A recent (and now edited) job ad published by Microsoft implies that the company is planning a major UI renewal this year. The newly modified mailing list was originally mentioned, as seen by Windows Latest:
In this team, you work with our key platform, Surface and OEM partners, to orchestrate a comprehensive visual rejuvenation of Windows experiences and show our customers that Windows is BACK and to ensure that Windows is the best user experience. OS experience considered. customers. ”
The new text supports these claims, but notes that one of the missions of the work is: ‘to work directly with our customers to understand their needs and deliver magical software that exceeds their expectations!’ Hope you have a copy of “Conjuring With XAML” on hand.
How can I miss you if you do not want to leave?
It’s just as well that Microsoft replaced the text in the original ad, because the previous essay leaves us with nothing but questions. Between them:
When did Windows leave?
Where did it go? Was it a ‘Windows are BACK’ in the sense of a drunken screaming announcement as they stumble through the door at 2am, or was it meant to come off like the second eatery in Superman II? If the latter, who is the abusive truck in this scenario? Google? Appeal? IBM’s OS / 2? (This is probably not OS / 2.)
The above scene included above, as it is rude to refer to 38-year-old superhero movies without a bit of footage.
Microsoft wants to “ensure that Windows is considered the best user OS experience for customers.” That’s a good thing. But again – who’s the competition, here? The only two possibilities are Chromebooks and Apple’s MacOS. There is certainly an argument that Windows could use a stronger position over the competition, but that would not come from a UI overhaul.
What changes the practical user interface I would like to see:
It would be nice if Microsoft could migrate to one Control Panel / Settings panel again, but not if it was necessary to dive into the existing Control Panel, or to bury the settings with a lot more pressure. The current system of “Sometimes you customize things in Control Panel, sometimes in Settings”, has been rubbish since it started with Windows 8 nine years ago.
A refurbishment of media playback. The small vertical rectangle to adjust the volume up and down is nice; the giant cutout that refreshes itself when you accidentally mouse over it on the way to something else, is not it. It would be good to have an option to kill this behavior.
Here are two more UI changes I want: Allow me to organize installed applications on the date they were installed. Use the color gradient in the menus to make it easier to distinguish between different options.
Finally, while this is not a UI request, you can fix the whole issue “We do not scale above 64 threads without using processor groups”. This is not a major problem right now, but is likely to be greater in the future, given how core scores tend to fall in lower product markets over time.
Chances are that the improvements Microsoft actually has in mind will be things like icon updates, as well as adjustments to the File Explorer, Action Center, and Start Menu. It is important to have an important and clearly communicated visual language, and therefore I make no effort to improve it. At the same time, I’m not sure that such a refurbishment would significantly change the Windows experience unless Microsoft launches a new set of dark patterns to hide, or hide, the method of creating a local Windows account. to believe that it is not possible.
The main reason to use Windows is that the software you want to use works well on Windows. This is exactly the same reason to use macOS or a Chromebook. If Microsoft has devised a way to improve battery life or performance by upgrading its operating system, it will be very interesting. A standard UI overhaul will likely contain some clean-up bits we wanted, but not much that would change the underlying experience, regardless of ‘magic’ software.
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