Windows 7 in pictures

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: irishScott
IMO OSs can have 4 different looks.
Dull
Cool
Sleek
Fluffy

If you haven't figured it out, I think this looks fluffy. I much prefer Cool myself.

People jump on MS for their gui, but it's hard to develop something decent. I have tons of custom themes for XP, and a few modifications for Vista, and most of them are crap. Someone will start off with a good idea, then find some way to screw it up royally. Your sleek example doesn't look bad in the screeny, but cool looks like a confusing mess.

I think Vista's gui is pretty good. I'd like to have more color choices though. I thought the WMP11 color changer for XP was pretty nice. I'd like to see that style available for Vista.

 

[nerp]

It's still early yet. UI stuff is rolled into the betas towards the end, if Vista demonstrates anything.

 

[XBoxLPU]

Vista's GUI is top notch IMO. I am not going to complain with the similarlity

 

[roguerower]

After hearing all of the negativity about Vista I thought it would be a death sentence for me to upgrade but I since upgrading to Vista Enterprise x64 I've got nothing but good things to say. There are a couple of things here and there that piss me off but overall it's not bad (granted I use Opera for my browser).

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

Wow, it looks like Microsoft is doing it right. I love how they're going for the unified look.

 

[ultra laser]

I wish Vista and Windows 7 would include the XP look. A lot of people--myself included--like the look, so I don't understand why they wouldn't include it.

 

[clarkey01]

Imagine if an OS had theme's of previous OS's ( vista, xp, 2000, 98, 85)

 

[hectorsm]

Originally posted by: clarkey01

Originally posted by: hectorsm
It basically has the same cluttered non intuitive interface as Vista. I was hoping for an interface revamp so that I can dump my Vista 64 Business. I guess that will probably not happen.

Whats wrong with Vista Business?

It seems people like to take a pop at MS because it's cool and in.

Nothing against Microsoft. I just don't like the way did the icon and section layout in Vista. Here are a couple of areas Vista can improve on:

1. They need to do away with the Start menu. It is too clutter. Microsoft has place almost everything function in it. They could spead the functionality of the start menu by placing menus on the desktop with different categories. It is much easier to find you way around. Forget about customizing menus It is a hassle.

Example: Why is the world did Microsoft place the shutdown option behind a small little trangle? I had to do a google search to find out where the shutdown button was located the first time I used Vista.


2. The layout of the section could use a little change. I would like to see more use of columns as categories for the different areas rather than dump all of the icons in one window. Also avoid using large text description for icons. I get tired of reading and make finding icons more difficult.

Vista has some very good thing over previous Windows versions. Howerver, I feel that the good things in Vista have been overshadowed by the bad ones.

 

[Psych]

I agree that the shutdown button should not be hidden in a menu, especially considering that the red button immediately available from the Start Menu that bears the usual symbol for "Shut down" actually only puts the computer to sleep.

However, I don't think that the Start Menu itself is an excessively cluttered way to organize the programs on your computer. You can't just put everything on the desktop because then it would be far too inconvenient -- you'd have to minimize your active windows whenever you needed to launch a new program. I am sure there is a simpler way to organize shortcuts and such on the computer for the sake of easy access besides using a tangled mix of the desktop, the Start Menu, and the Quick Launch toolbar, but I still doubt that removing the Start Menu would be a good idea overall.

Compared to XP, I really don't find Vista to be that major of an improvement, but I do think it is definitely an improvement.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Psych
I agree that the shutdown button should not be hidden in a menu, especially considering that the red button immediately available from the Start Menu that bears the usual symbol for "Shut down" actually only puts the computer to sleep.

Shutdown SHOULD be hidden and stay hidden - the default sleep mode uses as much power as actually shutting the PC off, it writes enough data to disk to survive a power failure, and takes a few seconds to come back to life rather than minutes. The only reason you should ever shut down/restart windows entirely rather than putting it to sleep is if an install or update forces you to, or if you're moving the PC somewhere. Shutting down completely for any other reason is obsolete.

 

[Scotteq]

Originally posted by: Maximilian
Totally... they should do to windows what they did with office 2007. The new office 2007 interface is great! It actually is better than the menu riddled crap that came before, its all buttons and tabs, good stuff. Not saying windows should be all buttons and tabs but i think it needs a complete overhaul.

Not taking a shot, or agreeing/disagreeing with your statement at all...

But I did want to point out that at Infoworld Randall Kennedy has already started bashing Windows 7, and his first blog on the subject was how Microsoft has declared war on your interface by cluttering it up: "Their plan: Carpet-bomb the screen with Office Ribbon after Office Ribbon, until users finally shut the things off and throw up their hands in frustration!"

And to show what he was tanking about, he opened a bunch of Office 2007 windows on his Server 2008 machine and arranged them so they took up the whole desktop.

http://weblog.infoworld.com/en...9/windows_7_micro.html



...and Oh Yes, I think it's asinine. Kind of like adding up all of the .1 second differences in response times on <Application A>, then multiplying it by millions of users to 'prove' what a waste of time the OS is. But Mr. Kennedy would't do that, eith....

Oh... nevermind... He already did.




Regarding the interface - I like my desktop to be clean overall.. But do tend to clutter up the quick launch bar with items I use frequently. I trust that - a year or two from now when 7 goes live - I'll have the option to clutter up my quick launch bar to my heart's content. Tho looking at the screenies, it looks like I can also add sidebar gadgets to the toolbar instead of just the sidebar. So YAAAAAAY for being able to pile all the stuff in one spot!

 

[Griffinhart]

Originally posted by: Psych
I agree that the shutdown button should not be hidden in a menu, especially considering that the red button immediately available from the Start Menu that bears the usual symbol for "Shut down" actually only puts the computer to sleep.

I just wanted to mention that this can be easily changed by the user. I have that red button set to shutdown and turn off my PC rather than put it to sleep.

Go to the Power Options, Click change plan settings, Click Change Advance power settings.

In the "Power button and lid" section there is a "start menu power button" option that allows you to set that button as sleep, hibernate or shutdown.

It's up to the OEM and/or user to decide what the button does. It simply defaults to sleep.

 

[hectorsm]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Shutdown SHOULD be hidden and stay hidden - the default sleep mode uses as much power as actually shutting the PC off, it writes enough data to disk to survive a power failure, and takes a few seconds to come back to life rather than minutes. The only reason you should ever shut down/restart windows entirely rather than putting it to sleep is if an install or update forces you to, or if you're moving the PC somewhere. Shutting down completely for any other reason is obsolete.

True but hibernate does not work reliably in all systems (for what ever reason). When ever it does I will forget about the shutdown as well.

We are still left with the restart option which is very commonly used and is in the same hidden place.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: hectorsm

Originally posted by: BD2003

Shutdown SHOULD be hidden and stay hidden - the default sleep mode uses as much power as actually shutting the PC off, it writes enough data to disk to survive a power failure, and takes a few seconds to come back to life rather than minutes. The only reason you should ever shut down/restart windows entirely rather than putting it to sleep is if an install or update forces you to, or if you're moving the PC somewhere. Shutting down completely for any other reason is obsolete.

True but hibernate does not work reliably in all systems (for what ever reason). When ever it does I will forget about the shutdown as well.

We are still left with the restart option which is very commonly used and is in the same hidden place.

If suspend isnt working right, you most likely have a hardware problem. A common one is a creative x-fi card, which just doesnt play nice with sleep mode. The other most common problem is a system thats overclocked too high - whats stable on the desktop might not wake up properly. I highly suggest you figure out whats wrong with your setup - youre wasting far too much time and power either leaving your PC on all the time or going through the useless boot sequence.

Since restarts should IMO also only be used in case of updates, the option is almost always provided to you through the install process, and therefore it should also remain hidden.

If everyone who used windows set their PC to sleep automatically after a reasonable amount of time, absolutely disgusting amounts of power and money will be saved. Thats why its the default, and should stay that way. My system sucks up a full 150W on idle - if I left that on all day, it would amount to over $20 a month or $240 a year just to power it. Being that I use it only 2-3 hours a day, by having it in sleep mode 95% of the time, I've managed to save hundreds a year between my 4 PCs.

But either way, as stated by the poster above, this behavior is completely modifiable - in power properties, you can set the power button to do a full fledged shutdown or restart if you so desire. The way I have it set up, the sleep key on my keyboard suspends, the power button restarts, and the physical button on my case shuts it down.

 

[daveybrat]

As long as it makes me breakfast and gives me a 'happy ending'..........i'll buy it!

 

[corkyg]

Interesting that the link no longer displays any of the screen shots.

 

[bendixG15]

You're right, guess the dog ate it.

 

[zerogear]

Originally posted by: C1
Looking like VISTA is still OK.
Performing like VISTA wont be OK with many people.

I don't get this. Vista already surpassed game FPS rates than WinXP with SP2/SP3. Why is people still posting about this?

Only people who complain about Vista are people whos machine cannot run Vista well, which I would say, stay with XP or upgrade. Stop bi***ing

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: zerogear

Originally posted by: C1
Looking like VISTA is still OK.
Performing like VISTA wont be OK with many people.

I don't get this. Vista already surpassed game FPS rates than WinXP with SP2/SP3. Why is people still posting about this?

Only people who complain about Vista are people whos machine cannot run Vista well, which I would say, stay with XP or upgrade. Stop bi***ing

People dont know any better. Bad reputations are archived forever in this internet age.

 

[KeypoX]

link is down but this one works... not sure if its same pics but prob is

http://www.windowsvistaplace.c...hoto-gallery/windows-7

 

[BD2003]

Keep in mind the final windows 7 will probably look drastically different.

http://www.winsupersite.com/im...howcase/4074_ui_08.gif

This is what Vista looked like in its own pre-beta stages.

That being said, I'm really liking what I'm seeing of W7 so far. They seem to be focusing on the right things based on the little info they've given, and since its not going to change the fundamentals under the hood, compatibility is likely to be far less of a problem this go around. The ribbon works incredibly well in office 2007 - I could hardly ever go back to older versions of office because of it. I hope they can do the same with the W7 interface.

 

[Rhonda the Sly]

You can see here they were at least trying to build some functionality into Windows Sidebar.

Funny how they decided in the end that sidebar was somehow better off being useless...

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: Psych
I agree that the shutdown button should not be hidden in a menu, especially considering that the red button immediately available from the Start Menu that bears the usual symbol for "Shut down" actually only puts the computer to sleep.

Shutdown SHOULD be hidden and stay hidden - the default sleep mode uses as much power as actually shutting the PC off, it writes enough data to disk to survive a power failure, and takes a few seconds to come back to life rather than minutes. The only reason you should ever shut down/restart windows entirely rather than putting it to sleep is if an install or update forces you to, or if you're moving the PC somewhere. Shutting down completely for any other reason is obsolete.

I agree. WinXP's hibernate was hit or miss for me. I never used it. Sleep mode for Vista has been flawless. I always use it unless I have to reboot for a patch. No reason to be cold booting a Vista machine unless your hardware is sucking a dong and wont work with sleep.
It is nice to hit the power button and be in Vista within seconds.