Microsoft Internally Worked on a Mac OS X Aqua Inspired Windows XP Theme

[macsplusmacs]

I know seriously, it's not like Apple visited Xerox and copied the idea of the mouse, gui and what not. They would never do that

And then inventing the MP3 player

Apple gave Xerox stock for the PARC demo. Xerox was paid for their ideas with pre IPO apple stock.

They did not copy it like microsoft did with the mac.

Learn some history before posting falsehoods like you just did.

 

[chucker23n1]

That theme did ship on some ORM copies. I bought an ex-display model HP PC from PC World (UK) not long after XP service pack 1 came out and it had this theme installed out of the box.

There was also Royale which was made available to download from the MS site around SP2 time.

All embeded copies of XP shipped with Watercolor out of the box too.

Royale was also the default (or an option?) in the Media Center Edition (and maybe the Tablet PC Edition?). Much nicer than Luna, IMHO.

 

[apple_iBoy]

Everything about Windows' design always feels hobbyist
But not the good kind of talented hobbyist

 

[chucker23n1]

It is clearly unfinished and just to show of the concept. Perhaps even to show some manager that it was possible to do a fancy UI in Windows.

Yup.

Either this really isn't part of Microsoft's internal code at all (but rather something added by the people involved in leaking it), or it's something an engineer briefly did as a proof of concept to show their colleagues and/or manager.

 

[yurc]

Despite that intention, I was using a variety of transformation pack which changes not only visual style, but also system icon as well at that time lol. There's Vista Transformation Pack, MacOS Tiger/Panther Pack, and give StarDock for complete fake dock. Don't forget system restore before applying those packs !!

I also extracted actual 128px .icns from my G5 to converted into .ico format for Windows.
Ah, so may fond memories, today's Windows is not so much fun to messing with visual style anymore.

 

[beanbaguk]

I love the fact that nobody recognises or has even researched the fact that Jobs stole much of the UI and interface from Xerox.

Oooops.

The Xerox PARC Visit

Apple is no saint in all this....

 

[Falhófnir]

People seem to be forgetting this didn't actually ship - Microsoft can play about all they want internally to see what works/ looks good, even if it is a rip off of Apple's design. What matters is if they try to release it commercially.

 

[hayesk]

I realize this never shipped but it does highlight something that I never liked about Windows. They seem to have a lack of understanding of typography. Even now in Windows 10, they don't seem to know which font works best for which purpose, being window titles, menus, dialogue box text, button labels, etc. I'm not a designer so I can't quite put my finger on it, but the fonts MS chooses makes it take longer to grok their UI. I've used every version of Windows since 3.1 and it's always been like that.

 

[317342]

This is something we (especially in '00-'02) didn't have evidence of at the time but somehow knew all along it must be true. 🤔

 

[hayesk]

I love the fact that nobody recognises or has even researched the fact that Jobs stole much of the UI and interface from Xerox.

Oooops.

The Xerox PARC Visit

Apple is no saint in all this....

Read the last paragraph in that story. Nobody is seriously suggesting Apple invented everything to do with personal technology. Apple's value is recognizing a technology, refining it, and making it into something much more approachable and usable. And when they do that, the rest of the industry then sees how successful it is and wants to copy that success. Apple has repeatedly done that time and time again.

 

[psingh01]

Of course they did. They were copying everything back then. The Windows GUI had been fairly consistent across multiple versions up until XP with that ugly crayon GUI. Pretty obvious they changed it in response Mac changing their GUI with the new at the time OSX. I would always switch the theme back to classic windows when using one.

 

[Spock]

Steve Jobs would have definitely made fun of this during a keynote had they released it. I’m glad that Windows XP turned out the way it did, I think it looked just fine... for Windows...

 

[Wiesenlooser]

It’s a bit of a stretch to say “they worked on it”. This probably was an internal experiment to test how capable their theming engine was. Doubt this was ever meant to see the day.

 

[MiniApple]

the Zune UI/UX and out of it evolved Windows Phone (not Windows 10 Mobile) were a thing of beauty.
I like them so much I would pay to have them on modern devices!

Other than that Microsoft never had a nice design IMO
However you could modify things yourself to an extent with themes.

Sadly they are still doctoring around on Windows 10 between old legacy stuff and newer vision. It's very incoherent.
Windows 10X was supposed modern and lightweight (without a lot of legacy features and look), but that also has been in the works for years, vision realigned multiple times etc.

 

[TheWatchfulOne]

I love the fact that nobody recognises or has even researched the fact that Jobs stole much of the UI and interface from Xerox.

Oooops.

The Xerox PARC Visit

Apple is no saint in all this....

Xerox had no immediate plans to use that tech. They didn't have a vision for what to do with it. They made a deal with Apple that allowed Apple to make use of it. Apple did not steal anything here.

 

[317342]

the Zune UI/UX and out of it evolved Windows Phone (not Windows 10 Mobile) were a thing of beauty.

Ah... Do you remember when M$ staged an entire mock funeral/parade for the iPhone at the Redmond campus when they launched Windows Phone 7?

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

 

[GeoStructural]

Can nobody do anything without Apple doing it first? Jeez... the creative bankruptcy of other tech companies is palpable and the nerve with which they blatantly steal the IP of others is criminal.

This pathetic mindset is why people call Apple fans “iSheeps”. Apple rarely does things first, they are actually known for embarking late in technology trends or services and improving on other company’s implementations.

 

[opeter]

Whistler did actually have a theme that didn’t ship in the final, named Watercolor.

Yes, I remember the Watercolor theme.

It was much nicer than the Luna theme, that ended up in XP. Their later released Watercolor as an add-on theme together with some Zune themes. I especially liked the black-orange variant of that.

Someone even made different color shemes for the Watercolor theme, if I remember correctly in the later iterations.

Here is a video in action:

 

[darngooddesign]

I know seriously, it's not like Apple visited Xerox and copied the idea of the mouse, gui and what not. They would never do that

And then inventing the MP3 player

First of all, there were big differences between the two and Apple still invented most of what we now consider core to the GUI interface, like resizable windows that could overlap, direct manipulation of objects, etc.

Secondly, no one is claiming that Apple invented the MP3 player. Jobs directly references the competition during the iPod keynote.

 

[triptolemus]

It’s extremely low-effort and there’s no way they considered shipping that.

Ahem...

 

[darngooddesign]

Ahem low res image.

 

[baryon]

God Microsoft's GUI design choices were just so incredibly wrong back then. Today I'm okay with Windows 10 and mostly it's intuitive enough and makes sense. But while Windows XP was a huge improvement over 98, it was still an absolute mess and the difference between it and OS X was insane. OS X just made sense and looked great, while XP was like a trainwreck in comparison. It was so frustrating to see that good UI was possible but Microsoft just couldn't figure it out. I remember Windows Media Player that would show the insanely intrusive player GUI in full screen every time you moved the mouse, and the GUI would remain on the screen for like 30 seconds or something. There was even a hacky plugin that would make it disappear faster.

In OS X you could type in a word and it would instantly display all the files that matched, neatly organized without having to open any application or window... in XP you had a yellow CGI dog that would appear in Windows Explorer and it would parse your entire hard drive literally bit by bit to find a match... it would take hours for a typical 20 GB hard drive. Oh and the menus. Windows loves menus. You know what's great about computers? That's right: Menus. Endless lists of complicated words on a grey background. The most iconic thing about Windows is still a freaking menu.

I remember installing all sorts of skins to make Windows look more Mac-like and it was never quite right. Windows was like an awkward teenager trying to act cool when they had no idea what the hell they were doing.

 

[dannys1]

It was an experimental theme and not released to the public. As for Apple doing it first, Apple rarely does things first. They didn't produce the first laptop, mp3 player, nor smartphone, nor tablet. Their offerings weren't even the first successful ones.

They just made the ones that everyone else wanted to emulate.

 

[dannys1]

You're kidding, right? Apple wasn't the first for a lot of things. Apple tends to improve on things and makes them easier to use.

GUI? Nope.
Personal Computer? Nope.
Portable computer / laptop? Nope.
Portable music player? Nope
Smartphone? Nope
Phablet? Nope
Tablet computer? Nope
Smartwatch? Nope
Smart speaker? Nope
Smart TV / Smart TV device? Nope
Wireless earbuds? Nope
Streaming music subscription service? Nope
Streaming tv service? Nope

A few of these are arguable though.

GUI - I mean pretty much, in terms of the consumer space
Personal computer - see above
Laptop - I agree no
Portable music player - again agree
Smartphone - pretty much invented the entire touch screen smartphone everyone has today though - that really was surreal the first time I saw the iPhone and there was nothing else remotely like it.
Phablet - definitely not, they reluctantly made bigger phones after it was forced by everyone else.
Tablet - again pretty much, the iPad is the reason we have tablets now and everyone has a large touchscreen rectangle.
Smartwatch - agreed, nope.
Smart speaker - nope, no where close
Smart TV device - obviously not
Wireless Earbuds - nope
Streaming services - of course, not, always been mile behind on this.

Most of the stuff other companies copy Apple on is more its marketing and style - the naming of things, the advertising. Also of course if they have a popular unique design, then all the Chinese companies clone it almost exactly.

 

[0248294]

I have seen the Candy theme files from the leak. The information files clearly state it was for internal use only, and that it was just a pet project of a developer as "eye candy" for the OS, hence the name. This was never intended to be released, or seen outside of Microsoft's devs, so while it's a funny story, any serious claims of theft are ridiculous. Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates, or any of the other execs like Jim Allchin at the time, wouldn't have even contemplated for a second to have their devs make such a cut and dry UI rip off.