Post by Ami on Nov 25, 2015 19:58:37 GMT -6
Its been stated by IanRG on the MSFT forums that we should get used to loosing the ability to customize the GUI since its been happening every since Windows XP. Heres just a small rundown of the customization abilities of windows from 3.11 upwards
Windows 3.11
You could customize the colors and wallpaper of many of the elements in windows. The color choices were limited of course due to hardware constraints of the time.
Windows 95
You could now change the font, size, color, weight, etc.. of virtually every window element and in almost all states. For example both active and inactive window captions. Color choices were increased with 24bit color capabilities as GFX cards became more capable of handling more colors. Also due to the OS being 32 bit instead of 16 bit. The end results means Win95 was MORE customizable than 3.11 was.
Windows 98
You had all of the same abilities as you had in 95 however MSFT introduced Gradient fill API's in this release. They used those api's to add a gradient (color wash) to window captions and allowed customization of both starting and ending colors in the wash. Again a net GAIN here.This would persist up to and including Windows 2000.
Windows XP.
MSFT, in partnership with stardock, worked on a skinning engine for themes. Sadly the partnership broke off and stardock continued with WindowBlinds while MSFT went a different direction. We ended up with Luna. Luna had 3 basic flavors of colors. You still had the Win9x look with all of its customization abilities in tact. This is a net gain over the previous versions of windows.
Win Vista/7
By now MSFT had dropped Luna in favor of the new Aero Visual Styles engine. Aero added new abilities such as blur, glow, etc.. and additional API's for developers to use them. The main difference here is that Aero now allowed User customization in regards to both color and intensity. You could also enable/disable transparency. In addition to this you still had the 9x theme (by now known as windows classic) WITH all its customization abilities intact. This is a net GAIN over XP.
Windows 8/10
Windows 8 ushered in a new theme called Metro. Most of the customization for colors were limited to just a few components and colors. There are no more themes and the Win classic look was removed along with the ability to alter components. Windows 10 goes a step beyond this by limiting the color choices you have to just 4 areas (start menu, tskbar, notification panel, active window caption) and even fewer color choices.
Its clear to see that windows, since its inception, has INCREASED in customization abilities up to and including Windows 7. You can see where it begins to fall off at Windows 8. No user should have to "Get used to" less functionality, less choices, or less ability for their PC's. Especially considering some of these machines can cost several thousands of dollars. One would expect more for the money not less.
Windows 3.11
You could customize the colors and wallpaper of many of the elements in windows. The color choices were limited of course due to hardware constraints of the time.
Windows 95
You could now change the font, size, color, weight, etc.. of virtually every window element and in almost all states. For example both active and inactive window captions. Color choices were increased with 24bit color capabilities as GFX cards became more capable of handling more colors. Also due to the OS being 32 bit instead of 16 bit. The end results means Win95 was MORE customizable than 3.11 was.
Windows 98
You had all of the same abilities as you had in 95 however MSFT introduced Gradient fill API's in this release. They used those api's to add a gradient (color wash) to window captions and allowed customization of both starting and ending colors in the wash. Again a net GAIN here.This would persist up to and including Windows 2000.
Windows XP.
MSFT, in partnership with stardock, worked on a skinning engine for themes. Sadly the partnership broke off and stardock continued with WindowBlinds while MSFT went a different direction. We ended up with Luna. Luna had 3 basic flavors of colors. You still had the Win9x look with all of its customization abilities in tact. This is a net gain over the previous versions of windows.
Win Vista/7
By now MSFT had dropped Luna in favor of the new Aero Visual Styles engine. Aero added new abilities such as blur, glow, etc.. and additional API's for developers to use them. The main difference here is that Aero now allowed User customization in regards to both color and intensity. You could also enable/disable transparency. In addition to this you still had the 9x theme (by now known as windows classic) WITH all its customization abilities intact. This is a net GAIN over XP.
Windows 8/10
Windows 8 ushered in a new theme called Metro. Most of the customization for colors were limited to just a few components and colors. There are no more themes and the Win classic look was removed along with the ability to alter components. Windows 10 goes a step beyond this by limiting the color choices you have to just 4 areas (start menu, tskbar, notification panel, active window caption) and even fewer color choices.
Its clear to see that windows, since its inception, has INCREASED in customization abilities up to and including Windows 7. You can see where it begins to fall off at Windows 8. No user should have to "Get used to" less functionality, less choices, or less ability for their PC's. Especially considering some of these machines can cost several thousands of dollars. One would expect more for the money not less.