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Windows 10 wallpaper was physically built and photographed (2015)

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11–20 of 291 posts

Re: Windows 10 wallpaper was physically built and photographed (2015)

#11
post #9
post #8

The technical ingenuity is impressive. I personally find this visual quite cold and soulless, compared to previous Windows wallpapers, mostly XP's of course. For me this also coincided with Windows becoming completely useless and my moving to a Mac.

There was definitely a kind of warm, optimistic vibe that came with the Windows XP wallpaper. The whole UI language of the OS was similar too, with bubbly blues and greens everywhere. I suppose it captured a kind of positive cultural attitude towards computing.

I suppose it captured a kind of positive cultural attitude towards computing.

It was a time when MS was about giving users tools to do whatever they want, and not trying to coerce them down a path to be milked for $$$.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34021851

Re: Windows 10 wallpaper was physically built and photographed (2015)

#12
post #8

The technical ingenuity is impressive. I personally find this visual quite cold and soulless, compared to previous Windows wallpapers, mostly XP's of course. For me this also coincided with Windows becoming completely useless and my moving to a Mac.

Really? W10 is the best just after W7.

Re: Windows 10 wallpaper was physically built and photographed (2015)

#13
I remember the good old days when I would spend so much time choosing the right wallpapers for my PC and phone. Nowadays, the wallpaper is completely hidden from me because I am constantly switching between apps on macOS thanks to my Raycast custom keyboard shortcuts and I never see whatever picture I set...

It's a weird feeling. Kinda like letting go of the desktop-oriented computer in favor of window-manager-oriented. There's beauty in the former, and simplicity and elegance in the latter.

Re: Windows 10 wallpaper was physically built and photographed (2015)

#14
post #10
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was definitely a kind of warm, optimistic vibe that came with the Windows XP wallpaper. The whole UI language of the OS was similar too, with bubbly blues and greens everywhere. I suppose it captured a kind of positive cultural attitude towards computing.

I think it was aimed at making the OS look less threatening and complicated to a new user. Then again, people did complain about it being a "Fisher-Price UI", so maybe this overwhelmingly positive perception is a result of people spending so much time with the OS and getting used to the way things were.

I do recall the Fisher-Price complaints. As I recall it mostly came from the Linux (or Linux-inclined) crowd. I never really understood the complaints, though it was common enough that I must have just been missing something. But really, I don't get whats wrong with a functional UI that's also friendly and inviting.

Re: Windows 10 wallpaper was physically built and photographed (2015)

#16
I don’t want to be a fanboy but the wallpaper is so soulless and industrial. I like how Apple always tries to bring nature to computing with wallpapers and screensavers.

For example

https://iso.500px.com/iphone-6-milky-way-wallpaper-interview...

Also the Ariel videos of nature and cities for Apple TV and Mac is another example.

Windows feels so corporate and boring tbh

Re: Windows 10 wallpaper was physically built and photographed (2015)

#17

I remember the good old days when I would spend so much time choosing the right wallpapers for my PC and phone. Nowadays, the wallpaper is completely hidden from me because I am constantly switching between apps on macOS thanks to my Raycast custom keyboard shortcuts and I never see whatever picture I set... It's a weird feeling. Kinda like letting go of the desktop-oriented computer in favor of window-manager-orient…

I use the Unsplash MacOS app to rotate it. https://unsplash.com/apps

Re: Windows 10 wallpaper was physically built and photographed (2015)

#18
post #8

The technical ingenuity is impressive. I personally find this visual quite cold and soulless, compared to previous Windows wallpapers, mostly XP's of course. For me this also coincided with Windows becoming completely useless and my moving to a Mac.

> I personally find this visual quite cold and soulless, compared to previous Windows wallpapers, mostly XP's of course. For me this also coincided with Windows becoming completely useless and my moving to a Mac.

Honestly, I kind of feel that's the contemporary style. My employer recently moved to a new office building, and feel exactly that way every time I have to go there.

It doesn't help that it's 100% hoteled seating, so there's no "lived in" vibe to counter the sterility.

Re: Windows 10 wallpaper was physically built and photographed (2015)

#20
post #8

The technical ingenuity is impressive. I personally find this visual quite cold and soulless, compared to previous Windows wallpapers, mostly XP's of course. For me this also coincided with Windows becoming completely useless and my moving to a Mac.

I feel the other way around.

Windows 10 with WSL, Power Toys and many other things sold me on windows for development.

I still use a MacBook on the move, but if I work from home I would never swap to OSX.

Way too many things annoy me: the filesystem, the file explorer, poor windows and multi monitor handling (to this date OSX sucks with 3 monitors and switches the output randomly when coming back from sleep/rebooting), the consistent issues with unlocking cameras/microphones, somewhat questionable support of non-Apple accessories (Bluetooth headset is an example), Docker support and there's some more.

Win11 with Ubuntu22 on WSL2 is all I need.

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