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Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

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Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#221
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LCIDs in the URI remove ambiguity about which language to serve (do you use Accept-Language? Or IP sniffing? Or user prefs in cookies?), they remove ambiguity about which storefront to show for a market and - most importantly - they make alternate language/markets indexable by search engines because each has a distinct URI. Why are Apple, IBM, Amazon, Google doing it if it's such a terrible design? http://www.ibm.com…

Accept-Language is clearly the correct solution. It's easy to set in browsers (at least it is in Opera, if it's not in some other browser then I contend that's a UI bug), and OEMs should set it to a sane default for the region in which the browser is distributed. The indexability is an interesting argument, but my response is that there should be a standard mechanism to query, via HTTP OPTIONS, in which languages a r…

What would you propose when, as translations have to be done manually, the available content for different pages is out of sync?

For example, maybe that latest product announcement hasn't been translated to French yet. If I send a product list URL to my french-speaking buddy, should the product disappear from the product list?

Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#222
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The web came to Microsoft after the IPO. At the time, there were a lot employees with "fuck you money" and the web was still the wild west not a corporate branding commodity. Thus Microsoft's approach has been generally hands off and the first priority has always been to get information out on the web. The idea of a monolithic website like Apple's or Google's just doesn't apply. It's not part of Microsoft's DNA. Comp…

Consistently bad.

Well... They try to get to a new simplicity. I agree that they fail at making it great, but you´ve got to give them some love for trying.

Metro is actually innovative, yet not ideal for desktop PCs. And it´s just the same with the new Logo: Strict simplicity (which makes Apple great), but not thought through in a way.

To me it feels like there´s a gatekeeper at the top missing asking the tough questions before the product is out of the door. The one that asks: "But does it really make sense and how can we do better" when the managers self-congratulate themselves on the bold moves.

Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#224
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Accept-Language is clearly the correct solution. It's easy to set in browsers (at least it is in Opera, if it's not in some other browser then I contend that's a UI bug), and OEMs should set it to a sane default for the region in which the browser is distributed. The indexability is an interesting argument, but my response is that there should be a standard mechanism to query, via HTTP OPTIONS, in which languages a r…

Unfortunately Accept-Language simply doesn't work - if you talk to engineers at Google they'll tell you that they've done the research and an enormous number of browsers have the incorrect setting and hence send an inappropriate header.

How often is an accept-language that isn't set to English wrong?

Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#225
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft isn't changing their brand, they're updating their brand. It's something virtually every company does from time to time, and it's not a sign of the apocalypse. Microsoft isn't escaping any of their past with this change, they're still very recognizable as the same company as before. Your assumptions about the reason for updating a brand are even wronger in the case of Twitter. They didn't update their brand…

> Microsoft isn't changing their brand, they're updating their brand. Semantics. > it's not a sign of the apocalypse. I'm sorry if I implied it's a sign of the apocalypse. I didn't mean it that way. The point is Microsoft has suffered greatly due to the massive success of Apple. This is no news to anyone. They're not going to die anytime soon, but they have a MASSIVE threat. The Wire's portrayal of the character's br…

Google changed their favicon a week and a half ago. That's about as visible as the main logo.

Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#226

I... don't hate it. What's wrong with me? It's bold, it's fresh, it does a pretty damn good job of shrugging off the Microsoft of the past 25 years.

I don't like it. I like mimimalism but this clean minimal look that's virtually everywhere (as people try to outdo each other in simplicity) is just a fashion. You know already that there is going to be a backlash against this as there always has been in the past (how long did the Bauhaus last?) and then this will be outdated. Also the primary colours are a bit sixties'ish and shortly will look just as dated as anyth…

If it was minimalism for the sake of minimalism, then maybe. But, minimalism in the case of Windows Phone and 8 serves the purpose of bringing content forward. So, I think it will have lasting appeal.

Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#227

I still don't get why Microsoft is pushing Metro SO HARD to bet everything on it when nobody really likes it that much. Zune (where I saw it for the first time) failed in the market. Windows Mobile (that has the Metro theme) failed in the market. Now I don't know XBox (at all) and its GUI, but its success happened long before Metro was created. People don't seem to like it in the new Windows preview all that much, ei…

Similarly the Ribbon. The Ribbon was supposed to make Office easier to use. It was so incomprehensible (not to mention annoying and wasteful of screen real estate), Microsoft created a GAME to explain to users how to use the Ribbon. (How bad a UI fail is that?) Still no-one likes it, so they shoehorn it into more places. I think Microsoft gets that Apple doesn't allow itself to be driven by focus groups, but instead…

Microsoft created a GAME to explain to users how to use the Ribbon

Haha man what losers. That'd be like using solitaire and minesweeper to teach the mouse.

Re: Microsoft gets a new logo for the first time since 1987

#229
post #44

For me... personally, the logo doesn't work. I am slightly colour blind. The logo in the article I see just fine, and all of the squares are the same size. And I get it... Metro theme. The favicon.ico and small logo on Microsoft.com Those don't fair as well. The red and yellow squares are much larger than the green and blue, and my eyes see a throbbing line around the bottom and left of the red box, and a black line…

Aren't the "popping squares" related to subpixel ordering? You could try on a different monitor.

I have 2 computers here, both with very good monitors and both displaying the same effect:

1 x NEC MultiSync PA271W monitor

1 x Thinkpad X220 with IPS panel

Perhaps it is a result of the IPS panels in both? The NEC is a high-end monitor though and even with a cheaper IPS panel in the laptop I wouldn't expect to see any flaw that is the result of the monitor in the NEC.

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