-XP!

groovy clock. that IE looks like crap! I am going to check and see what some of the differences are between XP and Longhorn (what a freaking name). So far I'm not too impressed but then again that "bubbly" look is crap anyway.

Later,

C:\


~Binary is best~

That is possibly the ugliest OS I have seen to date. It was actually better looking in some of the older screenshots I'd seen. The windows were more of a navy blue.

It's like someone without any taste tried to copy Aqua. Internet Explorer looks like it's made by Fisher-Price. They can call it "My First Browser."

Personally I like it.

They've made a significant improvement on the bubbly-window style of XP. Longhorn looks considerably less cartoonish. The slate theme, which I imagine is one of several, looks very clean, stylish, and professional.

I wish Linux had desktops like this. You're given the choice of a bloated pretty desktop or a small ugly one.

Jestah

The older, dark blue screenshots were OK. The only bit I like about the new look is that clock. Just from what you can tell there, it looks like the interface is still going to be kind of wooly and intrusive, without enough ways to customize it, short of moving the taskbar around the screen.

Why do they need to make each new ms os more RAM eater? The looks of that clocks states my point. I guess i will be trying linux as soon as i get my very own computer.

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Alevice's Media Library

"Why do they need to make each new MS OS more of a RAM eater?"

That so you're forced to buy more RAM, Bill probably owns that (indirectly) too.

[Cell 1303]

Are we reduced to this? Criticizing a program because of the way it looks rather than the way it works? Wasn't everyone here in a tizz about what Longhorn meant? I think your energy could be spent better elsewhere (along with your money if you're having issues with Longhorn).



[This message has been edited by GrythusDraconis (edited 10-26-2003).]

GD: Well, since we already know that Longhorn (which will incorporate Palladium) will be the death of the personal PC, I don't think it's bad at all to criticize what it looks like.

(Why can't they just make one that looks like 2000. Thats what most of the people I know make their XP to look like anyways)
__________________
War is Peace,
Freedom is Slavery,
Ignorance is Strength.

[This message has been edited by counterfeitbacon (edited 10-26-2003).]

GD: Appearance is important in an Operating System for many people. Seeing how the vast majority of users on this forum don't have the Longhorn Beta installed, appearance is all most of us can comment on.

Cfb: In my experience most people enjoy the XP look. Those in this forum (and people like us) shouldn't be viewed as the average Windows user.

Jestah

GrythusDraconis: Don't worry, we all know that LongHorn is far from finished, The only materials we have to discuss are the fews specs we know ( e.g. Palladium ) and those screenshots but we know it'll surely evolve until the final release.

Jestah: Indeed, all the people I know who enjoy the XP UI are not geeks and have some Odd Surfing Habits. The geeks usually prefer smaller interfaces.

I installed XP once, and the big blue "playschool" theme ( I know I could set an oldschool one or something offending my retina less ), all the wizards, the new organizations of the system and control pannels really annoyed me. I went back to W2K the next day. I may have given XP a real chance but I was comfortable with W2K.

Honestly I like the black/gray theme. The new "address bar" area ( with the big arrows, magnify and star ) is just a little too big to my taste but apart from that it looks quite functional. I also like the digital clock with a big 8 and a small 21 PM floating on its left. I regret the inconstancy of the File Edit ... Display_button bar. Having some plain text menus mixed with some tiny axis aligned icons breaks the XP/LongHorn design.

All the features appearing in the screenshots looks really great for the "average user", but the geeks need more control of their computer and datas... anyway, if Palladium is the nightmare it seems to be, all the geeks will move to something else.

Mathieu "POÏ" HENRI

One doesn't nessecarily NEED more space to make an interface look nice. This is just a 30-minute mockup of what could be.

I always wanted to be a skinner....sadly, the customistation of windows leaves something to be desired.

I still use the default theme, the one that's in use since win 95. No flashy graphics for me.



[This message has been edited by mahjqa (edited 10-27-2003).]

Ok, look at this

Here is my current task bar:

It is small, looks pretty nice (not offensivly ugly) and it's efficient.



This is what it looks like with Windows XP extras'n'stuff turned on

It LARGE, it looks sloppily placed together, the spacing isn't right, it squished around everything on the top/bottom portions and it takes it 3 WHOLE lines for my system tray.



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quote:

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Cfb: In my experience most people enjoy the XP look. Those in this forum (and people like us) shouldn't be viewed as the average Windows user.

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My friends are the exact type of people (yes, even the Troll) that would visit these forums, and some of them even like the XP looks. Most don't, for the reasons that I pointed out above.

__________________
War is Peace,
Freedom is Slavery,
Ignorance is Strength.

I love my current taskbar Nice looking, small and autohides.



I dont get either how ppl think. "the more clunkier and ram eating...the better?"

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Alevice's Media Library

Small and simple. I love WindowBlinds.

(Oops, I got a bit of Firebird in there...)





[This message has been edited by Rauthrin (edited 10-27-2003).]

Hey CFB you big dummy, right-click on your taskbar and choose "Lock Taskbar." That will get rid of that extra top bevel and your taskbar won't take up any more room than the other one.

:::11oh1:::

If you don't like it, switch it off and shut up. -- If you can't shut up, someone will come and take away your real computer and replace it with a lump of pretty plastic that pretends to be a computer (otherwise known as a mac).

At least the XP styles don't eat anywhere near as much resources as OSX does.

To make XP as slick as OSX, it would cost a lot of resources (system wise), which would get absolutly hammered in the reviews no matter how pretty it looked. Every time a new windows OS comes out, every game, application and utility benchmark gets thrown at it and everyone expects performance gains, any losses and it's neck stretching time.

Keep in mind that windows OS's sell more to businesses than home users, so the visual appearance isn't as important as it is for OSX, which is pitched towards the creative industries. It makes more sence fo OSX to look and feel like a creative and asthetic environment then to beat XP in business application benchmarks.

Edit: CFB, why do you have trillian, ICQ, mIRC and Yahoo Messenger installed on your computer? Isn't that why people use trillian, so they don't bog down their computer with millions of different IM programs.... Besides, with that many butt ugly quick launch icons arranged in such a hap hazzard order, aint nothing gonna make your desktop look pretty.

[This message has been edited by Dracusis (edited 10-27-2003).]

quote:

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934. Barenaked Ladies - Another Postcard (3:25) (playing)

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That's funny.


Sasha »

Krets: Lock taskbar doensn't seem to make it any less ugly =), it might save a little bit of space. but, in general, it's still clumsy.

You know what, I'm still under the impression that computers are best when boxey, beige and gray. Say that I'm stuck in the Dark Ages. but I like my simplistic gray taskbar and my small, space-conservative start menu.

Drac: I use Trillian, but I leave AIM installed because sometimes direct connect desides to fuck me over when I'm using Trillian. ICQ and Yahoo are installed because I never took the time to uninstall them =) mIRC is installed because I can access MP3 channels from it.

I realize my desktop doesn't look as "pretty" with all the quick start icons up there on the second row, but it's efficient. I don't have to sort through my start menu (which is a complete mess, because I haven't taken the time to organize it) or my desktop, (which is filled with stuff...I have several folders called "old desktop" that contain, well, old desktops =)). But, I like it. Plain and simple.

Sash: (whats funny?, I don't get it)

[This message has been edited by counterfeitbacon (edited 10-27-2003).]

Why are there 2 copies of Winamp running in your Systray?

Ahahaha...It's criticize cfb's desktop day =)

Honest answer: I dunno, but theres not any more.

[This message has been edited by counterfeitbacon (edited 10-27-2003).]

It is? I wasn't aware of it?

Just a bit of fun.

=)

My desktop is clean... but don't look in my Start menu.... [link]

[start menu]

[This message has been edited by Rauthrin (edited 10-27-2003).]

Heh, was just poking a bit of fun. I work my PC into a mess every 3 months, then spend
a good day or two cleaning it back up again. Although I try and keep the quick launch
bar clean and minimal, only for the often used apps (web browser, email, text editor,
ps, flash and director). Any more then 10 icons on it and I have to actually look through
the icons before I click them (most people can't process more then 7 options at the
same time, but the limit stretches to about 10 when you've rehersed or know the
options before you process them), and it I have to do that, I may as well be using my
start menu.

I used to keep my desktop super clean and devoid of almost any icons, but I figure, the
space is there, and it's a handy space to work from, so that's where I dump
*everything* that I'm currently working on. Hell, it's called a "desktop", why should my
virtual desktop be cleaner than my real one. =)

Besides, I see very little point in wasting such a unique and handy work space to display
"wallpaper" or shortcuts to my hard disks, which I souldn't need if I have my working
files right on my desktop where they belong. But eveyone has different computer habbits,
2 years ago I would have called my current habbits messy and un productive.

[This message has been edited by Dracusis (edited 10-27-2003).]

Me, rather than clean, i keep all my shortcuts and such organized. If i think there is just too much icons of a same kind of stuff in mah desktop (eg all the browser shortcuts), i'd better put them in some kind of bar or something like that, and keep them as small (as long as i still distinguis wtf is) as possible. I try to ctageorize as much as possible, like all my games shortcuts in a games folder, and the ones i keep playing the most, set them on top =)

__________________________________


Alevice's Media Library

Longhorn looks ok at the Mo, but I prefer the orignal XP look,

i like my desktop and stuff sorted and tidy link

ps. yes that's me posing as a ninja in my profile picture.

I know nothing about the technical aspects of longhorn. The only thing I don't like about the appearance is those title bars. They take up way too much real-estate. Doesn't matter, because I'll probably just set it back to classic view.

My desktop is a mess, all current projects get dumped there and that's the way I like it. I don't use the start menu, but my quick start is kind of a mini-menu.

Also, I know not to expect a miracle, but it'd be nice if IE had some significant updates in the right direction too. I have recently switched to Firebird, but the fact remains that about 90% of the visits my sites get come from IE.

CFB (and the general public): You might see it as less efficient, but try keeping all of your shortcuts in an auto-hide toolbar instead of the quick launch bar. Configure it to use small icons, no title, and no labels and you're set for a space-saving quick access... uh.. thingy.

I find it really helps with my 15" monitor set at 1024x768