Behold the official Windows 8 logo.
We saw images of the logo leak earlier this week, but the company unveiled it officially today stating that the logo is a Window rather than the traditional flag found in earlier versions of Windows. “We wanted the new logo to be both modern and classic,” says Microsoft’s Sam Moreau.
The logo uses flat colors and clean lines and shapes to convey the message of Metro and will change color based on the core theme color used in Windows 8. “When you change your color, the logo changes to reflect you,” explained Moreau
I actually like this redesign a lot. It aligns itself with the Metro UI and Windows Phone. It’s clean and minimalistic. If only the actual OS didn’t suck so bad.
Microsoft’s vision for the future:
“You can stop any frame in the video and talk for an hour about everything that’s going on. There’s a lot of thinking layered in. We’re trying not to be superficial at all — there’s a lot of deep thinking.”
There’s actually a lot of really great ideas in this video. It looks stunning. It’s interesting to see how Microsoft implements the Metro UI in the various concepts.
Apple BURNS Windows!
This never gets old.
A Brief Eulogy for Zune
In case you didn’t know, Microsoft is discontinuing production of the Zune player.
Some General Arguments Why The Mac Is Better Than a Windows PC
The most popularized reason for the disliking of the Apple community as a whole is the notion that it is overwhelmingly elitist and full of bigotry. In any type of community there are always the vocal few. Unfortunately, these overwhelmingly vocal few always seem to effect the opinion of a bystander looking in on the Apple ecosystem. The attitudes of these vocal few do not in any way reflect the entire Apple community, or even a majority of it. Windows users seem to commonly mistake an Apple fan’s love for their Mac as elitism and snobbery. Simply put, we just love our Macs.
One of the biggest problems with the Mac to a buyer is the pricing. The hardware is seen as a niche’ market (which it is) and overpriced, but that is because Apple Mac’s have quality beyond anything else in the market. The operating system, file system, graphical user interface, ease-of-use, beautiful craftsmanship, and durability make the Mac a top notch product that deserves a top notch price.
Another false fact that still seems to be etched into the Windows user’s mind is that the Mac is hard to learn to use. This could not be anything but farther than the truth. The Mac was designed with the idea of ease-of-use in mind, while Windows was designed as a filesystem with a focus on infrastructure. For the most part you will never hear of a Windows user switching to the Mac and having to go back to Windows because he could not learn how to use it. The genius behind Apple’s products is that they intuitively make sense. This comes from Apple’s main focus from the beginning of it’s conception- to make a computer that is fun and easy to use.
The biggest fault with Windows versus the Mac is Window’s need for constant user management to keep it maintained. The Mac is designed to be more self-reliant and not call for the user to have to know how to do things that someone without any computer experience does not know how to do. The constant need for security to be managed by the user through an anti-virus, the need to defragment the hardrive, and the need for filesystem and core fixes with weekly patches and updates makes Windows impose more on the common user than need should have it.
This is an extensive interview concerning Windows 7 and the state of Microsoft between the CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, and the editor and chief of Engadget, Joshua Topolsky.
Mac Vs. PC: Mr Bean
(via starquant)
The brand spankin, not even in production Microsoft “Courier” tablet PC. I’m not gonna lie this looks like the best thing Microsoft has done in the past decade. I actually find it very head to believe that Microsoft designed this user interface… it looks much too attractive.
Very VERY interested to see the upcoming buzz around this device.
These two remotes, by Apple (left, Apple TV) and Microsoft (right, Xbox 360), do approximately the same things with a few exceptions:
- The Microsoft remote uses two AA batteries that need to be replaced about every 6 months. The Apple remote uses a single CR2032 that has never needed to be replaced.
- The Apple remote has 6 buttons. The Microsoft remote has 46, only 15 of which are regularly used for media playback.
- The buttons on the Microsoft remote are backlit so you can see what they do in the dark. The Apple remote doesn’t have this feature because you never need to look at the buttons after the first minute of use.
- The Apple remote works from nearly any position in the room with approximate line-of-sight between itself and the front of the Apple TV. The Microsoft remote has the worst reception angle of any remote I’ve ever used (supposedly 90°, ±45°). Mine starts failing consistently at about 22° right of center at a distance of 8 feet, putting it right at the bottom of their specified total radius (~44°). It won’t even work from the right half of the couch.
This is a pretty good indicator of the two companies’ design philosophies and quality goals. And this isn’t even considering the software interface that each remote is respectively controlling.
(via marco)
Microsoft’s “Bing”
Microsoft recently released their new search engine to replace the failed Windows Live Search. “Bing” is not a search engine according to Microsoft, it’s a “decision engine”, meaning, when you type 2010 Honda Accord into Bing, instead of articles about the Honda Accord you will get shopping options to buy the Honda Accord or travel options where you can rent a Honda Accord, etc.
We’ll see how this does but I have low expectations for the term “binging” to catch mainstream. I don’t think a protective father is going to be “binging” his daughter’s new boyfriend instead of googling him anytime soon.
Meanwhile you can go google Bing and see the website today.
Windows Mobile 6.5
Apparently some people like this thing. From what I saw in the video it looks like it’s still not that fluid, especially compared to the iPhone. Maybe with 7.0 Windows Mobile will get it right.
The new OS X.. uh Windows 7
Microsoft gave the first public showing of their new OS “Windows 7” at PDC 2 days ago. Now what they are going for with their interface I’ll leave up to you to decide. If you really want to read more about Microsoft’s newest prodigy read the great post at Arstechnica.
But for quick reference this is what Microsoft claims about their new OS:
- Any hardware or software that works on Vista will work on 7. (nothing that used to work will stop working)
- Improved user experience.
- A new task-bar with re-arrangeable icons.
-Two-level navigation between different windows.
- Each icon has a thumbnail to switch windows.
- New feature called a “Jump List” in the start menu.
- Improved dragging and dropping windows.
- being able to “peak” at windows and the desktop
- gadgets will live on the desktop itself and not that little sidebar
- improved ability to remove and edit icons in the task bar for a “cleaner” user experience
- a new concept of filesystem organization- “Libraries”
Thanks to Arstechnica for all the pictures. Well Windows 7, you never cease to not surprise me.
