Remember the articles that were flooding the internet a few weeks back about how Microsoft used Mac OSX as a template for their UI in Windows 7? Well, depending on what source, this was found to be a complete fabrication by a member of Microsoft that had nothing to do with developing the new OS. Needless to say, it made Mac fans around the world giddy with Microsoft jealousy and PC users feeling kind of betrayed that their OS might have been shaped to fit a Mac-mold. In the end, Microsoft vehemently denied that they used the Apple OS as a mold and I imagine that the Microsoft employee is probably designing packaging labels somewhere in Antarctica, if he is still employed by Microsoft Corp. Personally, I wanted to get to the bottom of the conspiracy and find out what really happened with the development of Windows 7. Why did they change the taskbar to the Superbar? Why did they make almost everything “one-click away”? Did Windows 7 really takes its cue from another operating system?

I began my search looking for articles and news dated after this whole fiasco, then realized that I needed to dig deeper and find out what caused Microsoft to change the way Windows worked. What I found out was simple. Microsoft knew that, while Vista was still profitable and while Vista had many great innovations and ideas, the OS had become too complicated and too much of a labyrinth for the average PC user. This was obvious and well-known and needed to change.

The Story of Windows 7 goes way back, but the transformation of Windows 7 starts with one specific person, Julie Larson-Green. In case you have never heard of her before, she is the reason that Office 2007 was so successful. Her brainchild was the Office 2007 Ribbon interface, which simplified and brought to the forefront, tasks which most users did not know existed in Office applications. We can now find that basic interface in Windows 7 applications like Paint and WordPad. Ms. Larson-Green’s major, sweeping idea was simply to listen to the users, find out what they want, figure out what makes things simpler for them and then implement it in the software. She figured out how to take a powerful application with many features and create a system that made it simpler to use. There are those who dislike the ribbon interface and I am one of them, but I realize that it’s not the ribbon interface that changed the way Windows works, but rather redoing the mindset of those creating Windows to emulate the users of Windows and that was her major contribution.

The success of Office 2007 led to Microsoft and Steve Sinofsky reassigning Ms. Larson-Green to help them with their “Vista problem”. Microsoft started monitoring average PC users, with their knowledge and began to find out what users use, how they use it and how to make it easier to find and use it. Windows had become a behemoth, mountain of code that was becoming lighter and easier to use. What we have now is Windows 7. Largely being praised for its features, new look, ease of use and compatibility. Windows 7 may have taken an idea or two from Mac software, but let’s be honest and say that Mac has taken its fair share of ideas from Windows over the years (Finder Sidebar: Windows Navigation pane, The Mac Path bar: Windows Address bar, Screen Sharing: Remote Desktop Connection, Time Machine: Backup and Restore, Command-Tab: Alt-Tab…the list goes on and on). That’s what happens in this market. It’s a copy-cat industry, with each company applying its own twists and features until we have the great operating systems that we now have.

Did Microsoft Windows 7 copy Mac OSX? In a few small ways it did, but the larger problem with Vista came from ignoring the users and people who actually use the software and Larson-Green helped Microsoft find their way back to what put them on top.

Things looked pretty bleak for Microsoft after Vista, but the story of Windows continues on with Windows 7 gaining market share quicker than any operating system in history. As we speak, Windows 7 is around 5% and quickly rising. Julie Larson-Green is now being tapped to help with Windows 8 and you can either blame or praise Office 2007 for that.

You Can Blame or Praise Office 2007 for Windows 7 was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

Microsoft introduced some fundamental design changes in the Windows 7 presentation today. This article will take a closer look at what Microsoft has shown. One of the most talked new features is the new Windows 7 Taskbar. We already talked about the increase in size but Microsoft has revealed some interesting information about the taskbar today. If you look at a picture of the Windows 7 Taskbar you notice that it is displaying icons and no names which is a different approach than before. Each icon still represents an application, file or folder that has been opened. It is possible to change the order of each icon in the taskbar which was one of the most requested features for it. It is even possible to pin applications at a certain position in the taskbar so that they will always be available in the same spot.

The screenshot above is a closeup of the Windows 7 Taskbar as it is implemented in the latest build. Previews of each item of the taskbar are now available by simply hoovering over one. Even more interesting is the ability to display not only the current active window of the application but also other open tabs of it. An Internet Explorer preview would for instance display the open tabs of the browser while a Word preview all open documents. It is likely that there will be a maximum of preview windows that can be displayed at a time. The user can load a window or application by simply moving the mouse over the preview icon. It should be noted that it is now possible to place programs permanently into the Windows Taskbar which was was only possible in the Quick Launch area in previous Windows versions. Open applications and folders are visualized by a border which makes it easy to distinguish between open and closed programs. Multiple open windows will be visualized by icon stacks. The size of the taskbar icons can be altered to provide space for more icons or less but bigger ones.

A right-click on an icon in the Windows 7 Taskbar will open so called Jump Lists. This is another interesting new feature. Jump Lists provide access to the last used files, documents or website history. It can also contain the most common tasks like playing all music tracks or resuming a playlist. A user could use it to open an Excel spreadsheet that he opened previously to continue working on it.

The Windows 7 System Tray has been redesigned as well. A design focus was to design it in a way that it would add less interruption to the user’s workflow. After installation only four icons are displayed in the Windows 7 System Tray: Volume, Power, Network and Action Center. Icons of applications that install a system tray icon will be hidden by default and notifications suppressed which obviously can be changed in the options. Hidden meaning that they can be accessed from the Caret. A right-click provides access to the Customize Notification Icons panel. The user can change the status of any icon in the system tray in the options there.

Date and time can still be configured after the users liking. Versions with both the time and date in two rows and only the time are possible. The far right contains a new feature called Peek. If the user moves the mouse over that panel all open windows become transparent making the desktop shine through. A click on it will show the desktop. Aero Peek comes also in effect when hoovering the mouse over preview windows of the Windows 7 Taskbar. If the user moves the mouse over a preview window all other open windows will turn to glass which means that only the window the user is looking at will come to his attention.

Microsoft added options to customize the Windows Taskbar. Users will be able to change the color of the Windows Taskbar and the transparency levels of the taskbar and the preview windows.

A Close Look At The New Windows 7 Taskbar was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.

No one is allowed to talk about the changes of the Windows 7 M3 client that will be presented tomorrow by Microsoft. The German magazine WinFuture got hold of two rather blurred images of the new interface which give a first impression of the changes in that version. The screenshots seem to confirm that the Windows 7 taskbar will be about 1.5 times the size of the Windows Vista taskbar. The program icons on the taskbar will be a bit larger and the date and time will be shown together in two rows.

The magazine mentioned that the desktop is shining through the maximized program windows and that the taskbar looked partially transparent as well. Just follow the link to the page where the two screenshots have been posted. A click will load them in full resolution. Thanks 7fan (Windows 7 News commenter) for letting us now.

Windows 7 M3 First Screenshots Appear was posted on Everything Microsoft - Latest Microsoft News, Guides, Reviews & Themes. If you are not reading this content in an email newsletter, it is being used without permission.