Really? I thought that the only big change he was alluding to had to do with application virtualization. There have been so many small tweaks and refinements to Aero that I think Microsoft is sticking with it, for better or for worse. These subtle tweaks make it quite a bit less jarring than Vista while retaining the same basic idea. I think they would be better off with something less flashy and sharp, the glass look would work if it were made to be more subtle, leaving the focus with the content.
Well, Thurrott mentioned these rumors in his latest post about build 7106:
WinSuperSite.com said:
There are rumors, too, that a new UI is coming and it may make sense for Microsoft to hold on to that UI for the RTM builds, so that it has one last surprise to offer up to its eager fans. Indeed, the smartest thing Microsoft has done with Windows 7, in many ways, is keep the drama high by playing things close to the vest
When he says rumors, he usually means insider rumors, not something he read on Twitter.
I agree that the minor tweaks are a step in the right direction, but it's still ugly enough. The logon screen background is hideous (both the motif and the jpeg artifacts), the window padding is fatter than Bruce Vilanch and the jarring mixture of green and blue text in places like the Control Panel is still there. Also, there's still the problem with dark and bright color themes; if you use a dark one like "Graphite", the white goo they stick behind the black window title text sticks out like a sore thumb, but if you use a bright theme like "Frost" to get rid of the white goo, the taskbar also becomes really bright, to the point where the white taskbar text is drowned in bright gloss. White text on light grey is an ergonomic no-no. And don't get me started on the default desktop themes, such as this one:
Is this a professional-looking workspace or am I in "Finding Nemo"? And why is the ReCycle bin still in the upper left corner, can't they just make it into some sort of taskbar gadget so that the desktop can be liberated from the last one item that still lives there?
You make it sound as if you're powerless to put in whatever you want. Really?
Sure, I have no idea how to use a custom wallpaper. Also, what is this soapbar-like thing to the right of my keyboard, and where do I plug it in?
Of course not, the question is why Apple would offer such a tasteless selection of out-of-the-box wallpapers when their visual sensibility is normally quite impeccable. Apple's "Nature" and "Abstract" wallpapers are very Microsoft-ish. People who can't be arsed to look for or make their own custom wallpapers will use these, which means that hundreds of thousands of Macs out there look tacky.
Same here, with three caveats...
1. I would like 10.6 to inherit both Linux's and Windows' ability to expand the window from any edge surface instead of only the lower right corner. I find it useful.
2. I would like Apple to introduce the option of window-centric menus and float it as a "trial balloon" to see what the rest of the Mac-using population thinks, kind of like what they did with different list views and Coverflow.
3. I would like Apple to either: A. Make the Apple Menu directly user-customizable; or B. Add the ability to the dock to be more modifiable than it presently is, perhaps with menus or other functions.
In other words, you want...
1. OS X to be more like Windows
2. OS X to be more like Windows
3. OS X to be more like Windows
And I agree on all three points, incidentally, but I think there's a certain amount of foolish pride and stubbornness involved. It's like the two mouse buttons thing. Apple realized long ago that two mouse buttons are obviously more useful than one, but since it's a Windows thing, they won't go ahead and just put two buttons on an Apple mouse. Instead they try to sneak in the same functionality, first with a modifier key and later with the Mighty Mouse which technically has two buttons, but it's masked to look like a one-button mouse and you have to go into Preferences to activate the right-click menu. The ability to resize a window by clicking and dragging any window edge or corner is obviously better than a single resize handle, that's a no-brainer, but it would look like they had caved in to the Windows way of doing things so they'll probably never implement it.
As for window-centric menus, they floated that idea when OS X was in development but were shot down, either by Apple insiders or by luddite Mac users. The menu bar in OS X is a relic from the early 80's when you had so little screen space (the original Mac had a 9" screen) that you had to save every pixel. This solution has no place on a dual 30" screen setup.
