Microsoft is yet again making another bold choice and it is removing the Aero visual style from Windows 8 — first introduced in Windows Vista –, and changing it for a Metro like designed. The company explains — “In the end, we decided to bring the desktop closer to the Metro aesthetic, while preserving the compatibility afforded by not changing the size of window chrome, controls, or system UI. We have moved beyond Aero Glass—flattening surfaces, removing reflections, and scaling back distracting gradients.”
While this is a big change in the Windows 8 UI, the software maker believes that move will not affect the way people use PCs and the learning curve won’t be difficult. In fact Microsoft assures that consumer will quickly adapt to the upcoming operating system, and hints that it has a number of changes yet to be revealed.
“We applied the principles of “clean and crisp” when updating window and taskbar chrome. Gone are the glass and reflections. We squared off the edges of windows and the taskbar. We removed all the glows and gradients found on buttons within the chrome. We made the appearance of windows crisper by removing unnecessary shadows and transparency. The default window chrome is white, creating an airy and premium look. The taskbar continues to blend into the desktop wallpaper, but appears less complicated overall.
[…]we updated the appearance of most common controls, such as buttons, check boxes, sliders, and the Ribbon. We squared off the rounded edges, cleaned away gradients, and flattened the control backgrounds to align with our chrome changes. We also tweaked the colors to make them feel more modern and neutral.” — Jensen Harris, Director of Program Management for our User Experience team at Microsoft explains.
Furthermore, we should also see a lot of significant improvements on touch gestures usability.
What is your take in Aero being removed from Windows? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Source Building Windows 8 blog
Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me. Email him at [email protected].