Here are a good many screenshots from the latest developer release of Longhorn.
Looks a lot like XP to me. I can’t say that I am crazy about the IE interface in some of the images, but it may be either unfinished or skinned by the person using the system.
With as much as they have had to take out of Longhorn to get it out in a reasonable amount of time, should they really still be calling it Longhorn? Maybe they should go with XP2 or give it the SE (Second Edition) treatment like they did for Win98.
Updated: The site these screenshots were on seems to have gone down. Maybe it will be back soon. In the meantime, click the “Read More” link to see a few smaller versions of the screenshots.
The last shot appears to be IE, but I am not sure if that is a new default interface, or if there is some sort of theme applied to it. Either way, it doesn’t look good. Not as bad as Netscape’s version 8 beta, but not pretty.
The server looks like it’s down, don tinfoil hats.
Site down
Well I was fortunate to see them when the site is up and I am mightily surprised that Windows hasn’t caught up to the font smoothing of OS X or even Linux.
I will post smaller versions of the screenshots in the post. Give me a few minutes to get them up.
Scrivs – This is a beta. It could also be that they user doesn’t have the font smoothing set to the maximum level.
Not making excuses. Even at the smoothest setting, my XP box pales in comparison to my Powerbook.
Why wouldn’t the font smoothing be at maximum by default? Besides from all the screenshots I have seen over the last couple of months, none of the fonts looked spectacular.
Doesn’t look to bad!
Can they not come up with any new ‘Control Panel’ or ‘Printers and Faxes’ icons? It seems like all other icons have been updated at some point except for these.
Looks like poop next to my mac.
Just another XP with the file menu bar moved underneath the location bar. Nothing exciting here.
I really wish they’d revamp the whole interface rather than pasting on a new style and moving one or two little things… but maybe I’m just a sucker for something new and pretty. :)
This looks like XP’s evil twin. You know how Disney movies always make the evil person dark, sinister, often skinny? Well, that’s what this looks like.
#8: Obviously not final icons. Even XP has new icons for “Control Panel” and “Printers and Faxes”.
#3 and #5: The screenshots are .gif’s. The font smoothing looks even worse than XP if you just go by those screenshots, but if I screenshot XP with a lot of other stuff on the screen and save it as a .gif, it looks about as bad. My guess is that the font smoothing is either better or the same (more likely the same) as XP and just looks like crap as a .gif image.
Oooh – They learned how to use gradients and transparency – oooohhh – how pretty and shiny…
That shits played out – they SUCK
Horrid.
Mac OS X was such a turning point for Apple for it’s complete revamp of the GUI and underlying architecture from OS 9. It was one of the primary reasons I switched.
This looks like nothing more than a few cosmetic (some not so good) changes in the interface, but it’s still the same old XP.
Microsoft needs to do something different.
MacGeek – They were supposed to be doing something different, like introducing the WinFS filesystem. They ended up taking it out of the initial release because it was too hard to get in to work properly in time for a decent release date.
Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.
I’m not taking sides for any company, because I like Windows, but it has some really weak sides (a bunch) and Mac is pretty and a stable OS..
I am currently using 5048 and the font smoothing is decent, not as great as other OSes. It is also based of the stable core of Windows Server 2003. There is more under the skin than just what you see. Most of the DWM effects are in this build, not to mention usable on end systems, and I also have to mention that it allows you to scale windows to a percent on the X and Y axis, showing that they are hopefully going to implant auto DPI. Some of the DWM effecfs do seem to mimic OS X. Such as when a window opens it flips down. Also Glass is in this build also.
I do agree though that Microsoft better pull something out of their ass fast for major system features. Ever since they pulled the WinFS, all they have left is Indigo and Avalon for major system features.
I totally agree. Maybe microsoft is waiting to wow everyone with their final visual style but the 5048 build sucks. If you change you logon type to welcome screen you get the old Windows XP welcome screen. Come on how long would it take to switch that out?!
Anyhow why can’t Microsoft just hire one of these guys to build a nice theme for them. They should have like 5-7 in longhorn if they want everyone to clap real loud when it comes out.
http://www.wincustomize.com/Preview.aspx?Source=adni18/wb/CyberSkinpre2.jpg
Looks like Apple have snook in with a much better interface (and probably core stuff too) with osx 10.4.
Shame so many people are still stuck in their Windows World!
my cusin is a one of the developers of the Longhorn and he says that he would get me a beta version of it, if someone wants to try it you can e-mial to me and i may get you a coppy. what you need for it is a AlienWare computer, this is the only kind it’s runs on, and you gonna have to send comments to microsoft about it.
Here are some newer screenshots of longhorn. looks much like the Apple OS.
http://www.only4gurus.com/v3/longhorn.asp
I bet when they finally release Longhorn, Microsoft will make a big deal about how cool it looks and what it can do while ignoring the fact that it looks like an Apple clone.
KDE looks better than this. No high-end 3D card needed. I’ll always use Linux and Macintosh simply because they’re better.
:-P to Micro$oft
You are absolutely right