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Redesigning the Windows Logo

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Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo

#51
post #37

"Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?" I wonder how much they paid to listen to an expert ask that question when it was likely asked, and ignored, internally for years.

not really a flag... i guess they look at something like this for "window"

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs15/f/2007/113/9/d/Old_Window_by...

Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo

#53

I've never seen the original Windows 1.0 logo before (or maybe it's just been so long that I've forgotten), but I actually think that's far and away the best logo they've ever had.

Interestingly that logo accurately represents the way "Windows" worked in Windows 1.0. It didn't have overlapping windows. So the lines within the windows represent the dividers of the UI between the window areas. You could make one window bigger by moving a divider over, making all the windows on the other side of that divider smaller. There was no concept of windows being in front of or behind each other (like there was on the mac from the beginning. Microsoft obviously started on windows late compared to the mac, and was quite behind at the 1.0 release.)

Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo

#54

"By that, we mean it does not try to emulate faux-industrial design characteristics such as materiality (glass, wood, plastic, etc.)." Is "materiality" code for "skeumorphism"? Either way, it's a big middle finger to Apple.

Ever since Windows 3.1, I viewed the faux 3D window decorations as an insulting waste of my processing time. The Windows logo was merely an extrapolation of MS's attitude that "Now that we have such powerful computers, we can merrily waste all that power with this increasingly bloated but supposedly impressive OS." That attitude was not unique to them, at all. Apple has been equally guilty of it for longer than Micro…

Minwin didn't ship on its own, but was really an artifact of their efforts to make the components in the kernel less dependent on each other, while developing Windows Vista. I'm not sure how successful their efforts were, seeing as even "Server Core", supposedly the most minimal Windows Server edition possible, still mandates a GUI.

I recall reading an article which talked about the kernel team assigning level numbers to every kernel component, giving the GUI a high level processor scheduling and such a low level, and trying to reduce the dependency between the different levels. Minwin was merely a Windows kernel that has none of the higher level components, but the problem with it is that they didn't manage to completely modularize the kernel so that if you would add some new components they would require a slew of other components.

Still, they've managed to make Internet Explorer optional, but I'm not sure what other benefits the modularization of Windows Vista's kernel has brought.

Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo

#56
post #38

Paula asked us a simple question, “your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?” I have never really asked myself that question as a consumer. I have never felt "confused" that the logo is NOT a window. I have just generally liked Windows, the operating system, and have become fond of the brand after 15 years of use. This assumes that your logo MUST be a literal representation of your name. I'm curious to know why. With…

I think the question arose from the fact that the old logo looked like it was trying to be both a window and a flag at the same time. The reason for looking like a window was pretty obvious, but the reason for looking like a flag wasn't.

Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo

#57

I'm curious to see when/if they update the Windows key on laptops and keyboards.

I think they won't mind leaving it the way it is for some time. It could be used as a sort of a subconscious metaphor: keyboards/old logo is the thing of the past and touch screen/new logo is "the now".

Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo

#58
post #37

"Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?" I wonder how much they paid to listen to an expert ask that question when it was likely asked, and ignored, internally for years.

Politically, big companies often need outside experts to come in and tell them what many employees already know: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2012/01/why-so-much-consulting...

Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo

#59
post #53

I've never seen the original Windows 1.0 logo before (or maybe it's just been so long that I've forgotten), but I actually think that's far and away the best logo they've ever had.

Interestingly that logo accurately represents the way "Windows" worked in Windows 1.0. It didn't have overlapping windows. So the lines within the windows represent the dividers of the UI between the window areas. You could make one window bigger by moving a divider over, making all the windows on the other side of that divider smaller. There was no concept of windows being in front of or behind each other (like ther…

You speak about tiling window managers as if they were already an anachronism in 1985. Yet today, some of us continue to prefer them, and they remain in active development. What good is a window that's partially covered? I either want to completely see it or I want it to be completely hidden from view. The parlor trick of overlapping windows is useless to me.

Re: Redesigning the Windows Logo

#60
post #37

"Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?" I wonder how much they paid to listen to an expert ask that question when it was likely asked, and ignored, internally for years.

not really a flag... i guess they look at something like this for "window" http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs15/f/2007/113/9/d/Old_Window_by...

That window is not flapping in the wind like the Windows logo.
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