37 Brand New Windows 7 M3 Screenshots | The Coffeehouse

Andre Da Costa
Created with PhotoDraw 2000 V2

From THINKNEXT via Mary Jo Foley All About Microsoft

Here are a couple videos

And here is my preview post about it all.

kettch

The calculator alone is worth the price of admission. Big Smile

tfraser

It looks good in general, especially the calculator. One thing I'm not so sure about is why WordPad has been endowed with the Ribbon interface. It seems a bit excessive when there is only one tab and it's not even completely filled. Having said that, at least it looks nicer than the old toolbar stack.

matthews

Yay, it comes with PowerShell!

Andre Da Costa
Created with PhotoDraw 2000 V2

In reply to tfraser

#Sep 20th, 2008 @ 6:09 PM

Agreed! Word and other Office had 1500 commands, features that were hidden and needed to be exposed.

CannotResolveSymbol
{insert caption here}

In reply to tfraser

#Sep 20th, 2008 @ 6:09 PM

WordPad is actually an MFC sample app (the source code ships as an example in Visual Studio). The latest version of MFC (the one that came along with the TR1 additions for C++) comes with a version of Wordpad that uses the ribbon; maybe this means that the new UI components (ribbon and such) are going to be available for third parties to use, too.

Yggdrasil
Pour me a cab, 'cause I can't drink no more.

In reply to CannotResolveSymbol

#Sep 20th, 2008 @ 11:07 PM

A while ago there was a video here with a developer from the C++ team about new additions to MFC in VS2008. One of the new bits was a Ribbon control available to all MFC applications. Also mentioned in the VC++ Blog. I think we will start seeing more Ribbon apps in the future.

Dovella
Go Microsoft !!!!!!!

In reply to CannotResolveSymbol

#Sep 20th, 2008 @ 11:07 PM

@CannotResolveSymbol

you work in WIndows 7 team?

stevo_
Human after all

Making the windows orb glow properly seems so obvious now..

ManipUni
Proving QQ for 5 years!

So instead of keeping Paint an easy to use application they're moving it closer to Photoshop?

Who benefits from this? The people who can use Photoshop will use photoshop. The people who can't won't be able to use either. Seems like a bad design decision if you ask me.

The new version looks absolutely awful. Almost as bad a Gimp.

Dovella
Go Microsoft !!!!!!!

In reply to ManipUni

#Sep 21st, 2008 @ 5:54 AM

you have try Paint.net?

wkempf

In reply to ManipUni

#Sep 21st, 2008 @ 5:54 AM

Because paint, as it is today, is useful or used by anyone? Really?

Paint is a toy. It doesn't do ANYTHING that users really want to do. Most people don't need an application as big and complex as Photoshop. But NO ONE needs an application with the limited features of Paint. I'm assuming the new Paint will have a sane set of features, which means it will have a lot more than Paint, and a lot less than Photoshop.

ManipUni
Proving QQ for 5 years!

In reply to wkempf

#Sep 21st, 2008 @ 6:52 AM

Yes.

And it is perhaps the most popular image editing software in the world.

Yggdrasil
Pour me a cab, 'cause I can't drink no more.

In reply to wkempf

#Sep 21st, 2008 @ 6:52 AM

Paint is very useful, to me. I use it mostly to crop and mark screenshots, and it does it very well. I have Paint.net, but the 3-4 second startup time makes it totally annoying to use. Simple tasks call for simple tools. Simple and FAST tools. I hope that doesn't change.

Dovella
Go Microsoft !!!!!!!

In reply to Yggdrasil

#Sep 21st, 2008 @ 7:07 AM

paint.net start up??

1 max 1,5 sec to start up

Photoshop in my PC start up in 3 sec.

what is your hardware?

matthews

In reply to Yggdrasil

#Sep 21st, 2008 @ 7:07 AM

For cropping screenshots, wouldn't it be easiest to just use the Snipping Tool? Or for an already made screenshot, the cropping tools in Windows Photo Gallery?

stevo_
Human after all

Most people would agree that paint is a pretty useless tool in Windows, it certainly should be updated to be more useful. Theres no reason the app has to stay in the 90s..

People actually used to pirate photoshop because they wanted acceptable support for image basics like cropping and resizing, as well as optimization of output images. Theres lots of free software now like paint.net that just make paint completely irrelevent.

Dovella
Go Microsoft !!!!!!!

i wait PDC

I do not accept photos to a blog without any explanation from the creators.

microsoft should immediately censor this blog! these people are not reported?

brian.shapiro
things go on as always

In reply to matthews

#Sep 21st, 2008 @ 8:16 AM

I'm sure he also marks the screenshots with things like outlines and text. I also use paint that way, and for making mockups, and quick diagrams, and for doodling.

Paint could be made infinitely more useful by just bringing its features up to par with those in basic icon editors and adding some simple things like: a better color swatch with management features and alpha-blending, a few graphical filters, gradients, and controlling line length. That should be enough , really.

Yggdrasil
Pour me a cab, 'cause I can't drink no more.

In reply to matthews

#Sep 21st, 2008 @ 8:16 AM

As brian.shapiro said, Paint is better than most snipping tools for several reasons:

1) I can add a bit of text or a red circle to highlight.

2) It's very fast.

3) It's always there, on every computer. Even on a server where I need to take a quick screenshot of a crash dialog.

4) I know how to use it in my sleep. No need to learn a new tool.

brian.shapiro
things go on as always

In reply to Yggdrasil

#Sep 21st, 2008 @ 9:22 AM

Oh and one more think I'd like to have in Paint: the ability to control the quality of saved JPEGs, it ends up I there are things I do in Paint but I want to put them on the web, and in order to save them with good quality I have to paste them in Photoshop.

brian.shapiro
things go on as always

In reply to brian.shapiro

#Sep 21st, 2008 @ 9:43 AM

And actually my ideal utility application is a cross between Paint and a sprite editor, like Image Composer. You would have something like layers, but they wouldn't have to be the full canvas size like a layer is, and instead, be draggable and resizable like sprites are. You would be able to set things up so that any new drawing would be created as one of these 'slices', or be added to an existing slice. And of course, the slices would be able to be merged or flattened into the image background.

Not that I expect Microsoft to do anything like this, but when I was doing web design or interface design, I would basically be moving back and forth between Paint and Image Composer, and using Photoshop very minimally.

magicalclick

In reply to brian.shapiro

#Sep 21st, 2008 @ 10:06 AM

I don't need PhotoShop, Paint .Net is exactly what I needed. Paint on the other hand is garbage. The features are too limited and I have to CALCULATE to resize image, that's absurd. I don't see anyone would use Paint at all.

ManipUni
Proving QQ for 5 years!

In reply to stevo_

#Sep 21st, 2008 @ 8:54 AM

Paint can do everything you listed...

I often use it to crop, resize, or rotate.

harumscarum
out of memory

Anytime I need a user to capture a screenshot the majority of time they use Paint. For this single reason I find Paint extremely useful. I also like Paint the way it is now, simple, and minimal features. Paint is not intended to be professional imaged editing tool.

If MS does bulk up Paint it could be perceived as anti competitive practices.