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A couple of screenshots would've been useful for the post-millennial generations that never got to see the "beauty" (cough) of XP.
by jasonvorhe 23d ago
A couple of screenshots would've been useful for the post-millennial generations that never got to see the "beauty" (cough) of XP.
- moritzwarhier 23d agoHere's a blog post from 2003 with beautiful pictures. https://jakeludington.com/2003/12/17/create_your_own_windows_xp_user_account_pictures/ https://jakeludington.com/2003/12/17/create_your_own_windows...
- seba_dos1 23d agoThese pictures are so compressed they depict color rasterization artifacts more than the Luna UI style.
- CalRobert 23d agoI thought it looked great :-/
- Maken 23d agoXP is Microsoft's prettiest OS by far.
- mrweasel 23d agoThat's a matter of taste, but for many it was the Windows they used first and/or spend the most time on and there's a lot of love for that reason alone. I never used XP all that much, but I always changed the theme to the Windows 2000 look. I really didn't like the default, it looked unprofessional and clunky in my eyes. Upon release XP was also pretty universally mocked as a Fisher Price-like UI. To me Windows 95/NT 4 is still the gold standard in Windows UI. It's certainly not the prettiest, that would be Windows 2000, but it was easy to use, easy to navigate and efficient with space.
- TazeTSchnitzel 23d agoThe "Windows Classic" look on XP is exceptionally ugly, because those 3D-rendered icons just do not belong on a Windows 2000-style grey background for menus or buttons. (I have recently had to test both these OSes in VMs…)
- mrweasel 23d agoThat is true, it looked completely off, as if no one really bothered to tests it and make it look nice. It got rid of the horrible window decoration of the default theme, but the start menu looked terrible.
- Maken 23d agoThe first Windows I used was 98, and I sure didn't miss the blocky grey menus nor the pixelated icons. Maybe it was Fisher Price-ish but the new rounded buttons and borders were way more appealing to me.
- afzalive 23d agoTook me years to like Windows XP. Hated the new start menu. I always kept installing Windows 2000 (or ME, probably because it could use Windows 98 drivers but look like Windows 2000). I eventually got used to it and ended up liking it.
- stingraycharles 23d agoIt was at this moment I realized that people are talking about liking the non-classic-look XP. I always immediately put things in classic look, no grouped windows, etc.
- alex_suzuki 23d agoIIRC correctly, XP’s stability greatly increased after Service Pack 2 was published.
- gschizas 23d ago
- sunaookami 23d agoYou mean 7 ;)
- Maken 23d agoWindows 7 fixed Vista a bit, but the Aero windows were never pretty and the non-Aero decorations were painfully obvious a placeholder.
- sunaookami 22d agoAero was pretty though.
- medwards666 23d agoWindows 7 was certainly pretty, but I still think that W2000 was peak Windows UI (and I've been around since Windows 2.0)
- YPPH 23d agoI found each of 2000, XP, and 7 to be excellent in its own unique way. I'd be happy with any of them. But it also felt exciting to upgrade. It's all been downhill from there as far as UX goes.
- amiga-workbench 23d agoPerhaps with the Zune theme installed.
- delta_p_delta_x 23d agoI feel Vista was by far the best. 7 simplified it a bit, but that Start orb and black taskbar on Vista, man, that was glorious.
- kasabali 22d agoIMO Aero parts looked phenomenal but older Win32 parts like toolbars etc. didn't fit and looked odd
- meerita 23d agoEhem... nothing beats the beauty and simplicity of Win 95 :)
- edoceo 23d agoDidn't that design appear first in 3.51?
- TheAmazingRace 23d agoOnly if you install the Shell Technology Preview from Microsoft. NT 3.51 came with the classic Win 3.x look and feel as well as Program Manager.
- edoceo 22d agoYea, it was 4.0, oops
- fractal618 23d agoI like the installation music :-)
- rzzzt 23d ago"Welcome to Windows 98" with the church bell and sick bass intro can never be beaten. It's cut short unfortunately.
- bsoqk 23d agohttps://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040331-00/?p=39953 https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040331-00/?p=39... >During the Luna studies, that people’s reaction to Luna was often, “Wow this would be a great UI for X,” where X was “my dad” or “my employees” or “my daughter”. People didn’t look at it as the UI for themselves; rather, they thought it was a great UI for somebody else. (Luna is the name of the default look of Windows XP)
- ksncksndsh 23d agoThat’s Vista. And there’s no contest whatsoever. They’ve never been able to again achieve the perfect balance of elegance and functionality that Vista’s UI had. Its Vista. Like it or hate it. It’s Vista
- PalmPilotProMax 23d agoI don't see how that's relevant? Article is about the RNG implementation, it doesn't matter what the profile pictures are.
- lirolero 23d ago> I don't see how that's relevant? nobody cares