OT: Windows Vista

JohnFredC · Post by *JohnFredC » 2005-08-02, 00:57 UTC

The next version of Windows will look and (apparently) behave substantially differently:

http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/0,1206,pg=0&s=26945&a=156757,00.asp

Me thinks it will set 3rd party file manager software developers scrambling...

Check out the stacks view, virtual folder view, and especially the screen clip of the save dialog.

Post by *Hacker » 2005-08-02, 09:37 UTC

I can't help myself but the copy dialog looks beautiful (the diskettes in the top right-hand corner, the blurred transparency, the green progress bar).

What's so special about the save dialog? And I just noticed I either don't see folders or I don't see files in that dialog. How are folders distinguished from files?

The stacks view seems just what eg Imatch or ThumbsPlus! do, only integrated in Windows.

Roman

JohnFredC · Post by *JohnFredC » 2005-08-02, 13:18 UTC

What's so special about the save dialog?

Oh, I don't know, maybe it's the:

Folder tree integrated with file list
Categories integrated with physical paths in the tree
Sorting "buttons" above tiles
Arrows instead of "\"s... (are they mouseable...?) in path combo
Integrated search
Horizontal panels in dialog
Options button on lower left
Tooltip identifying the active file

The folder tree in the dialog is an addition currently available from some third-parties, but never before from MS.

If you think about how the path combo might work (I haven't seen it in action) with the possibility for drop-downs under every arrow (maybe?)... well, that would be a substantial functional improvement. One that could be integrated into the TC panel paths...

I poo-pooed the Avalon/Glass stuff when I originally read about it as being just ribbons and bows... but my guess from these screen shots is that MS has finally done their homework about GUIs.

Post by *petermad » 2005-08-02, 23:31 UTC

It's the ugliest thing I have seen for a long time - especially those semitransparent titlebars - makes the screen look confusing and messy.

And what's that with those folder icons lying sideways - gives the impression that everything will fall out of them.

Looks like an OS that I will pass.

And I don't see 2-panel copying anywhere - so in my book M$ still hasn't learned what file managing is about.

solid · Post by *solid » 2005-08-03, 13:36 UTC

Hacker wrote:I can't help myself but the copy dialog looks beautiful (the diskettes in the top right-hand corner, the blurred transparency, the green progress bar).

Looks nice, but still misses two progres bars like TC. There are over 4000 files copying and only one bar for total. No single file bar. Will MS ever learn to make its products more useful?? This is only skin for w95 copy dialog

JohnFredC · Post by *JohnFredC » 2005-08-03, 13:53 UTC

PeterMad wrote:

don't see 2-panel copying anywhere

Well we wouldn't want ole Bill moving in on TC's turf, now would we?

Post by *petermad » 2005-08-03, 18:34 UTC

2JohnFredC

Well we wouldn't want ole Bill moving in on TC's turf, now would we?

Right

crab · Post by *crab » 2005-08-03, 19:59 UTC

so...it seems to be that microsoft hired just graphic designers for making Vista....and not the best of them

Gab

pdavit · Post by *pdavit » 2005-08-04, 06:49 UTC

crab wrote:so...it seems to be that microsoft hired just graphic designers for making Vista....and not the best of them

Yeap! And making the OS bigger and slower every time. Who guesses if Vista will come on a DVD-Rom instead of a CD-Rom?

Clas Hortien · Post by *Clas Hortien » 2005-08-04, 07:22 UTC

Here you can see a screenshot from TC 6.53 running on Windows Vista Beta 1.
http://www.hortien.com/upload/tconvista.png

pdavit · Post by *pdavit » 2005-08-04, 07:52 UTC

Clas Hortien wrote:Here you can see a screenshot from TC 6.53 running on Windows Vista Beta 1.
http://www.hortien.com/upload/tconvista.png

I'm hungry for more! Give us more! Heh! TC is already Windows Vista ready!

icfu · Post by *icfu » 2005-08-04, 08:02 UTC

I am not sure where I can see bad design in that screenshot from Clas Hortien besides in TC itself.

Icfu

Clas Hortien · Post by *Clas Hortien » 2005-08-04, 09:09 UTC

Some more pictures

:

http://www.hortien.com/upload/tccopy.png
http://www.hortien.com/upload/tcmini1.png
http://www.hortien.com/upload/tcmini2.png
http://www.hortien.com/upload/tcmut.png
http://www.hortien.com/upload/tcoptions.png
http://www.hortien.com/upload/tcsuche.png

crab · Post by *crab » 2005-08-04, 11:58 UTC

bahh...its pretty enough....and how much we have to pay for this brand new stilysh modernist skin??

JohnFredC · Post by *JohnFredC » 2005-08-04, 13:02 UTC

bahh...its pretty enough....

Yeh it IS pretty, and not too obtrusively so, but I will turn most of that off, as always. The interesting stuff is the virtual folders and the stacks, plus all of the "custom" file attributes implied by the categories and keywords stuff.

MS appears determined to release file management from the rigid hierarchical relationships we currently employ to something more multi-dimensional.

There have been many requests for formal support for virtual folders in TC. Well, MS is going to embed them in the operating system! This means an api!

I am curious. How will TC tie-in to this new file system functionality? I certainly will want to make use of it.

Via the Custom Columns feature, perhaps?

Anyway, I (for a lonely one, it appears) am actually excited by some of these screen shots and the new organization paradigms they imply. I have millions of files. Don't you?