Why Microsoft can't replace all the icons in Windows

http://www.istartedsomething.com/20060903/microsoft-4562/

In conclusion, it is simply not possible at this point to make sure every Windows icon is redesigned to the ‘Aero standard’ of photo-realistic high-resolution illustrations. The people to blame are Microsoft, for building such a monolithic and pro-legacy operating system, and also most third party hardware vendors, for not having the slightest clue about designing modern interfaces. We’re just going to have to live with it.

haha good one ... also true.

A yes, I see the "it's good enough for your average Jill" policy is alive and well at Microsoft. Way to go MS. Remind me, how many billions upon billions of dollars do you have in the bank?

A question. Why do Microsoft design their icons for children? Big bright primary colours are all well and good when designing for three year olds, or perhaps for sanitary towel ads, but not when targeting a broad adult audience.

Say hello to Legoland at...

http://www.rw-designer.com/browse-beta2-icons

I suppose Microsoft will not replace all of the icons because it would cost a lot of money to do so, and that would bring up the price of Windows Vista even more. The point of what longzheng quoted is interesting, I would be inclined to agree that a lot of third-party companies will fail to make their icons fit in with the style of Windows Vista, and many will "recycle" old icons for use in newer versions of their application.

Angus Higgins

Long Zheng, you've got a nice blog. Subscribed!

TommyCarlier wrote:

Long Zheng, you've got a nice blog. Subscribed!

Thanks

Love your blog long time

Post removed at user's request.

BobTurbo wrote:



I don't see any icons, just a blank rectangle with the word Zoomify.

same here ...

Zeus wrote:



BobTurbo wrote: I don't see any icons, just a blank rectangle with the word Zoomify.

same here ...

Try to force a non-cached refresh (CTRL+F5).
Internet Explorer 7 has issues loading it I think.

Why? Just because they are too lazy busy!


XPize forever!

Good One! aha... china 

I'm curious to see if Jenny Lam will read this article.
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=161254

Yup, icons are definitely allot of work. I wish all the icons where vector objects (XAML) but obviously that would be huge undertaking much larger than what had to be done for Gnome.
I hope they don't stop someone from trying if they choose to do it on their own time.

dentaku wrote:

I'm curious to see if Jenny Lam will read this article.
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=161254

And Jenny, if you are reading this. Feel free to respond to my interview request from months ago.

blowdart wrote:



dentaku wrote: Yup, icons are definitely allot of work.

Really? 4+ years worth of work? It's not like Vista snuck up unawares.

It's the lack of attention to UI detail like this that allows Apple to walk all over MS when it comes to user experience.

Hear! Hear! Sometimes Microsoft comes over like a not very good small start up instead of the huge mega-corporation it actually is. I mean how difficult can it be to get a common look and feel across the system icons for an operating system that runs on most of the desktops all over the world?!

dentaku wrote:

I'm curious to see if Jenny Lam will read this article.
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=161254

Yup, icons are definitely allot of work. I wish all the icons where vector objects (XAML) but obviously that would be huge undertaking much larger than what had to be done for Gnome.

Indeed.

Good thing they're a massive corporation with billions in the bank and a phalynx of artists working for years...uh...right?

Design as a priority has to come from the top.  The hell with the excuse that "Oh! There's just so MANY!" - if the will is there from upper management, of course it can be done, especially in the timeframe of Vista development.  Apple's products look and feel the way they do because the company places a priority on it - Microsoft simply doesn't.