“After months of touting Vista’s geekier side, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates on Wednesday highlighted features designed to convince the average consumer that they need the next version of Windows. During his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show, Gates showed new photo-editing tools and a revamped media player designed to improve the way that Windows tackles the types of media files that are most used by consumers. Gates also showed the improved remote-control experience that will be part of the Media Center edition of Vista.” Be sure to check the video on Windows Vista, it’s a lot better than that crappy one I put up a few days ago.
Well, the video seems fast (obviously a demo rigged PC, probably everything running from RAM disk). Its amusing to hear the term inovation mentioned at least 8 times, for features which existed way back in 92, even on Windows 3.1. I especially giggled at the last part of the video, where he shows previews of all tabs. Me looks at “Window-Tile vertically” menu option in almost every MDI application, to see the exact same effect. he he.
Me looks at “Window-Tile vertically” menu option in almost every MDI application, to see the exact same effect. he he.
Can you mention a browser which does this?
Thought so.
Opera
So there’s a button or keyb. shortcut in Opera with which I can automatically minimize each tab into the same width/height, and have them neatly placed in rows and columns so I can open/close/etc them?
Because i’m having a hard time finding that option in Opera 9…
On my Opera 8.0, simply right-click on the tab>>Arrange and voila there is options that you might try it.
On my Opera 8.0, simply right-click on the tab>>Arrange and voila there is options that you might try it.
I don’t have it– I am running Opera 9 on a Mac though, so it might be a Windows/Linux only option or something– or the fact that OSX lacks MDI.
There’s a preview of Opera9.
Edited 2006-01-05 13:59
@Thom:
Opera 9? Is it already out? I look at opera’s website just find the version 8.51.
No, he’s using a technical preview of Opera 9. The beta versions and previews can be found here:
http://snapshot.opera.com
Here’s a screenshot. Look harder next time.
http://camendesign.com/kroc/stuff/Opera8Tile.png
“with which I can automatically minimize each tab into the same width/height, and have them neatly placed in rows and columns so I can open/close/etc them?”
Vista’s just taking another feature already in Opera.
(I’m a firefox user BTW, but I fail to see any innovation in IE at all).
Here’s a firefox extension that does the same as IE7
http://tinyurl.com/97ab8
That shot is nothing like how IE does it. THat is cluttered and ugly, IE’s is much much more elegant.
“That shot is nothing like how IE does it. THat is cluttered and ugly, IE’s is much much more elegant.”
Try OmniWeb then. New IE looks at lot like it, much like “Photo Gallery” “appears to be similar to Apple Computer’s iPhoto.” lmao about this one ^^
Not quite. You can add a toolbar to make the Windows cascade, but IE apparently has a specialized view that’s done much better IMO. IE’s tab view show “snapshots” of the tab’s whole window, and this tab view doesn’t change the state of the windows other than to close them. When you hit the Tile button in Opera, the size of the tabs stays that tiny until each one is manually resized.
Maybe not innovative, but at least improved.
foxpose can do the same… sorry again, microsoft 😉
Thom, I can mention a browser that does this… Install firefox 1.5 and then install the viamatic foxpose extension. Open up a dozen tabs and click the little icon in the bottom left for a Apple expose-ish effect.
You’de be surprised what some of the extensions in firefox can do
OmniWeb
I especially giggled at the last part of the video, where he shows previews of all tabs. Me looks at “Window-Tile vertically” menu option in almost every MDI application, to see the exact same effect. he he.
No kidding, meanwhile Apple users have had the Shiira browser for a while, which does Exposé-for-tabs ( http://hmdt-web.net/shiira/screenshot/en#tabExpose ) and page transition effects.
Edit: just saw someone already posted this link, that’ll teach me to just skim the comments, sorry.
Edited 2006-01-05 17:47
meanwhile Apple users have had the Shiira browser for a while
I bow to thee in gratefullness! You have just solved my MAJOR (err) pet peave with Safari in Tiger: the inability to remove the Google Search field! This browser allows me to
. Yes, I know, I have weird pet peeves.
Thank you for the link, I have just found my new standard browser. +1 to you!
Well, if there are inovations or not, but I think the overall GUI is really good. About the performance, let’s see till it comes out to the market.
I hope there are some UI usability experts that will compare it with OSX (like the UI of OSX alot, but do not have it because mac is too pricey
( )
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http://www.bcm.fh-furtwangen.de IT Business Consulting BCM – Faculty of BIT – Furtwangen University – Germany
http://www.bcm.fh-furtwangen.de IT Business Consulting BCM – Faculty of BIT – Furtwangen University – Germany
Off-topic/advertisement.
Stick that stuff on your user page if you really think that anyone cares.
Those ‘live thumbnails’ are all the rage, uh?
But somehow I wonder about their real life value. I for one, don’t see myself having a small window at the bottom of the screen with a movie playing, distracting me while I’m doing something else, with the real movie window in the back or minimized because I’m not watching it.
If i’m not watching it, what’s the point? I’ll close it. And If I do want to watch it while I’m doing something else, I guess I’ll resize the original window to a size I like and put it always on top.
I mean, it’s kind of okey if they want to show off, but it’s just one of those fluffy eye-candy things which I don’t think would get much use from me.
But somehow I wonder about their real life value. I for one, don’t see myself having a small window at the bottom of the screen with a movie playing, distracting me while I’m doing something else, with the real movie window in the back or minimized because I’m not watching it.
It’s called a proof-of-concept. The idea is to demonstrate that you can have a live preview of a window in the taskbar. This might have been better demonstrated as a way to quickly check the progress of downloads, virus/malware scans, disk defragmenters, etc. – things that generally run in the background but continually update their window contents – without messing around with your desktop window positions and such. Traditionally, programs have had to implement custom interfaces such as animated system tray icons and title bar updates to do this.
I mean, it’s kind of okey if they want to show off, but it’s just one of those fluffy eye-candy things which I don’t think would get much use from me.
I don’t think it’s “showing off.” When they implement something cool, they have a right to be proud of it. I expect similar demonstrations when X, KDE, Gnome, etc. get these capabilities in the not-so-distant future.
I didn’t say “this is totally useless and worthless”.
What I meant to say is that, sure, this something cool and all you want, but real life use of this -imho- is pretty low. So it’s ok to have these advanced features and everything, sure, but it seems to me that too much emphasis is being put into this stuff.
In other words, yeah, sure, there’s all this stuff about live thumbs, pseudo-3D desktop, translucency, buttons that light up and everything, and it’s great that they have all those things and that they are proud of them, but… come on, show the real stuff.
In other words, yeah, sure, there’s all this stuff about live thumbs, pseudo-3D desktop, translucency, buttons that light up and everything, and it’s great that they have all those things and that they are proud of them, but… come on, show the real stuff.
People don’t buy the real stuff. They buy “dancing icons”.
This is a ‘catch 22’ situation. I am sure that most of the normal CES consumers (i.e. non geeks, we are not normal) would be uninterested in seeing demos of the ‘real stuff’ you describe;
* Completely rewritten audio subsystem
* Graphics drivers out of the kernal
* Completely new networking stack
* Collaboration/p2p networking functionality
* All the new developers frameworks
* UAP and restriced user stuff
* etc
This would bore normal people to sleep
http://hmdt-web.net/shiira/en
http://hmdt-web.net/shiira/screenshot/en.php#tabExpose
Theres one that does the same kind of thing that IE is doing. Works quite well on my ibook.
IMHO, this bloat will swallow your memory.
Saw nothing worth upgrading for.
That’s more eye candy than innovation. In fact, it’s a feature I can never see myself using. As far as resources, it may not be THAT bad but it can’t be good.
Overall, I think vistas will be a good thing. and i am sure you can turn off much/all of the eye candy just like you can in XP.
and with vista, there will be lots of security enhancements to the OS and the Internet explorer framework. which is a good thing.
-Nex6
Again, all they are showing is some useless eyecandy. Wow, true inovation, I really don’t know what 3D windows could be useful for and I thought task-switcher would get a decent upgrade. Nope. If that’s all that world’s largest sotware company is capable of producing in 5 years, then they have a big problem. Sure, it looks nice (although OSX is waaaaay ahead), but they never mention ANYTHING but new looks. Yeah yeah, there will be better security, but that’s what they’ve been promissing us since Win98, so are we just paying for bugfixes?! Like the new IE, it’ll finally catch up with other modern browsers, nothing new, it’ll just (hopefuly) FINALLY support standards, something that costs web developers a LOT of money daily. Oh, but they showed new improved search, groovie Mr.Gates, after 10 years of post-3.1 Windows it was about time you implemented a *WORKING* search into Windows and this time also without some retarded screenmate addressing me like I’m an idiot. I’m not convinced.
Edited 2006-01-05 16:20
vista has alot of stuff “under the hood” that you can not really ‘show off’ like you can with eye candy. go take a look at the channel9.msdn.com videos on vista.
and not only does miscorosft have to “improve” the OS and UI they have to maintain compatibility with exisisting software.
and its the chain of compatibility that really hampers things. like I am sure IE7 will break some things, as it works much different then any IE version before it.
-Nex6
vista has alot of stuff “under the hood” that you can not really ‘show off’ like you can with eye candy. go take a look at the channel9.msdn.com videos on vista.
You are right, there is alot of sexy things that have been added, like Avalon, XAML and numorous other cool things – the problem is, the end user won’t see the coolness factor until applications start using those features.
Unfortunately for the end user, there is ALWAYS a massive lead time between the operating system release and the software vendors releasing a version to take advantage of the new features.
Personally, what I would love to see is this; .NET made available for MacOS X and Windows, port all their applications accross to it, and voila, both platforms would benefit – but hey, it would never happen as you would finally have a situation where people would no longer need to be wedded to Windows to get things done in an office environment.
Personally, what I would love to see is this; .NET made available for MacOS X and Windows, port all their applications accross to it, and voila, both platforms would benefit – but hey, it would never happen as you would finally have a situation where people would no longer need to be wedded to Windows to get things done in an office environment.
You’d still have to change the UI or users of the respective platforms would complain about it not looking/working like a Win/Mac application (MS got the hint w/ Word, Apple still hasn’t gotten the message with Quicktime et al). Then you’d have to account for differences in available services on each platform or stick with the least common denominator. There’s no WinForms, WCF, WPF, etc., on MacOS. To get the best out of each platform, Apple would need to license those technologies, or there would be some level of porting required. Even if there only needed to be UI changes, this could involve significant porting work depending on complexity.
For the LCD case, there’s Mono today. Though it doesn’t have to be LCD if you’re willing to put in the work.
Why do most people seemed fixed on this mysterious ‘innovation’ concept. Nothing is *really* revolutionary, most design is in fact evolutionary. Either way joe consumer doesnt really care (we are geeks/trolls – not normal people).
Joe consure is happy they get feature X, they dont give a dam if they are the first in the world, especially if product Z already has X and their product doesnt!
By the way I do not even use windows, if you are a desktop linux user then you appreciate that a large part of the advances in desktop linux are evolutions, often meant to keep up with commercial software, if for no other reason than to make it easier for joe consumer to switch
There isn’t much to show here besides eyecandy because Windows is still just an OS. The main improvements in vista are for ISVs.
I watched the video and thought,isn’t Microsoft’s new focus supposed to be security from their own mouths last year?
Vista seeming like a peacock.Colourful but can it fly.
watch the channel9 videos on vista, they really have added alot of changes at the OS level for security and stability.
-Nex6
One thing that puts me off is microsoft’s thriving in complexity. You take any microsoft product, and you can be sure that it will have a number of complex jargon and high sounding words which notches up the learning curve of a person newly introduced to this product.
Compared to that Linux and Mac OSX configurations are quite simple and consistent across versions. Can you say the same for microsoft products? I don’t think so. A person who has mastered in administering windows NT will be atleast 60% lost when he comes face to face with windows 2000 or XP.
what??
windows is windows is windows….
if your an NT admin, moving to win2k or XP should not be any kind of problem and u should not be ‘lost’ in any way.
and Linux configure is not some kind of magical template. it requires OS knoweldge just like MS windows. and even in Linux moving form one OS version to another can have issues and changes.
-Nex6
Are you serious? I use Linux and Windows daily, and play a bit with MacOS X, and they are are just as complex, even OS X, it’s just better at hiding it. And as far as the differences between Windows NT 4.0, which came out in 1996, and Windows XP, which came out in 2001, the differences are not near as vast as MacOS 9x and Mac OS X, which came out at approx. the same times.
Just watched the whole thing with the sound off, that’s the way to do it! X-D
What impressed me the most in this video is the ASUS laptop PROTOTYPE , this is where Microsoft as the advantage they get acces to prototype so that there OS can be made to run on them before they hit the shelves.
VISTA seem like a nice OS , but I would love to know the spec of the machine they where using for it to run as smoothly , a while back I saw an office 12 demo and the demonstrator had one of the latest notebook available ( Dell 9300 ) with 1.5 gig of ram and the live preview whas runnning slow on it , just wondering if they are using dual core.
LoL anyway I bet Billy felt funny. That was at CES right?
Edited 2006-01-05 18:38
OmniWeb had those types of tabs for ages. There is no new innovation here. Check this screenshot:
http://www.macworld.com/2005/09/images/content/omniweb_th.jpg
And this time Gates didn’t even get a Blue Screen of Death:
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2126451/blue-screen-death-crashes…
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9804/20/gates.comdex/
Bill gates “legendary luck” isn’t really that legendary.
I saw the video w/o sound (damn company computers) so I don’t know what details I missed. But judging by the video, it looks like most of the features are copied from “Tiger”. And what wasn’t copied from Apple was copied from programs you can put on a Mac. Even the “wobbly windows” for Linux is more impressive than what MS showed.
http://ftp.acc.umu.se/mirror/temp/seth/blog/xshots.html
Even the “wobbly windows” for Linux is more impressive than what MS showed.
Yeah… But have fun installing Luminocity. That ain’t no simple apt-get install luminocity, I’m afraid.
Luminocity is not really done for the end users to install.
The technology to do this in X/GNOME is still very much in development, as is Windows Vista.
MS had a demo of using Aero to do wobbly windows a while ago. Think ~3 years ago maybe?
Edited 2006-01-06 00:51
MS had a demo of using Aero to do wobbly windows a while ago. Think ~3 years ago maybe?
Yeah, it was at WinHEC 2003:
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2003/0509/k1_3.jpg
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2003/0509/k1_5.htm
More here:
http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/2003/0509/kaigai01.htm
I don’t know who they think they are impressing. Wow, you can look at and crop your pictures right in the OS and it gives you “confidence and clarity.” Someone should show these jokers iPhoto and Core Image Fun House. Watch out MS, 10.5 is already lurking in the shadows!!