Posts Tagged ‘Vista’

Having some fun making these videos and all, I decided to cook up another one. This time, I’ve included a full-screen version of the log in animation that wasn’t fully in the original. There has been a screenshot or two out there, but that’s it. Along with posting the video here, I’ve included a high-resolution download of the video. Likewise, I’ve updated my previous post here to include a high-resolution download of it. Enjoy!

HD Download (45 MB): Longhorn Days Video 02

-Stephen Chapman
http://www.msftkitchen.com

Here’s a little demo video I cooked up for all those Windows Longhorn fans that are still floating around out there. Commonly referred to as the, “Longhorn Days” demo, I decided to make a video using components from the actual demo and spice it up with a little bit of Incubus. =) This one’s for the old Longhorn fans – you know who you are!

HD Download (30 MB): Longhorn Days Video 01

-Stephen
http://msftkitchen.com

Sabine McLain, UX and UI extraordinaire, is no stranger to working with Microsoft. She’s worked closely with just about every UI- and UX-related acronym Microsoft has had where Windows is concerned. Vista? Yep. Windows 7? Mmmhmm – and now, Windows 8. Taking a look at her online resume today, I noticed an interesting update. Apparently, she’s a (if not the) key-figure in the creation of, “a new generation tool for managing the work on Windows 8.” You guessed it – WorkTrack.

As written by Sabine in her resume, WorkTrack is, “a dashboard application to be used by the Windows 8 team for tracking work on the next operation system” which is, “aimed at being a low threshold, easy-to-use environment that facilitates communication as well as tracking for the teams.” As for what Sabine lists as her contributions to the creation of WorkTrack:

- Generated the original concept.
- Defining and Designing Interactions
- Defining and Designing Guides
- Execute UI visual design and brand explorations.

She also makes mention of two internal tools: Product Studio and TFS (Team Foundation Server), which are tools used within Microsoft to track issues, manage test cases, and generally aid in, “dogfooding,” which essentially means testing builds of software they’re currently developing.

Unfortunately, there are no images or any additional information about this tool or any other Windows 8-related content on her site or in her resume. Regardless, we have enough insight to see that Microsoft is thinking big enough with Windows 8 to have a completely new work-tracking tool created from the ground-up by the apparently well-credentialed and well-seasoned UX/UI veteran, Sabine McLain.

-Stephen

(Follow me on Twitter: msftkitchen)

This whole “I’m a PC” thing sparked up some thoughts I’ve continued having in regards to Vista, so I’ve decided to take more of a philosophical approach to the faithful Windows users who don’t want to upgrade simply because they hate the lack of familiarity in Vista that they’ve had since day one of using Windows pre-Vista.

As far as people not wanting to switch from XP to Vista because of the UI, here are your choices:

1 – Continue using Windows XP until you’re just absolutely forced to upgrade to Vista. At that point, you’re way behind on the times and your learning curve is never any less steep than you feel it is right now.

2 – Pay a ridiculous price for a Mac and spend the time to learn a new OS.

3 – Buy the fastest PC with Vista you can buy with the same amount of money you would have spent on the Mac. Take the time to learn Vista instead of investing that time in learning Mac OS X.

4 – Go with a freeware OS, such as Ubuntu Linux, and again, spend the time learning not only a new OS, but the limitations you may very well be presented with by not using Windows.

Sure, Vista had its issues in the beginning, but so did XP! Vista is settling in quite nicely with SP1 integrated, and from what I hear of Windows 7, performance is only getting better and better. The rumors regarding Vista are horrible and I must say, only ignorant people and those who are anti-Microsoft are helping to spread them. The cost of hardware to run Vista efficiently on is nowhere near as high as is implied by so many people. Additionally, the UI isn’t as rough as you might think. It was frustrating for me at first, but the amount of research that went into creating the UI for Vista is intense. It’s there to help you. Yes, you have to learn how to navigate things a little differently, but ultimately, the UI is there to help you. I can’t believe people have been switching to Mac because they’re too lazy to learn an interface in Windows that was ultimately put there to help them.

There’s no need to “switch”. If you’re willing to put forth the effort to “switch,” then take a second to realize how much it’s going to cost you in money and time, then apply that cost to implementing Vista and the choice should be clear. Stop listening to the Mac propaganda that would have you believing you’re somehow “different” for the better if you buy a product from them instead of being “different” or the worst by using Windows. Educate yourself! Give Vista a shot. You’ll thank yourself for it when Windows 7 is released and if, by chance, you come to the conclusion that you just don’t like Vista after giving it a chance, then at least you have come to an informed decision based off of your own productivity instead of lazily repeating the same old anti-Vista prattle.

I realize this post is about as “fanboy” as it can get for Windows, but so what? I’m a PC, remember? =)

Summary: Don’t make rash decisions to “switch” based on lethargy and ignorance. Moving from XP to Windows 7 will contain at LEAST the same learning curve as migrating from XP to Vista, so you’d might as well get a jump on it and see for yourself. If you try it and you hate it, I’m sure Apple would love to sell you a spiffy-looking box full of cheap hardware at ultra-high prices and convince you that you’re “different” in some cheeky, intelligent way and NOT because you’re just another statistic in the PC/Mac switch campaign. Let me also add that I don’t think OS X is a bad product by any means! Controlled hardware environments, low userbase, and ambiguity all disguised by a facade of being different… no wonder OS X is devoid of the would-be horrific problems every Windows user supposedly experiences!

-Stephen