Posts Tagged ‘Paint’

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Update: Content from thinknext.net has been removed.

Zhou, the guy from thinknext.net who fears not the powers of the Sinofsky, has come through again and posted some videos of Windows 7 build 6780. I’ll direct-link to the videos, then below are links to all of the screenshots currently floating around out there of this build (including the ones I posted). Lastly, I’ve written a summary of what we know about this build up to this point. If more surfaces, I’ll just update this post. Feel free to comment if you know of anything elsewhere that I’ve missed. If (or when) the build leaks, I won’t bother keeping up with this thread any longer.

Videos:

Screenshot Links:

Link 1: UXEvangelist WordPad UI
Link 2: UXEvangelist MS Paint UI
Link 3: ThinkNext Plethora of Shots
Link 4: ThinkNext Sidebar Search

Windows 7 Build 6780 (M3) Miscellaneous Information:

- The sidebar appears to be missing from this build. Gadgets still “snap” into place, though.

- There is a “light” version of WMP in this build which supposedly has a very quick load time.

- This build contains new wallpapers.

- Those with the build have commented that 6780 is a very responsive build and great on performance.

- WordPad and Paint have been given a UI overhaul with the ribbon bar being integrated in place of the traditional menu. Additional functionality has been added to Paint. The Calculator and PowerShell UI’s have also been overhauled.

- Slight UI differences are present throughout various places in the build; start menu, taskbar, explorer, etc.

More if/when it comes in!

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

Just a couple of hours after writing my little general overview of the new Paint and WordPad in Windows 7, some anonymous kind soul slid a screenshot my way of Paint to share with all of you wonderful readers of my blog! In conjunction with what I wrote below, the screenshot tells it all and should get some of you fairly excited to see the rest of this build. Blah, blah, blah… I’ll save the blabber for another post. =)

Windows 7 M3 Build 6780 MS Paint UI:

(Click the picture for the full-resolution image)

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

UPDATE: If you’re coming to this page via a direct link, I’ve since received a screenshot I could make public. Scroll up and click “Start”. It’ll take you to my main page.

Yes, both Paint and WordPad have finally received the royal treatment. Via permission given to me to remotely access build 6780 to play around a bit, Paint and WordPad both look great and have much-needed updates. I’ve got to work within the permissions granted to me by my source and unfortunately, screenshots don’t fall within those permissions (yet), so you all will still have to wait to actually see this stuff. (Don’t worry, there is a LOT of chatter about this build going around by people who have it. I can’t help but think the next week or two will be quite fruitful for the community in terms of information, screenshots, and perhaps the build even leaking if someone is brazen enough. Just beware the wrath of Sinofsky if any of you dare the latter of the aforementioned choices…) Something I have been given the liberty to do is give a very broad teaser explanation of Paint and WordPad in their current 6780 state, so here goes.

MS Paint: In terms of functionality, imagine a software somewhere between the currently-existing MS Paint and the wonderful Paint.NET freeware application. Make everything accessible through a ribbon bar (tabs ‘n all) ala Office 2007 and voila. Even remoted in, the performance was quite nice. All of you users who love MS Paint but still need a second photo editing application just to do that one thing or two that Paint won’t do (like working with transluscent/transparent .png files)will be delighted to know that you may very well no longer need said second application. Bear in mind that this is MS Paint as it currently exists in a milestone 3 build OS not scheduled to be completed until mid to late 2009, so a lot could still change between now and then. Long story short, regardless of what changes, rest assured that MS Paint is going to be the cat’s pajamas!

WordPad: Basically, imagine Microsoft taking Office 2007 Word, slimming it down, tweaking the ribbon bar UI a bit, and calling it WordPad. While not as functional as Office 2007 Word (hence, the “slimming it down” mention), this version of WordPad is coming along nicely. It’s much easier to perform tasks such as adding a picture, editing text (I know this seems like a very generic mention, but trust me when I say that everything you do to edit text is made much more accessible thanks to the ribbon bar), and even cooking up your own drawings right there in a document. Office 2007 document converter no longer needed to view .docx files? Perhaps. =) Just wait until you get your hands on this build. Many of you will have a field day.

Well, that’s it for now. I know all of that is just generic info and I really wish I was at liberty to say and show more at this point, but I’m not. Trust me, I’m as excited as the rest of you to actually install this build locally, so… even if it’s not until after PDC, the excitement and anxiety is definitely there!

All @ Microsoft: Keep it up! Personally, I think 7 is shaping up to be one hell of product thus far. You guys and gals are doing a phenomenal job!

-Stephen