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Do you like Liquid Glass on Mac?

  • Yes

  • Meh…

  • No


Results are only viewable after voting.
You'd be surprised. Once the honeymoon phase with a new toy is over and you realize it's not that useful after all, it can disappear in a drawer forever quicker than they say Amen at church.

Been there.

And it's a particularly tricky product to get a preowned buyer for.
 
Not wishing to discount current discussions, it may be interesting to share examples of the direction Apple could have taken with Liquid Glass.

I’ll play devil’s advocate… I actually kinda like some aspects of Windows 11’s design. I think MS struck a good balance of ‘material’ and tinting.
 
Not wishing to discount current discussions, it may be interesting to share examples of the direction Apple could have taken with Liquid Glass.

I’ll play devil’s advocate… I actually kinda like some aspects of Windows 11’s design. I think MS struck a good balance of ‘material’ and tinting.
Totally legit take. Windows has gotten a lot more bearable, at least visually speaking. It's probably going to take a couple of dot releases for me to be able to accept LG. Hopefully, they'll make enough changes and fixes for me to get over it and "upgrade". I don't think I'll ever get over those window corners. I'm praying OS27 is a lot more grown-up.
 
Then you haven't been paying attention. That's how most privately owned VR headsets end.

You’re right. I’ve never paid attention in my life. Can’t believe I even noticed your reply! How much is a subscription to Headset Neglect Monthly so I can keep up?

Your reply isn’t about the point I made, it's just trying to make me sound clueless. Try writing something useful instead of indulging in being smug.

You'd be surprised. Once the honeymoon phase with a new toy is over and you realize it's not that useful after all, it can disappear in a drawer forever quicker than they say Amen at church.

Been there.

That sucks. I can't imagine spending thousands of dollars on something, even a toy, and just...letting it sit there. I guess reselling it is not possible? Or is the demand not there?

Not wishing to discount current discussions, it may be interesting to share examples of the direction Apple could have taken with Liquid Glass.

I’ll play devil’s advocate… I actually kinda like some aspects of Windows 11’s design. I think MS struck a good balance of ‘material’ and tinting.

Windows 11 is...interesting. In terms of material, I agree that they seem to have a stronger handle on how they want materials to be presented. The transparency and motion effects are more subdued and less obvious. Honestly, it reminds me of the early Yosemite days in some ways. I think their reliance on business customers necessitated that they design the OS with non-high resolution screens and it works for the most part, but I find animations often stutter or are absent at times.

Even though Windows 11 tries to appear minimalist and 'simple' for a lack of a better word, it suffers from someone jamming a bunch of MS products and services in almost every area of the OS. Apple's not much better (iCloud, Music, and Health app promotions), but having to manually deselect and prevent 'suggestions' from various areas of the OS is annoying, particularly since Edge constantly makes itself the default upon every windows update.
 
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Totally legit take. Windows has gotten a lot more bearable, at least visually speaking. It's probably going to take a couple of dot releases for me to be able to accept LG. Hopefully, they'll make enough changes and fixes for me to get over it and "upgrade". I don't think I'll ever get over those window corners. I'm praying OS27 is a lot more grown-up.

More than the window corners, I think it's the ball park frank buttons and selections that are sending me.
 

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A part of me does question whether this is all preparation for a touch-capable Mac, but then the product logic doesn’t really stack up.

I know a recent report suggested that a MacBook Pro with a touchscreen is on the horizon, but this seems like pure speculation to me (like most Bloomberg reports).

First, I don’t believe Apple would release only select touch-compatible Macs, rather it would be an all-or-nothing deal. Can you imagine only some iPads having a touchscreen and other dependent on the Smart Keyboard? People know what the Mac platform is.

Then from a marketing perspective, they have to redefine what a MacBook even is. They can’t just add touch functionality to current concept and expect it to work naturally or better than what currently exists (smudgy screens, laptop rocking), there has to be a narrative at play. They would have to turn the MacBook into something that it isn’t and at that point you’re losing a core audience.

At a stretch, I can imagine Apple releasing a Studio/Pro Display that can be connected to a Mac in Microsoft Studio fashion, with a screen that can pivot down into a canvas mode, but even then I’m skeptical.

I think Liquid Glass is potentially a backup in case they do develop a touch product, not that they do have plans right now.
 
I switched to all Apple devices 18 months ago. Very happy but now getting leery MacOS is going in the direction of a more iOS-like interface over then next couple of years. I use my Mini for work and nowhere how or when I use my phone.
 
From a usability perspective, transparency in windows makes precisely zero sense. It might look sexy (unless designed by Apple), but is detrimental to anything you do with those windows.

Whoever came up with that trend should be punished by pinapple on pizza for 24 months.
Beef and pineapple, my favorite kind of pizza!

So long does everything works? I don’t really care what it looks like although I hate the contacts app making the contact picture that I never use so large.
 
MacOS is going in the direction of a more iOS-like interface over then next couple of years.
MacOS has been moving in that direction for years, this is not a new phenomenon. In fact, I'd say the current change is to make it more like their VR headset UI then iOS.
 
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Not wishing to discount current discussions, it may be interesting to share examples of the direction Apple could have taken with Liquid Glass.

I’ll play devil’s advocate… I actually kinda like some aspects of Windows 11’s design. I think MS struck a good balance of ‘material’ and tinting.
Here's a hypothetical direction they could have taken the UI.

1759404192005.png
 
I am not sure they should have taken it anywhere. It was good as it was, before 26. Refined over the years up to a point where it was near perfect. There really was no need for any drastic changes.

The way they rushed this out the door makes me think that all of this is just an attempt to distract from the Apple Intelligence disaster. They needed to do something - quickly - to divert attention to something new.
 
Just upgraded my iMac to macOS 26.

I can't quite find the correct vocabulary to describe my innital thoughts adequately. Right now I feel like I've just been in a terrible accident as I feel dazed & confused at what I'm looking at. Once I've had time to compose myself and think about it a little more, I'll be able to properly articulate what a steaming dog turd of a makeover Tahoe appears to be.
 
Totally legit take. Windows has gotten a lot more bearable, at least visually speaking. It's probably going to take a couple of dot releases for me to be able to accept LG. Hopefully, they'll make enough changes and fixes for me to get over it and "upgrade". I don't think I'll ever get over those window corners. I'm praying OS27 is a lot more grown-up.

Windows is totally bearable, especially once one installs an LTSC version.

My gaming PC install is running that and along with RetroBar & Open/ClassicShell it's customizable, clean and efficient.

I wish we could dress up macOS in the ways we can Windows.
 
I decided to turn off dark mode to see how the other half lives and... it's a lot. I see where most of the complaints are coming from now. In dark mode, the glass part is mostly subtle except in some places like the control panel. The screenshot doesn't do it (in)justice. It's worse when you look at it normally on the screen at sitting distance.
 

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Here's a hypothetical direction they could have taken the UI.

View attachment 2562642

See, the problem I have with this is how much contrast and clarity there is to all of the elements.

There is personality to the icons and things are clearly delineated and layered.

It's too easy to see what the active App is and where to click and drag windows and what each icon actually is.

Frankly, it's much better to have 5 layers of overlapping translucent glass.

That's how one "focuses on the content".

Without translucent material reflecting and refracting the surroundings, and dynamically transforming to help bring greater focus to content, while delivering a new level of vitality across controls, navigation, app icons, widgets, and more....

...I just get too much done, too easily.
 
Just upgraded my iMac to macOS 26.

I can't quite find the correct vocabulary to describe my innital thoughts adequately. Right now I feel like I've just been in a terrible accident as I feel dazed & confused at what I'm looking at. Once I've had time to compose myself and think about it a little more, I'll be able to properly articulate what a steaming dog turd of a makeover Tahoe appears to be.
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