I couldn't find much about it. I was learning to program MFC at the time, and just before Windows XP appeared Microsoft started experimenting with that flat but

I couldn't find much about it. I was learning to program MFC at the time, and just before Windows XP appeared Microsoft started experimenting with that flat buttons style, which I really wanted to adopt my apps. I don't think it was an actual design change from Microsoft, just some transitional look-and-feel they adopted which sits between Office 2000 with the classic Windows 95+ look, and Office 2003 inheriting the Fisher-Price oversatured cartoony look of Windows XP. https://bcgsoft.com/featuretour/tour163.htm https://bcgsoft.com/featuretour/tour163.htm