Submitted by In a recent Channel 9 video, Scoble interviews Jenny Lam, creative lead on the Windows User Experience team. Lamb is responsible for everything from the new ‘gem’ start button to the latest bliss wallpapers. Some interesting bits: the GUI is finalized (are they sure this time?), Iconfactory is again designing the icons, and Photoshop and Illustrator are the tools of choice.
Icon Factory for the Icons! Best Vista news I’ve heard since Longhorn was announced. I hope they do *all* of them this time.
I think a lot of people are very confused on what they mean when they say the GUI is finalized.
To some people, it means everything is done, nothing will change. The colors, the layout, the graphics (save maybe the icons) are done.
I don’t believe that, and I think what Jenny said in the video supports that. She says that the “polish” isn’t done. What I think polish covers is (possible) colors (like the colors of the panels in explorer), exactly layout and details of the UI (such as how heavy the frost effect will be in glass, exact look of the caption buttons, etc).
The foundation and general feel of the UI is there, but all the details are not final. Even the start button isn’t neccesarily final.
But stuff like the general look of the control panel, the new style dialogs, etc.. those are pretty much final.
<Snip>Ever wonder who creates those cool icons, animations, and the general graphical experiences in our products like Windows Vista? </Snip>
To be honest I haven´t ever wondered who created those “cool icons”. I somehow just assumed that it would be someone at Microsoft…
But sometimes I really wonder why the bar for what is newsworthy regarding Vista is so low. I know that Vista is an extremely important release for Microsoft.
But will Vista really be that important to the rest of us working in the industry? To be honest I am not that sure.
Will see.
She’s not just responsible for those “cool icons.” In fact, she isn’t responsible for any icons. Scobble underplayed the interview (he’s an ADHD idiot). This woman (and one or two people under her) is directly responsible for almost everything visual about Vista.
If you don’t like the stories, skip them.
The only time I would agree with you is when something posted is COMPLETELY devoid of ANY information. This, however, is not.
This was actually one of the better Vista related channel 9 videos of late.
I think that on the list of things I care about passionately the appearance of the next Windows interface comes somewhere between the color of Martha Graham’s drapes and whether or not Bill Gates prefers Juicy Fruit or Double Mint gum.
Edited 2006-02-12 19:41
Would you care about GTK/Java screenshots, or how Novell’s Desktop Linux 10 is looking?
Probably. I wouldn’t. Deal with it. Some people are interested in Vista, and some aren’t.
One might not be interested in Vista, but no matter what, you’re going to be affected by it. There’s no getting around 95% of the world’s desktop computers.
Simply put, obviously.
Edited 2006-02-12 20:04
Well of course, but try explaining that to some of the asshats around here. 😉
Would you care about GTK/Java screenshots, or how Novell’s Desktop Linux 10 is looking?
Not even a little bit. I use Windows almost exclusively because I work in the Windows software business. I just don’t really care what the next version looks like. Now, if you told me they were going to replace the Registry with protected INI files that lazy programmers can’t abuse as their own personal database, now that would be interesting. And if you told me that they were going to introduce a facility that would make it impossible for a program to install itself without complete and comprehensive uninstall information, that would be worth reporting too.
Compared to things like that the eye candy of the Windows user interface has the news value of a bat’s patootie in Patagonia.
Personally, I’m more interested in the technical aspects that anything regarding “user interface” coming from Microsoft. Not really known for having “beautiful” looking interfaces …… remember how “great” LUNA was suppose to be? um hmm ….
remember how “great” LUNA was suppose to be? um hmm ….
Luckily we found out that XP Silver was in there too.
if your gonna look at it all day it might as well look good, but then again, what looks good to me maybe ugly to you, but oh well anything is better than Luna, btw i might be the only one here who doesnt like the classic look of windows. I tried the December CTP and it looks good (to me)
Very interesting interview and at many points an honest interview. The comments about MS engineers and “not getting” design and emotions was interesting and an open dialog.
Of course, Scobie being a paid shill saying Vista hasn’t gone in the same direction as OSX is a joke. Even Jennie disagrees with him, which is funny.
But while Jennie seems very talented, I still worry about the culture of MS and “getting it.” Best example is the group acronym:
MicroSoft User eXperience = MSUX
Sure, they chose MSX, but for me this is interesting since it shows how obtuse MS can be about design and taste.
Edited 2006-02-13 02:28
Of course, Scobie being a paid shill saying Vista hasn’t gone in the same direction as OSX is a joke. Even Jennie disagrees with him, which is funny.
They’re both right.
MicroSoft User eXperience = MSUX
Sure, they chose MSX, but for me this is interesting since it shows how obtuse MS can be about design and taste.
You have to be joking…
The interface of the machine does matter. No matter if you care or not it matters to most people.
With Windows Vienna they (Microsoft) is taking to their Research and Development and delivering on that work to make things better using a 3D interface. It should be interesting.
One of the things that has really been downplayed lately is the fact that MS’s interface is really moving toward 3D. For example, the Alt-Tab view, window stacking, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if MS goes much further with this paradigm in the next release.