Windows 10 GUI

[lexidobe]

Hello everyone, I am wondering what your thoughts are on how Windows 10 looks. Personally I think Windows 10 is a disaster for many reasons, but one reason is the way it looks. I think Windows 10 looks old and idiotic compared to 7 for a few reasons.

 

One reason is the lack of Aero. I think Aero is a very nice feature and I think removing it was a step backwards. I think the translucent borders around the windows looks very nice and modern. Yeah I know it uses a tiny bit of the system's resources, but I think that's an acceptable tradeoff and if someone disagrees they can disable it. If it was an option that is. Microsoft said they removed Aero from Windows 8 and later to save resources to improve performance and battery life, but I don't buy their excuse. Not only could they have left the option, if they were so concerned about resource usage they wouldn't be spying on us with telemetry and they wouldn't have packed the OS with crapware.

 

The second reason is the windows. Compared to Windows 7, Windows 10's windows look like something right out of Windows 3.1. It just has a very basic look to it in my opinion. The windows are simply ugly grey boxes with no border and square corners and no color in the buttons just like in Windows 95. This makes the OS look old in my opinion. 

 

The third reason is because they made it look like something that would run on a child's toy. The start menu is a crapware filled disaster that unnecessarily takes up half the screen, the Settings app is redundant, and the BSOD looks stupid. They replaced Windows 7's somewhat useful BSOD with a stupid frowny face "Something went wrong" screen with no real info. This is one of many examples of how it's getting more and more idiotic. I am not an idiot and I don't need the OS to treat me as if I am. 

 

The fourth and last reason I can think of right now but certainly not least significant reason is because Microsoft basically turned the entire OS into a billboard. There are ads everywhere in the OS! The start screen, the file explorer, the start menu, the built in games, etc. It is ridiculous! If Microsoft made Windows 10 free I would understand. In a way they sort of did, but if someone wants to legitimately cleanly install Windows 10 they will still be paying just as much as they did in the past for older versions of Windows and it's full of ads and crapware, so what's the excuse. 

 

So what's your thoughts on the way Windows 10 looks? Do you think it looks old? Modern? Childish? I'd love to hear your thoughts on Windows 10's GUI compared to older versions of WIndows. 

[WereCatf]

6 minutes ago, lexidobe said:

So what's your thoughts on the way Windows 10 looks?

It's fine.

[jaslion]

I just find windows 10 boring.

 

8 had this new style to it and was very consistent with all it's new built in apps and had a completely different look for the legacy ones which kind of broke the cohesion but it still made it quite clear what is what.

 

Windows 10 does not seem to have a direction. Animations are all over the place and don't follow a clear design, UI trends are broken even in the same application made by microsoft (like in settings what is a button and what is not?) and it just feels very segmented.

 

For all it's faults windows 8 felt like a complete package just aimed at the wrong userbase whilst 10 feels like a rushed attempt to go back to 7 whilst trying to feel modern but missing direction.

[Kilrah]

I like it. Modern, no unnecessary ugly bling.

 

I've never seen ads.

[lexidobe]

5 minutes ago, jaslion said:

I just find windows 10 boring.

 

8 had this new style to it and was very consistent with all it's new built in apps and had a completely different look for the legacy ones which kind of broke the cohesion but it still made it quite clear what is what.

 

Windows 10 does not seem to have a direction. Animations are all over the place and don't follow a clear design, UI trends are broken even in the same application made by microsoft (like in settings what is a button and what is not?) and it just feels very segmented.

 

For all it's faults windows 8 felt like a complete package just aimed at the wrong userbase whilst 10 feels like a rushed attempt to go back to 7 whilst trying to feel modern but missing direction.

I agree that Windows 8 was more nicely done even though as you said it had its faults too. In my opinion Windows 8 was a good OS for touch screen devices like tablets but not great for desktops. I think Microsoft's goal was to quickly throw something together that works reasonably well on both touch screen devices and desktops and in my opinion the "one OS for all devices" idea didn't work out that well. 

[lexidobe]

7 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

I like it. Modern, no unnecessary ugly bling.

 

I've never seen ads.

Cool, glad you like it. Were you a fan of Aero in Windows Vista and 7 or did you consider that "ugly bling"?

[WereCatf]

Just now, lexidobe said:

Cool, glad you like it. Were you a fan of Aero in Windows Vista and 7 or did you consider that "ugly bling"?

I, for one, do consider it ugly bling.

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, lexidobe said:

I agree that Windows 8 was more nicely done even though as you said it had its faults too. In my opinion Windows 8 was a good OS for touch screen devices like tablets but not great for desktops. I think Microsoft's goal was to quickly throw something together that works reasonably well on both touch screen devices and desktops and in my opinion the "one OS for all devices" idea didn't work out that well. 

I absolutely loved windows 8 on any tablet I used it and I used it for years on the vaio tab I have. It was very pleasant and organic to use as a tablet os. I only moved to 10 due to an accidental upgrade and stuck with it because edge is a really nice bookreader. 10 is not nice to use on a touchscreen and feels very clunky. I'm sad that their tablet mode is so half assed.

[lexidobe]

2 minutes ago, jaslion said:

I absolutely loved windows 8 on any tablet I used it and I used it for years on the vaio tab I have. It was very pleasant and organic to use as a tablet os. I only moved to 10 due to an accidental upgrade and stuck with it because edge is a really nice bookreader. 10 is not nice to use on a touchscreen and feels very clunky. I'm sad that their tablet mode is so half assed.

I don't have a Windows tablet so I can't speak for its tablet mode, but I think its desktop mode feels half assed, it feels like a step backwards in my opinion like it should have come before 7.

[Kilrah]

11 minutes ago, lexidobe said:

Cool, glad you like it. Were you a fan of Aero in Windows Vista and 7 or did you consider that "ugly bling"?

Transparency was nice, but the colors fell into "ugly bling". Everytime I have to use a win7 box my first reaction is "eww" with all those colors and rounded things.

There still is transparency in some places e.g start menu and apps on Win10 and I like it when there's some.

[Alan G]

On my Win10 workstation all the programs launch when I click on the icons.  To me that's the only thing that matters.

[lexidobe]

Just now, Alan G said:

On my Win10 workstation all the programs launch when I click on the icons.  To me that's the only thing that matters.

I understand that perspective LOL. In my opinion the way the OS looks is important though because so many people (including myself) spend so much time looking at it. Many people stare at their computer screen all day. People spend a lot of time and money on the way things look that they spend way less time looking at like their bathroom. 

[Ashleyyyy]

since i only use Windows 10 on a pc that i just use for games and nothing more, and a tablet i think it's fine. the metro interface is great for tablet use and on my desktop i just don't have to touch it. 

[Alan G]

2 hours ago, lexidobe said:

I understand that perspective LOL. In my opinion the way the OS looks is important though because so many people (including myself) spend so much time looking at it. Many people stare at their computer screen all day. People spend a lot of time and money on the way things look that they spend way less time looking at like their bathroom. 

I spend a lot of time each day looking at my screen but it's in apps:  Firefox, Word, Outlook, Excel, Adobe Lightroom; it is not at the Windows desktop.  As long as I can see words/pictures/spreadsheets, what is there to customize?  I've only been using computers for fifty years now going back to an IBM mainframe.  Maybe I am missing something.

[Elsa Ballerina]

Hello,

 

You can bring some changes on the menu GUI for free via this tool: http://www.classicshell.net/

 

I enjoy tweaking GUI’s and make them more fun but classic shell makes it easier and free.

There is also https://www.stardock.com/ but it is not free and I find it heavy sometimes.

 

 

Regards,

Elsa Ballerina