3 ms·

I'm pretty sure Julie Larson-Green came from Microsoft Office during the overhaul of that product, which was an amazing leap forward in UI design for Microsoft.

I'm pretty sure Julie Larson-Green came from Microsoft Office during the overhaul of that product, which was an amazing leap forward in UI design for Microsoft. The "ribbon" certainly had/has its detractors (and I was one at first), but I soon realized what I didn't like about it was that it wasn't the old, broken system I had learned to use over my lifetime. For nearly everyone I worked with in customer service, approaching the system as an "Office Newbie" was several times easier under the new system. She also led the Win 7 overhaul, for which I'm forever thankful if only because of the changes to how title bars work (being able to drag to maximize or cover 1/2 the screen, for instance). It was so intuitive that one day I was complaining about how Windows DIDN'T do that, but was on a Win7 box and it worked. I know Jobs likes to use the word "magic", but that was the first time I experienced it with a UI. I'm wary of the changes I see outlined here, but I think that might, again, be the consequence of having adapted myself to bad design that's been prevalent. Past experience has me hoping I'm wrong to be wary, and I'll be delighted if I am.

sigzero 15y ago
I share those same feelings. I guess we will see in a year(?) when it comes out.
- kenjackson 15y ago
  My concern is did MS just Osborne itself? I was just thinking my wife's current laptop is 3 years old -- maybe time for a new one. Now I'm thinking I'm waiting until next year and getting a Win8 touch laptop (ideally a really slick convertible).
  - zavulon 15y ago
    Microsoft doesn't sell computers, they sell software. To them, whenever it comes out, it's gonna sell no matter what.
    - Tyrannosaurs 15y ago
      Yes, but they don't want Windows license sales to nose dive between now and the release of Windows 8 do they?
      - adolph 15y ago
        Expect awesome looking Win8-ready stickers soon, I guess.
dorian-graph 15y ago
> I'm pretty sure Julie Larson-Green came from Microsoft Office during the overhaul of that product, .. Perfectly correct. She even had a blog up about it IIRC and was pretty interesting to read. I echo some of your sentiments and W8 is looking pretty slick - it's teetering on the fine balance of being too Metro like, too tablet like, too gimmicky, etc. - if the people at Microsoft pull it off, it will be damn impressive.

sigzero 15y ago

I share those same feelings. I guess we will see in a year(?) when it comes out.

kenjackson 15y ago
My concern is did MS just Osborne itself? I was just thinking my wife's current laptop is 3 years old -- maybe time for a new one. Now I'm thinking I'm waiting until next year and getting a Win8 touch laptop (ideally a really slick convertible).
- zavulon 15y ago
  Microsoft doesn't sell computers, they sell software. To them, whenever it comes out, it's gonna sell no matter what.
  - Tyrannosaurs 15y ago
    Yes, but they don't want Windows license sales to nose dive between now and the release of Windows 8 do they?
    - adolph 15y ago
      Expect awesome looking Win8-ready stickers soon, I guess.

dorian-graph 15y ago

> I'm pretty sure Julie Larson-Green came from Microsoft Office during the overhaul of that product, .. Perfectly correct. She even had a blog up about it IIRC and was pretty interesting to read. I echo some of your sentiments and W8 is looking pretty slick - it's teetering on the fine balance of being too Metro like, too tablet like, too gimmicky, etc. - if the people at Microsoft pull it off, it will be damn impressive.