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Windows Whistler Screenshots
syf0n writes: "While most are raving about Mac's OS X, Microsoft has covertly launched their latest attempt at an operating system...Windows Whistler. Some screenshots have finally been posted over at m0ss...I have to say, some of the GUI changes they've made are incredible. The shutdown menu and some of the dialogs in the Control Panel are kind of disturbing -- it looks a bit too user friendly for me! I'm dying to see how the giant folder icons work! Also, you'll notice the "hide the contents of this drive" option. Sounds interesting! Some other info about the beta is available in the root." Annndd...if there are any good themes, they should be made into themes for us, a la Aqua.
#include <ui_dos.h>
#include <ui_win31.h>
#include <ui_win95_98.hxx>
#include <ui_2000.hxx>
/* #include <ui_bob.h> */
Revolutionary things always fail when they come to market too early
Not to troll on my first post, but this is kinda dissapointing. Slashdot is always pretty up to date on things relating to *nix and whenever ESR sneezes there's a post about it, however now we find a post about the previous build of Whistler. This was news about 2 months ago, kids. Here's the lowdown.. The build number of the latest build that leaked out is 2257. They introduced actual theming (but still very restricted, nowhere near the level of customization that Windowblinds offers. Should /. users (and or admins.. lets keep the info current shall we) wish to keep up to date, here's a few URLS to keep you busy:
http://jotenet.koti.com.pl/
http://betaxtreme.hypermart.net/
and
http://www.wininformant.com/
(which is biased as hell but still useful)
Pardon my lack of artistical sense but there's nothing new in these snapshots
So what? Exactly why should there be any change in the basic WIMP interface of Windows or any other OS for that matter? It's not like there are leaps in interface design from successive versions of Unix, Linux or even the Macintosh instead most changes have been gradual over time.
OK, some icons are a bit bigger but I really don't understand where all that hype comes from ?
In this vein, nowhere have I seen MSFT touting their whizzbang new improved user interface but instead they have touted the improved reliability, scalability and robustness of their new systems which if making the switch from NT to Win2K is true. Maybe you are mistaking MSFT for Apple?
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/graphics/library/infogfx /0004whistler/whistler_pre.jpg
check this pic out... it's registered to 'w00t killa' and the company is 'Anti-Netscape'. i think that's pretty funny
i just climb trees, and look for rhythm everywhere.
Oh the irony.
Why does everyone think that Microsoft is going to change their UI when it has been making them so much money since win95 took over the desktop market in most distributed pc's? As much as i love gnome/kde/wm, many of these Window Managers emulate many of the things that win9x has done ever since they copied apple. Until the public is sick of the way windows looks/operates, no changes will be made.
"sigs are for losers"
There a few funny things in these screenshots, like for example the "File a bug report" shortcut. Are these guys trying to be ironic or what?
Also, the "hide the contents of this drive" is pretty much disturbing, and the "3 objects (3 hidden)" in the status bar as well.
Finally, to me it really looks more and more like a mac. Give them a few years and they'll only 20 years behind! (note: I'm not a mac user, and unfortunately I don't like their interface at all... sounds like I won't like this one better).
--
"Listen, [...], going to another country doesn't make any difference.
I've tried all that. You can't get away from yourself by moving from
one place to another. There's nothing to that."
-- Ernest Hemingway in 'Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises'
Comment removed based on user account deletion
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator?
/etc /bin /dev folders.
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-
What the hell is this? Is Microsoft is actually going to force console-dwellers to type out this pig of a path every time we want to so much as touch our data? Or maybe sit there trying to count out six letters so we can ~1 it?
I am sick to death of Microsoft picking these assinine directory names and then locking them off with giant fences in the registry.
C:\Documents and Settings
C:\Temporary Interenet Files
C:\System Volume Information
C:\Downloaded Program Files
WTF!?!?
C:\Docs
C:\Temp
C:\SVol
C:\DPrg
WHY WHY WHY can't I do a massive registry search-and-replace and be done with this crap once and for all? I swear...it is this stuff that will drive me to UNIX more than any other problem Windows has thrown at me. I refuse to give up 8.3 compatibility for my older/dual-boot systems and I refuse to give myself carpal tunnel syndrome just because I like a console interface. I would kill for
Yes I know about the name autocompletion registry trick in NT but it is unreliable at best. I get used to file X being three TABs away but suddenly I make a new dir or new file and then I have to relearn its now four TABs away.
[/end rant]
- JoeShmoe
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
we all know what a cd called "stuff" holds ...
Do you think the average person actually gives a rats ass *how* the computer works?
Looking around the office here, nobody really cares how the computer works. They care only that it does or doesn't work, and they pay me to care about details like "how".
The home market is the same way, people have better things to do with their time then care about just how their OS does anything. So long as it does it, they don't care. Just like a lot of people don't care about how the engine in their car works, provided that it does. They have a mechanic who worries about the details.
How many of us care about the details of how the phone works? I don't even think about it unless the phone isn't working for some reason.
Microsoft understands this. They're tuned into the average user home market, the people who want the computer to do what its supposed to do and not bother them with the details of "how". That may not make Windows a very good geek OS, but its precisely why its good for the other 90% of the market.
My mom is going to love Whistler when she sees these screenshots, because it looks neat and things are easy to find. And thats the market MS wants, because of how much bigger it is.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Look at the logoff image or main2 image. They're systematically removing definite and indefinite articles from the English language. It's bad enough that Microsoft has to perpetuate the infantilism of "My Computer" and "My Internet" (gimmee, gimmee, gimmee!!!). Now, it's: "Uggh! Me Tarzan! Me want 'Turn off Computer'" The grammar of America's youth is shoddy enough as it is. We don't need Barbie telling our kids, "math class is tough", and we don't need Microsoft telling them "computer" is a proper noun.
These kinda shortcuts make life a little more bearable.
C:\Documents and Settings
cd doc*set*
C:\Temporary Interenet Files
cd temp*int*
C:\System Volume Information
cd sys*inf
C:\Downloaded Program Files
cd down*file
--zaugg
Clearly the folder was set to "Thumbnails" not the normal "large" or "small" icons. If there had been any other files there (i.e. images) thumbnails would have been visible, but because there weren't the folders get displayed at that size because that is the size used by the thumbnails.
At an arm's length distance, this covers a circle of roughly one inch in diameter.
If you make icons any bigger, the user must move his eyes to take in the whole image. Hence, a big icon slows down work and fun.
A lot of design issues are moot, but for some there is objective knowledge to draw from.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Grab a copy of TweakUI for 2k - the official beta of it has expired, but there's a non-expiring version here, and elsewhere. This will let you change the location of system folders, so you can move "C:\Documents and Settings\Foo\My Documents" to "c:\foo\doc", if you want to.
You can also set filename completion from TweakUI, so you can use tab to autocomplete, a la Bash.
Renaming "Downloaded Program Files" to "DPrg" might work for you, but it's not going to do much good for, say, my father, who would just see "DPrg" as a random collection of letters, and further evidence that the computing world is determined to keep him from joining in...