15/ We then got to Windows 7 where many of these concepts came together. If you notice above Windows 3.0 had no real desktop—that’s where running programs were. By Windows 7 we had a taskbar to combine both running and launching programs, which turned out to be what most did.
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16/ The start menu was basically collapsing under its own weight. Didn’t work on big screens (too far to mouse) or on small screens like netbooks (zig zag mousing) and hard to customize. Plus notifications and the system tray were attacked w/essentials and crapware. Plus gadgets
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17/ Complexity was overwhelming most people. How did we know that? iPhone came out and right away people were using more apps, doing more things, and feeling more empowered than ever felt on a PC. Weird, huh? These problems could maybe be solved in isolation, but not for 5B ppl.
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18/ So we set out on a user experience to radically simplify these concepts combining launching, switching, notifications, search, gadgets, and to do so in a way that delivers an experience that works with touch and/or mouse. For ex we defined a touch language, 10 gestures total.
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19/ And the system wide gestures were all available via mouse and keyboard. In fact they were even more efficient than the traditional keyboard. For example, instead of needing to hit the window key to start a search, just start typing. And from there easily search all apps too.
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20/ The post details all the elements of the Windows 8: Start screen, live tiles, touch, charms, sharing between apps, control panel, and of course the Desktop!!
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21/ By June 2011 we were ready for our first “reveal” of this experience (btw, tons more about the design in the post). Here’s a video made that we put out just before the event at the “All Things D” conference when did a demo.
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22/ The demo at the conference was crazy. The main hardware was a prototype tablet we made in the lab. Here’s Jensen trying to make it reliable enough for the demo. Those were the days. Imagine taking on that much risk for a demo today?
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23/ The resulting demo was really quite a show. did an incredible demo with everyone poking at the screen. There were several “regular” laptops and other form factors as well. Tablets were *the* thing and reactions were very excited.
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24/ The experience was built with an eye towards a whole new developer platform for apps. Did we need a new platform? Next week goes into that. But we were building apps at the same time—mail, calendar, photos, and more all built with this new platform.
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25/ But there will be more skepticism, particularly around “tablet mode” v. “desktop mode” (not my words). More on this as people get their hands on code. For now enjoy this post, debate Windows 8 goals and mission while the story unfolds. More in
