Office 12 interface revealed - OS X UI designers weep

As a former windows guy that has recently moved to OS X, I still cringe at the Apple rip off stuff. Research into UIs especially computer UIs has shown that because blue has the shortest wavelength (or longest, i don't remember), it looks the "brightest" with the least amount of lumens. That's why default themes are now all blue based. White is a harsh color, and grey is the "new white" in terms of interfaces. You combine those two things together: Tada: Apple and Microsoft come up with blues and greys. What you're missing is the biggest point. They are "COMPLELTELY" moving away from a menu system on the top. You'll "still be able to get to it" but for most activities it will be completely gone. This is every different than Apple, and even a bit radical for MS. We'll see how it goes. So, while "MS sucks" and all, I can't see this as a UI rip off. The color scheme is completely expected given current UI research, and the menu bar being gone is completely NON Apple. Oh, and many of these same interface elements are in Linux UIs as well. Very few people scream about a rip off there.

If you want to see the UI in action go here: http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=114720

*vomits*

I don't think MS actually employs GUI designers. If they did the interface might actually improve and become less like Windows 3.1 with a Start menu and more like something worthy of the billions spent on it. Did anyone notice the document title? "Clinical trial agreement.doc"? Boh-ring. That should tell you something right there. :)

very similar to tentative effort to imitate Brushed Metal AQUA in macos X microsoft applications (windows media player for example) _royal_ blue was a dominant color of win 3.x not an "aqua-ish" effect on button. blue is not innocent, it's often the preferred color of people ,some studies claim. why people screams ? because it's EASY from YEARS to see Microsft is behind EVERY trend Apple makes apple put a trash on the desktop ? windows will do Apple remove the trash from the desktop ? windows will do Apple put nice candy effect on button ? windows will do Apple put textures on window application ? Windows will do Apple put dead rabbits in os X ? Windows will do please, take back 20 years of computer news, you will see how windows ui and office evolves after each apple incremental evolutions.

I... I think you're really missing the point here. The UI is actually quite clever: It's not a trivial change by any means. This essentially combines application menus and toolbars together. I don't think I've seen this anywhere with Apple. So I wouldn't mock the UI designers. The graphic and skin design is a different issue, however... Admittedly the layouts, colours etc. seem quite hurried. But I still see real UI innovation, not just Apple copying.

But is "The 'Write' button is blue and shiny on a grey background!" really the best you can come up with? Nah, It's the best that Microsoft could do. Dumb company, dumb customers.

Great! Just as Apple is moving away from the Aqua and Brushed Metal themes in Panther, Microsoft starts using it, even in the latest version of Microsoft Messenger for Mac. To anybody who's ever seen the Mac OS X GUI since it's release, Office 12 (and Windows Vista, should they decide to go in the same direction) is just going to look dated.

Who care if they stole elements of Aqua or Brushed Metal (though you are stretching it there). The main thing I would complain about is just how damn ugly the whole thing is.

Well, this should help expand OpenOffice.org's market share...