Discover and share the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.
Adobe guru to improve Windows interface
news.com — It looks like Mark Hamburg, a Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom programming guru, will be leading work to give Microsoft Windows a better user interface. And given the dramatic user interface differences between earlier and later Adobe projects that Hamburg worked on, that raises some very intriguing possibilities. Microsoft and Adobe Systems had...
- 724 diggs
- digg it
- secleinteer, on 05/01/2008, -22/+16I don't know if they should have a Photoshop UI designer working on Windows...Photoshop is way too confusing and cluttered, and Windows is already bad enough as it is.
- Wolfsoap, on 05/01/2008, -5/+5AUSTRIA LAUNCHES 'BIRTHPLACE OF HITLER' CAMPAIGN
/Volumes/big_jobs/rav4/production/02-phase-2
He designed Lightroom too, which is beautiful.
And Photoshop is a professional program with 100's of tools in it, you can't compare it to a simple app like itunes or messenger.
If Windows 7 looks anything like Lightroom it will be a huge step forwards.- NSResponder, on 05/01/2008, -1/+5"He designed Lightroom too, which is beautiful. "
Yes, he seems to have learned quite a bit from Apple's ProApps UI, especially the heads-up display windows.
-jcr - Jeffler, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2WTF is with the first line?
EDIT: Just saw what you said under it. Damn, I'm a n00b. Sorry!
- NSResponder, on 05/01/2008, -1/+5"He designed Lightroom too, which is beautiful. "
- Wolfsoap, on 05/01/2008, -2/+10Allow me to explain. I write my comments in textedit cos FF spell checker is ***** and the Digg one gets on my *****. (Is should have two buttons when its finished an 'OK' and an 'OK and Submit Comment') I happened to have all of that in textedit too and I just did a select all and pasted it in.
The first line is from a site that a bit like the theonion and it made me giggle earlier so I kept it for later to show people. Second line is where my MAMPs is pointed.
Lines three through five are my comments. Sorry. Im a good digger really. Ive had a rough night I spent it mainly sleeping/sulking in a door way south of the thames cos I refused to pay for a taxi home.- rpgmaker, on 05/01/2008, -1/+5WTF did you just said?
- MWeather, on 05/01/2008, -1/+5Isn't posting random garbage more annoying than the fitefiox spell check? And you do know there are third party spell checkers for firefox, right?
- Wolfsoap, on 05/01/2008, -5/+5AUSTRIA LAUNCHES 'BIRTHPLACE OF HITLER' CAMPAIGN
- scairborn, on 05/01/2008, -24/+10Dear Microsoft,
You suck at photoshop.- itsthebrod, on 05/01/2008, -1/+3What?
- SystemError51, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3Dear scairborn,
Adobe != Microsoft
- robuk24, on 05/01/2008, -6/+27My Mum can't use Photoshop.
- joshualamgroup, on 05/01/2008, -0/+4i don't think mine can too. But I bet you she can use Picnik.
- Konstantino, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2Okay, but are we really going to compare a professional application's interface (directed to a professional audience) to an ordinary consumer operating system GUI?
- futureb, on 05/01/2008, -8/+13i don't really care all that much how windows explorer looks...i'm in my browser or ms office most of the time anyway, so I care more about those interfaces than I do windows itself.
- MarkJ, on 05/01/2008, -3/+8If you never use Windows Explorer you must be a simple computer user. I use it all the time and I think the Windows Explorer UI in Vista sucks. XP's Windows Explorer is much easier to use, and can be navigated with the keyboard *very fast*.
- MWeather, on 05/01/2008, -5/+1You use the default explorer? You must be a simple computer user. Third party apps are WAY better.
- jakem1, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Regardless of which version of explorer you prefer, what has using explorer got to do with how much you use your computer? I always have explorer open but I don't feel the need to put it on my CV.
- bowe, on 05/01/2008, -2/+1I disagree mark, do you not use the favorite folders, search folders, and all of the new added features? Search makes using explorer so much easier there's no need to navigate a myriad of folders.
- Baryn, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3Those apps eventually inherit their interfaces from Windows. It trickles down, *****.
- MWeather, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Yes, but not from Windows Explorer.
- MarkJ, on 05/01/2008, -3/+8If you never use Windows Explorer you must be a simple computer user. I use it all the time and I think the Windows Explorer UI in Vista sucks. XP's Windows Explorer is much easier to use, and can be navigated with the keyboard *very fast*.
- jayscot, on 05/01/2008, -17/+10That will be great since Adobe interfaces are crap.
- ortucis, on 05/01/2008, -4/+9Ahh, a Gimp user.
- plainOldFool, on 05/01/2008, -1/+3Seriously. I know that I am a PS fan boy, but I find the interface gets better version after version. Whild Gimp ... well, Gimp is pretty cool but the interface is horrid. Anyone try Gimpshop? I've been thinking of giving it a whirl.
- MWeather, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3What's so bad about GIMP's interface?
- WiseWeasel, on 05/01/2008, -2/+2What ISN'T bad about GIMP's interface? Seriously, it's downright painful to use, even after you've tracked down all the features you need and customized it to your liking (or to a usable state, I should say, as it's never to my liking).
- MWeather, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1By "your liking" do you mean, "like Photoshop", or is there some customization you do to Photoshop's UI that you can't in the gimp.
- MWeather, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3What's so bad about GIMP's interface?
- zongamin, on 05/01/2008, -3/+1Just a GIMP
- plainOldFool, on 05/01/2008, -1/+3Seriously. I know that I am a PS fan boy, but I find the interface gets better version after version. Whild Gimp ... well, Gimp is pretty cool but the interface is horrid. Anyone try Gimpshop? I've been thinking of giving it a whirl.
- bsmang, on 05/01/2008, -1/+4Maybe he's just an Acrobat user?
- ortucis, on 05/01/2008, -4/+9Ahh, a Gimp user.
- Billistic, on 05/01/2008, -14/+22Who's running around digging all the anti-adobe-interface comments?
Photoshop's interface does suck, and flash sucks more!- bsmang, on 05/01/2008, -8/+7Don't forget that PDF's really, really suck!
- plainOldFool, on 05/01/2008, -0/+4I digg you because although I find PS to have a stellar interface, Acrobat has gotten so bloatedly lame year after year.
- jakem1, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2Photoshop CS3 may be a radical improvement but all earlier versions of PS had the most awful interface imaginable. All those toolbars, palettes, etc. floating around needing to be moved all the time so you can see what you're working on is just a UI disaster.
I'm not familiar with Lightroom but I hope this guy has some cool tricks up his sleeve because I'll have to go back to a pen and paper if Windows ends up like Photoshop.
- jakem1, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2Photoshop CS3 may be a radical improvement but all earlier versions of PS had the most awful interface imaginable. All those toolbars, palettes, etc. floating around needing to be moved all the time so you can see what you're working on is just a UI disaster.
- gllopc, on 05/01/2008, -0/+17Adobe PDFs aren't the problem; Acrobat Reader is.
- Twee, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1Agreed. Preview on the Mac is fantastic for opening up PDFs. Microsoft needs to integrate native PDF support into Windows.
- solid12345, on 05/01/2008, -0/+9PDF's rock especially for sending jobs to the printer, it is just Acrobat that blows.
- fuzzynyanko, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3I agree. If I need to "print out" something on a computer without a printer, PDF is handy to send it to a machine that has one, but doesn't necessarily have the program needed to open the original file type.
- jakem1, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1That doesn't make much sense (unless you're talking about Macs) because the other PC would have to have a pdf reader installed on it.
- heavyd14, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1What PC these days doesn't have a PDF reader? What else are you suggesting we use instead?
- fuzzynyanko, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3I agree. If I need to "print out" something on a computer without a printer, PDF is handy to send it to a machine that has one, but doesn't necessarily have the program needed to open the original file type.
- plainOldFool, on 05/01/2008, -0/+4I digg you because although I find PS to have a stellar interface, Acrobat has gotten so bloatedly lame year after year.
- etx313, on 05/01/2008, -9/+9The new CS3 interface is kick-ass. You are wrong.
- jakem1, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3Microsoft don't need any help replicating that sort of interface. They've been doing similar things for years in Visual Studio.
- bsmang, on 05/01/2008, -8/+7Don't forget that PDF's really, really suck!
- stupidpoo, on 05/01/2008, -2/+31RTFA - and this time I mean it. When you read the article you will see that this dude has not worked on Photoshop in a while and instead has been working on the UI for Lightroom. The idea is that he will simplify design of the UI not make it layered with submenus like Photoshop is.
- r3zonance, on 05/01/2008, -4/+4Most of the UI for Lightroom, from what I gather, was heavily based on the look-and-feel of Apple's Aperture (with its nice black-white HUD etc.)
- gllopc, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3Which came first - because unless it's a coincidence, one looks like a copy of the other.
- Smoozle, on 05/01/2008, -1/+3If this is a question, Aperture was released first and some time afterwards Lightroom 1.0 public BETA was. However, I don't think there is blatant copying in this case. Some inspiration and a borrowed UI element here and there maybe, but overall there are not that many ways to make the UI of and app like those two.
- gllopc, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3Which came first - because unless it's a coincidence, one looks like a copy of the other.
- Grimdotdotdot, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3Do you often say RTFA for a joke, then?
- r3zonance, on 05/01/2008, -4/+4Most of the UI for Lightroom, from what I gather, was heavily based on the look-and-feel of Apple's Aperture (with its nice black-white HUD etc.)
- Schpariel, on 05/01/2008, -10/+27The last thing Windows needs is more bling. It's shiny enough already, improve the core OS dammit!
- itsthebrod, on 05/01/2008, -3/+19Seriously... The Windows platform has become so bloated due to it needing to be uber-backwards compatible... It seems like the engineers just pile code onto code. I wish they would start from the ground up and design the next Windows with all the modern-day features and concepts, and maybe include some kind of an old Windows emulator for legacy programs.
- ortucis, on 05/01/2008, -6/+3.. and see the sales go down to the OSX level.
- theaceoffire, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2It can't. Inertia and all that.
Although sales might go down a tad (Still probably better than Vista)
- theaceoffire, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2It can't. Inertia and all that.
- bowe, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Well, with the next version of windows, legacy support is going to be virtualized, so that should do away with most of the problems they have had in regards to backwards compatibility.
- dacheetah, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1But windows does NOT have backwards compatibility. It claims to, but it's crap. Very few old apps work properly.
- ortucis, on 05/01/2008, -6/+3.. and see the sales go down to the OSX level.
- streetstealth, on 05/01/2008, -0/+5Good interface design is the exact opposite of bling.
This Hamburg guy is not in charge of making buttons look shiny and bouncy; he's a human-computer interaction designer whose job is to design interfaces that work sensibly and intuitively.
Really, Microsoft's problem is that they have been working under the impression that design = bling instead of design = usability, preferring to waste their time with stupid window reflections and transparency blurs instead of looking into how people actually use the interface and designing around that.
- itsthebrod, on 05/01/2008, -3/+19Seriously... The Windows platform has become so bloated due to it needing to be uber-backwards compatible... It seems like the engineers just pile code onto code. I wish they would start from the ground up and design the next Windows with all the modern-day features and concepts, and maybe include some kind of an old Windows emulator for legacy programs.
- Azerael, on 05/01/2008, -6/+17It looks like Microsoft is pulling out all the stops to make sure they don't create another Vista...
- rsmithrun, on 05/01/2008, -1/+4I think they learned their lesson.
- dblatti, on 05/01/2008, -15/+6I though Apple patented shiny bloated operating systems already.
- SystemError51, on 05/01/2008, -2/+7Mac OS X Leopard on average on the drive: ~ 3 GB (okay, maybe 4)
Windows Vista *requires* from the start: 15 GB
Talk about bloat- EtherGnat, on 05/01/2008, -6/+215GB is about $2 worth of hard drive space. While you might be on to something, you'll have to do more than just quote disc space requirements to prove it.
- EtherGnat, on 05/01/2008, -3/+1Why am I being dugg down? SystemError states the size on disc as though it proves bloat. There are a number of things that can lead to an operating system taking up a significant amount of disc space. While I might agree that bloated code is at least part of Vista's problem, it doesn't change the fact SystemError made a very poor argument.
- Jeffler, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2Its an obvious argument. Over 10x more than XP? Its bloated.
- EtherGnat, on 05/01/2008, -6/+215GB is about $2 worth of hard drive space. While you might be on to something, you'll have to do more than just quote disc space requirements to prove it.
- SystemError51, on 05/01/2008, -2/+7Mac OS X Leopard on average on the drive: ~ 3 GB (okay, maybe 4)
- clak, on 05/01/2008, -12/+7Yes, I agree, Adobe's interfaces suck. Compare Premiere's layout with Final Cut Pro. Extremely freaking complicated to the fourth dimension. Microsoft, I cry for you.
- fatas, on 05/01/2008, -4/+11Now Microsoft products will have the added goodness of bloatware that accompanies Adobe products.
- misconstrued, on 05/01/2008, -8/+3Will this guy help Microsoft create something truly innovative? Eh... doubt it...
- NSResponder, on 05/01/2008, -5/+6Microsoft's problem is managerial, so hiring Mark Hamburg will not help.
-jcr- KMartSheriff, on 05/01/2008, -2/+5I'm digging down every comment I see of yours until you stop signing them.
- EtherGnat, on 05/01/2008, -2/+4Good luck. I've been doing so for months and it doesn't seem to persuade him.
- NSResponder, on 05/01/2008, -3/+1People don't have to obey you. Get used to it.
-jcr
- NSResponder, on 05/01/2008, -3/+1People don't have to obey you. Get used to it.
- NSResponder, on 05/01/2008, -5/+1How very infantile of you.
-jcr
- EtherGnat, on 05/01/2008, -2/+4Good luck. I've been doing so for months and it doesn't seem to persuade him.
- KMartSheriff, on 05/01/2008, -2/+5I'm digging down every comment I see of yours until you stop signing them.
- NSResponder, on 05/01/2008, -5/+6Microsoft's problem is managerial, so hiring Mark Hamburg will not help.
- gozroth, on 05/01/2008, -4/+2I, for one, am very interested in this. We'll have to see how this works out, though I'm still not sure how intrigued anyone can get about a new windows after the red headed stepchild that was vista
- archer75, on 05/01/2008, -4/+13Adobe products already have a ***** of an interface. I'm not sure this is a good thing.
- wisher86, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3I hope that he will show us something really new. The fact that he comes form adobe doesn't mean that the next windows will be a Photoshop clone!
- fuzzynyanko, on 05/01/2008, -4/+3I've used Flash CS3 and that piece of software is buggy, and freezes more than Windows 95 (not the current generation of Microsoft products thought. There has been good improvement). Hopefully this guy wasn't involved with making it.
- banik2008, on 05/01/2008, -1/+1RTFA for Christ's sake!
- bleutuna, on 05/01/2008, -2/+2....an INTERFACE has NOTHING to do with the bugginess of the application. And I've found CS3 to be pretty bug free, actually. And i use it on a daily basis.
- Prod_Deity, on 05/01/2008, -1/+3See OS X in it's pre-Panther days. Hell, some might include Panther with UI "buggy-ness".
- fuzzynyanko, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1The wrong UI code can cause weirdness with task switching and freeze on the WM_PAINT command if not handled correctly. Of course, it's hard to say if it was the WM_PAINT or some loop that didn't finish.
- henrik.falk, on 05/01/2008, -6/+6Could I get the Windows 98 interface back please?
- kingp, on 05/01/2008, -0/+7Sure. Right click your desktop. Choose Properties, go to Appearance, chose Windows Classic. Voila!
Oh wait that was sarcasm...my bad! :D- theaceoffire, on 05/01/2008, -4/+2Does that work on Vista, or only XP?
- rsmithrun, on 05/01/2008, -0/+4Both.
- jakem1, on 05/01/2008, -2/+4So after all the Vista bashing that you've been posting in this thread it turns out that you've never even used it.
- theaceoffire, on 05/01/2008, -2/+2I used it, I never messed with the GUI.
I knew it worked in XP because I had used that for like 3-4 years... I know that inside and out by now. Haven't had the same with Vista, no.
- theaceoffire, on 05/01/2008, -2/+2I used it, I never messed with the GUI.
- theaceoffire, on 05/01/2008, -4/+2Does that work on Vista, or only XP?
- KMartSheriff, on 05/01/2008, -5/+8Ugh. If you're a masochist for terrible looking UI's, go check out Linux.
- kingp, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2hey now, the Linux desktop actually looks pretty good on Mandriva, Fedora, and Kubuntu :)
Can't say much for Gentoo or any of the others...
- kingp, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2hey now, the Linux desktop actually looks pretty good on Mandriva, Fedora, and Kubuntu :)
- kingp, on 05/01/2008, -0/+7Sure. Right click your desktop. Choose Properties, go to Appearance, chose Windows Classic. Voila!
- JYoungest1, on 05/01/2008, -1/+1At least we know they are trying
- LargeTrout, on 05/01/2008, -0/+13I find it really hard to understand how Microsoft, the huge company that it is, doesn't have anyone in-house who can design decent interfaces. They must be seriously doubting their own abilities if they feel the need to look further outside their own company for an interface designer. Vista must have really drained morale at Microsoft.
- fuzzynyanko, on 05/01/2008, -2/+5Actually, a lot of companies do what Microsoft just did. They want to update their UI, so they try to get a dude who did magic on Photoshop. Apple does this with products like the iPod and there integrated media editing.
- halfgook, on 05/01/2008, -1/+3uh, apple did the same with osx.
- solid12345, on 05/01/2008, -2/+2Maybe because the cream of the crop designers generally remain independent or run their own company instead of taking a permanent in-house job?
- bleutuna, on 05/01/2008, -1/+6Here's why: THEY ARE A HUGE COMPANY.
The guy who is in charge of UI is probably damn good. He probably knows what he's doing. But because he's a "Microsoft Employee," he's overruled by middle-managers who don't agree with him and think they know better. That's how it works in every company.
So Microsoft hires the expert from Adobe, who they will give far more weight and credence to. This guy will be able to make changes, because he's perceived as an expert. MS UI guy may be a genius, but because he's just another employee, he's probably marginalized and committee-thinked to death on most things. - EtherGnat, on 05/01/2008, -1/+4I thought the Office 2007 ribbon was one of the most innovative things I've seen in interface design in years.
- jakem1, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1The other thing is to remember that it's probably not a good idea to make radical changes to a UI that's used by millions and millions of people with different levels of expertise. Simple gradual changes are much better or else you'll piss off too many people. Microsoft's UI isn't that bad. It gets the job done and is reasonably intuitive so that a user that is familiar with one program can generally use another one without too much training. Flashiness is not everything.
- jabelar, on 05/01/2008, -0/+0Yeah, this is the biggest problem. It is annoying to users when they just do some little change like changing "Network Neighborhood" to "My Network Places" -- it causes immense confusion, and rewriting of training and documentation for users. Unfortunately they are largely stuck with staying the same. If I were them I'd keep the XP interface and just improve reliability and performance.
- Atomic1fire, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Then why dont they slowly move into a better ui
Create a better operating system and leave XP as an simple system
Just slowly change the existing Xp ui with updates into a lookalike of the other system and get people to switch
- Atomic1fire, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Then why dont they slowly move into a better ui
- jabelar, on 05/01/2008, -0/+0Yeah, this is the biggest problem. It is annoying to users when they just do some little change like changing "Network Neighborhood" to "My Network Places" -- it causes immense confusion, and rewriting of training and documentation for users. Unfortunately they are largely stuck with staying the same. If I were them I'd keep the XP interface and just improve reliability and performance.
- joshualamgroup, on 05/01/2008, -1/+5Guys, the Adobe guru didn't work on the Photoshop UI fo that long, he moved on to the Adobe Lightroom project, which in case you haven't seen it, is completely unlike the Photoshop UI. It's Simple, Easy to Use, Uncluttered, Elegant and lastly, Beautiful. If you think Lightroom is like Photoshop, I think you should check out the UI by downloading the trial for yourself.
- luchid, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Yeah they just ripped that from Aperture, which had a full version released earlier than the first Lightroom Beta.
- foomandoonian, on 05/01/2008, -2/+3Most of you seem to be missing a key point here: Photoshop may have an unwieldy UI, but Lightroom has some innovative approaches, and Windows could benefit from this kind of thinking. I doubt MS would be able to implement anything truly revolutionary though, whether they wanted too or not.
- jakem1, on 05/01/2008, -1/+1Like Office 2007?
- TJATL, on 05/01/2008, -9/+2So, to sum it all up, this dude is going to have a Mac sitting right next to him and "copy/paste" right?
- gdehms, on 05/01/2008, -1/+2Probably not.
- jakem1, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1I hope not.
- RoboDonut, on 05/01/2008, -5/+6Why doesn't Microsoft stop obsessing over their UI and work on things that are actually important?
- bleutuna, on 05/01/2008, -5/+4Like what? The OS is solid. Has been for years.
- usingpond, on 05/01/2008, -1/+3Given their current interface, it's pretty clear they haven't been "obsessing." What have they actually been working on? That's a good question.
- deathguppie, on 05/01/2008, -2/+1anyone who has used both lightroom on windows and digikam on linux knows how freaking difficult and painful the lightroom interface is.
If MS is looking for ease of use, they just to a wrong turn.- bleutuna, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1I've used Lightroom since the beta. The interface is far from difficult.
Context sensitive informational panes and tools are where it's at!
- bleutuna, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1I've used Lightroom since the beta. The interface is far from difficult.
- tizzleG, on 05/01/2008, -1/+1Dayman! Fighter of the Nightman! Champion of the sun, you're a master of karate and friendship for everyone!
- solid12345, on 05/01/2008, -2/+4Memo to Microsoft and new Adobe guy: just license the goddamn Helvetica typeface and erase that bootleg knockoff "Arial" font once and for all.
- employeeno5, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3Well, that wouldn't get me using Windows over LInux but I agree whole heartedly that Arial is no substitute for Helvetica in any context.
- jakem1, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3Microsoft are moving away from Arial. Both Vista and Office 2007 use new fonts by default.
- bowe, on 05/01/2008, -0/+2And they are nice too! Calibri(sans) and Cambria(serif) are the new default fonts. I have firefox setup to force Calibri on all sites. It makes the internet look a lot better.
- HappyScrappy, on 05/01/2008, -3/+1What a ridiculous ego stroke piece.
*****, now MS has a guy who likes to give products "personality". I feel the Earth trembling. - bleutuna, on 05/01/2008, -1/+12Okay...so...this really should go without saying, but...
THE INTERFACE OF A SOFTWARE IS NOT RELATED TO IT BEING BUGGY, CRASHING, or BLOATED!
Can you guys give *any* decent comments? Seriously? This is actually a very good thing, and means that Windows7 won't be 'flashy' but cleaner, simpler, and hopefully more useful.
Have any of you even *used* the interface for Lightroom? It's sexy, sleek, and nice. The first time I opened it, I went, 'whoa....'
Definitely not Photoshop or Flash. If you have problems with the way those programs WORK, then that's a different subject. I have problems as well, especially how Flash hasn't been really updated or changed since version 3 (there's STILL no OUT state for buttons. WTF??).
But as far as interfaces go? This is exciting. The article even states that Adobe's been resistant to making changes to the way Photoshop functions. So the changes have been minor, but if you've used photoshop for awhile, you realize what a difference this guy's made in the interface. Major improvement.- mrgulabull, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1You shouldnt be using buttons in flash... especially if you've been using flash since version 3. Learn actionscript and use movieclips.
- originaldna, on 05/01/2008, -1/+0Don't mind them, this is great news, most people don't know why a product feels and works good, that's up to the designers, most people on digg are probbly the ones that think bevels on everything is kool. or programmers
- zephc, on 05/01/2008, -2/+1The Explorer (explorer.exe) settings window (Tools > Options) is a perfect example of some terrible UI design out from MS. A billion options shaved into a tiny, non-resizable window. It's that sort of lack of attention to good UI that has to change with Microsoft.
- Jmn187, on 05/01/2008, -5/+3Just buy a Mac or Roll with Linux? Microsoft has always blown. And Adobe has photoshop an illustrator to keep them afloat. The only thing that will come of this is more BLOATWARE.
- wdunay3, on 05/01/2008, -3/+2Putting a pretty UI into Windows is not going to fix the glaring problems that Windows has under the hood. You can spray Fabreez on *****, but it's still ***** none the less...
- jjustice, on 05/01/2008, -0/+3I want a Windows interface that looks like Kai's Power Tools ;-)
- usingpond, on 05/01/2008, -4/+1Okay so can we now be on the same page that Windows has an awful UI?
- hasslinthehoff, on 05/01/2008, -2/+2That's great, but they really need to strip down Windows and reduce the bloat, otherwise this guy is just polishing a turd.
- zaphodakaphil, on 05/01/2008, -4/+0OMG not again!!! Lightroom apparently was designed on a Mac and ported to Windows. Is that innovation???
- originaldna, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1This awesome!!, as a designer on windows i welcome this ...I've been a fan of windows since 3.1 till now, but the interface is always a couple steps behind the mac, so may time I got picked on b/c of the way windows looked, thank god for the skinning community, I've used styles xp, stardock windowblinds, and a couple more apps to make windows look some what nice.
I think this move will bring back a lot of windows users, this as well as when and if they get all the bugs cleared up on vista vista- WiseWeasel, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1They won't be bringing back users until they stop inconveniencing them with product activation, Windows Genuine (dis)Advantage, stupid security dialogs that annoy the user and don't actually provide any security (malware can easily get around it), blatant disregard for industry standards such as web standards in their default browser, common file formats that must always be obsoleted every few years, common standard media formats, etc., etc. Microsoft clearly gives priority to figuring out how to trap their users into giving them more of their money instead of empowering them to accomplish their computing goals as easily and efficiently as possible. As soon as you lose sight of the value of your product to your users, and focus mainly on the value of your product to your future profitability, you know you're on a downward slope.
- pdxnick, on 05/01/2008, -2/+0take that Microsoft!
- Comms, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1the interface isn't the problem.
- zaphodakaphil, on 05/02/2008, -0/+0I completely agree... That's where Apple got smart and made older apps run in some kind of VM. Basic MS-DOS functionality can be done in days...
- mlerner, on 05/01/2008, -1/+1Great so it'll take 2 GB instead of 1 just to boot up?
- NerveBand, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1I have to say, the fluidity provided by Lightroom is quite exceptional. Great work flow.
- samuelcotterall, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1I spend half my life in Creative Suite but I still think the UI is a bit wank.
It, like Windows, is riddled with legacy interface elements that Adobe are too scared to remove in case it upsets those of us who are familiar with it - and I think both UI's need a thorough redesign. - zaphodakaphil, on 05/02/2008, -0/+0GUI's and Operating Systems must be like sports cars.. Sleek, Fast, and simple but powerful.
- DestroyFascism, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Like Gnome, KDE, etc
- al11588, on 05/02/2008, -0/+0Dugg down since Linux is the worst OS. Microsoft-FTW
- DestroyFascism, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Like Gnome, KDE, etc
- alwaysmc2, on 05/02/2008, -0/+2Hasn't anyone ever heard of WPF?
- jbschusty, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Any redesign would be an improvement...
- DestroyFascism, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Dream Job. Billion dollar company needs a new GUI polish.........
Makes a change in the code, now supports Jpg and html markup, ahhhh.....
That'll be 1.8 mill ta.... - CCmachined, on 05/02/2008, -0/+1Adobe? you mean the same guys that built the #1 interactive web content API on _ONLY_ cpu rendering?
no. just NO. keep them away. - YodaJones, on 05/07/2008, -0/+1Unfortunately this all misses the point. You can put as many pretty faces on Vista as you want, it's the underlying code, like the kernel, that are broken. Doesn't anybody get that?
- unrealmp3, on 05/07/2008, -0/+3At least it's not a GIMP UI developer.
- np365, on 05/14/2008, -0/+0I would like to say that for me - as a developer - Vista is a good OS, because when you say that you don't see any improvements over XP except the UI your right. you don't see them, but apps developed for vista do. Like for example the WPA, the transactional file system, IIS7, DX10, the memory caching system, all the security mechanisms, so please stop ***** about the superiority of XP over Vista, if i'd go further with your lane... I'd say that win95 is even better than xp. because it outperformers it.
Browsing Digg on your phone just got easier with our enhancements to the