Soon, I'm releasing a Windowblinds theme for Windows XP titled Aero-Redux. I've really enjoyed working on it, and it's been a fun diversion during University exams. However, in the process of creating it, I also looked at the GUI direction that Microsoft has headed towards with its imminent Vista release. In considering it, I looked at how Microsoft seemed to have travelled from a concept vision that contained interesting design ideas and a genuinely new approach to the operating system style, and yet arrived at a bland, visually confused style for Vista.

In this comparison of the Longhorn concepts to the Vista reality, I applied simple design principles to each and tried to find a common ground between the two. I came to a realisation that, in the market in which Microsoft must constantly strive to consolidate its position, their way forwards seems to be a gradual modifaction of the motifs and functions of Windows. I sought to design a halfway house, if you like, where some of the style and elegance of Longhorn is retained but where the familiarity of Vista is still apparent. I wrote a short article with concepts and screen material which I'll publish tommorrow. For now, you can view my upcoming theme, if you please...