Microsoft officials have admitted one of their biggest challenges in continuing to grow the company's Windows business is the impression among some of its installed base that older Windows versions are good enough. The users of Windows 95, which turns ten years old on Wednesday, are a case in point. Elsewhere, here is a story about the launch of Windows 95 exactly 10 years ago.
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Member since:2005-06-29
Member since:"The problem is not the "UI candy bloat" as so many people assume, its the bad use of this "eye candy".... or in other words... yet even further examples of bad UI design. "
I prefer to see it as an opportunity to experiment in alternative UIs. There's still a lot of experimentation left even after Xerox and Apple.
Member since:Adding animations and glowing buttons, shadows etc is great as long as it servers a purpose other than "it looks good."
I disagree. Perception goes a long way toward improving the computing experience. Imagine a UI that was grayscale with simple boxes and courier text for buttons contrasted to the gel-like glowing nature of controls in OS X and Vista. Certainly, the visual improvements are not functional, they are aesthetic.
At the risk of getting hate mail, I think a lot of folks enjoy KDE versus Gnome because it offers a more visually stunning interface. Just my opinion.
Member since:At the risk of getting hate mail, I think a lot of folks enjoy KDE versus Gnome because it offers a more visually stunning interface. Just my opinion.
You're right about stunning...KDE's interface is down right shocking. While some of the icons for KDE are quite nice I like the clean uncluttered look of Gnome over KDE.
That said, I used Gnome on my main work machine for the last 6 months (and previous versions a few years ago) and it annoyed the hell out of me. So much so I moved back to KDE and it's comparitively less elegent looking interface elements.
For example, the file browser in Gnome has been simplfied so much it no longer has a location field; I have to click to get anywhere. KDE has a location bar with file name completion; much nicer.
I have high hopes for Gnome slowly finding the right mix of features, though it's way too minimialist at this point for me. Maybe in 6 months?
Member since:2005-07-12
Well, I agree with you upto a certain extent, but then the all new Windows XP GUI is an example of something that was way slower than the old interface, and only improved the looks of the operating system. Adding animations and transparency does affect the performance to some extent, and some people may not even be using accelerated video modes (or they may just dislike eye candy 
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Adding animations and glowing buttons, shadows etc is great as long as it is optional.
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:
2005-07-06
All too often people equate aesthetically pleasing graphics with bloat.... or unnecessary eye candy." As more OSes offset their visual "eye candy" to the graphics card, this strategy actually alleviates strain in the processor. The hit on the graphics processor is so insignificant that UI developers can even afford to go even further without performance degradation.
The problem is not the "UI candy bloat" as so many people assume, its the bad use of this "eye candy".... or in other words... yet even further examples of bad UI design.
Adding animations and glowing buttons, shadows etc is great as long as it servers a purpose other than "it looks good." Unfortunately, few realize this fact judging but the number of people who insist on themeing their operating system... which in most instances is a step backward from the default UI.