Two reasons why i want to switch to mac
First, i don’t wanna wait till 2006 (or even later) to get a possibly decent, possibly good, possibly awkward new os. Windows xp keeps annoying me, i can barely stand it anymore.
Second, if this is what microsoft considers aesthetic ui-design, i refuse to continue using windows. What’s the purpose of this screen layout, minimizing usable screen space, while trying to attract 5-year-olds on their way into windows-wizard-hell? The sidebar on the righthand side of the screen is the most ridiculous (and possibly annoying) thing i’ve seen in a long time. Does that clock give anymore information than the current design? Don’t think so. Watching tiny thumbnails in a sidebar? No killer application, not even useful, imho. Looks like they cram anything in there because they don’t really know yet what it’s good for.
I know that aero and avalon (which impressed marc canter quite a lot) are most likely far from being finished, but this is not about ui technology, but ui design and ui aesthetics. In the windows world currently both aesthetics and design suck and it doesn’t look like things are about to change.
For more not-so-promising screenshots of longhorn, look here.
Update: Look at that "save as" dialogue, it’s about 4 times bigger than the old one without increasing functionality! More horrifying screenshots here (scroll down a bit for the photo galleries section). I really have to escape this!
