Windows 7: Some Visual Changes

The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is the system that allows anyone to interact with a computer or device. The aspect of the GUI that most average users are aware of is predominantly the themes and skins that make up the look and feel of an operating system.

A Short History

Windows 95 introduced the interface that would become the default Windows theme for the next 6 years. A few changes were made here and there such the addition of shadows under mouse pointers in Windows 2000.

However the next major change was with Windows XP which introduced a significantly different interface that was much more graphically focused. Sometimes derided for having the “Fischer-Price” look, XP was the first real attempt Microsoft made at making Windows more attractive appealing for the consumer.

5 years later Windows Vista introduced a brand new interface named Windows Aero. Aero was the name of both the theme and a completely rewritten graphical system to control the composting drawing of windows. Aero featured transparency, vector based icons, animations and a 3D interface which was much more aesthetically pleasing, but also required more system resources

Much of the criticism has been of the perceived slow-down due to Aero requiring much more system resources. although in reality it often has less of an effect then is often suggested.

Windows 7

Windows 7 is likely to be an evolution of the interface rather then any kind of dramatic change. Considering the 6 year gap between the introduction of Windows classic and Luna, and the 5 years between Luna and Aero we can assume that Windows 7 will have some minor changes including a number of tweaks and refinements.

Vista provided the necessary technology with its new graphical system for Windows to be capable of taking advantage of the generation of hardware.

In Windows build 6519 a number of small visual style changes where picked up on by Raiker, a Russian blogger who wrote a detailed review of the leaked operating system. You can see some of the examples below:

As you can see from these two screenshots; the Windows 7 taskbar to the right is significantly more transparent then in the Vista screenshot.

Another change is the addition of a new blue aurora style background to some of the windows. The green window on the left is a screenshot from Vista on my computer, the blue window is from the Windows 7 screenshots.

Vista switches between solid colour and transparency depending on wether the windows is maximized or not. You can see in the screenshots below that Milestone 1 remains transparent when maximized, although wether this is simply a bug or deliberate remains to be seen.

These are, as has been said, very minor visual style changes. In a future article we will be going into a great deal more depth on the Windows 7 UI and some of the more major changes that may be coming and have already been released.

An anonymous poster going by the name MSBob made the following comment on istartedsomething:

“The thing to remember, however, is that this is the end of M1 (i.e. milestone 1), and there are three milestones. There won’t be any major visual refresh until after M2 (i.e., everything will be implemented with the Vista look-and-feel until after M2). Whatever the new visual look of Win7 will be will be kept under wraps for quite a while. This is no different from Luna for XP and Aero for Vista.”

So It’s worth keeping in mind that nothing you see in these early builds has any permanency or guarantee of making it to the final product. However there are a great deal of other interesting changes, so subscribe to our feed and check back soon.

Sources:
Wikipedia images: 95 desktop, XP Desktop, Vista Desktop
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