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It's not even the Windows XP-7 UI paradigm. Cosmetically, the look has been updated over the years, but the same fundamental elements have always been there: a start menu; a panel at the bottom with a start button, a clock, a place for minimized applications, etc.; a desktop where you can choose your own background and put shortcut icons; overlapping windows of familiar applications that have mostly stayed the same in their functions, such as Windows Explorer and Microsoft Office; and many other familiar features. They've had this similar UI with minor, incremental changes for: Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Yes, the familiar user interface that people are used to since August 1995 is going to suddenly change. If you're afraid of change, then it's been mostly comfortable for 17 years with Vista as the most radical makeover. Yes, there are now people who are adults who have used essentially the same graphical interface to their PC's OS for basically their entire life. People didn't like Vista because it brought fairly radical change to many things, but to the average user who largely judges an application by its appearance, this is basically a completely different thing. It's basically Windows in name only to them. Microsoft might have had more success if they chose a different name and promoted it as a brand new OS to the average end user. This is one massive psychology experiment done by Microsoft as to how far an average user can tolerate radical change. We'll see how it plays out. Based on some recent transitions in similar software with smaller user bases (e.g. the GNOME 2 to GNOME 3 transition), it probably isn't going to be pretty. |
I didn't like it because I was expecting something more in line with the PDC '03 video. What I saw was a disappointing rehash of Windows XP.