Windows Aero (transparent window borders, etc.) is dead.. Good riddance

[mouser]

From http://techland.time.com/2012/05/22/windows-aero-why-im-glad-its-dead/:

The Windows 8 Desktop's Metrofied LookWindows 8 may be edging ever-closer to completion, but Microsoft is apparently still noodling around with it. The latest evidence: Last Friday’s blog post by Windows design honcho Jensen Harris.

He says that the company has decided to eliminate Aero, the default visual theme in Windows Vista and Windows 7. In Windows 8, even the desktop — the home for all classic Windows apps which don’t use the radically-new Metro interface — will have a Metro-like look that abandons transparency and gradients and curvy shapes for a simple, squared-off presentation.

Yes, yes, and more yes 

Aero slowed down the computer, added additional unpredictability to ui design, and was a move in the wrong direction.  It's great to hear that MS may be moving towards a simpler cleaner approach.

[justice]

[attachimg=#]
Don't find this very simple or clean, just low contrast?

[mouser]

Well if it were up to me i'd go back to win2k classic look, with standard menu bar and no ribbon.  But it's still a step in the right direction.

[eleman]

Well if it were up to me i'd go back to win2k classic look, with standard menu bar and no ribbon.

+1

The inventor of ribbon should be put to use a word processor without a physical keyboard. That would be the just punishment for his/her "contribution" to human knowledge.

[vlastimil]

I am not an Aero hater, but I still liked the WinXP's Luna style better. What I do not get is why Microsoft removed it from Vista/7. Would it be so bad if those accustomed to the XP look would be allowed to use it in newer Windows?

It sounds silly to me that Microsoft build a whole sub-system that can handle various UI styles and then only allowed people to choose from 1 style. I know that there are hacks that allow people to use other styles, but why isn't there an official way or why does not Microsoft create at least 10 different styles?

[Ampa]

I've always found Aero confusing... being able to see through window titles / edges to the blurred clutter beyond seems akin to working at a glass desk and being constantly distracted by your own feet!

The Win8 mockup does look incredibly bland though!

[Stoic Joker]

I have no problem with Aero, never did. But the guy's article has some holes in the facts department.

Even given what it did, it was apparently piggy.
...(Apple fawning removed to help his credibility)...
But I still don’t understand why Aero consumed resources as voraciously as it did. Microsoft had to build in a feature which shut the special effects off if they were bringing a PC to its knees — which, on the reasonably powerful desktop which I bought in 2007, they often did.

Frankly it didn't, it was just really easy to pick on. The desktop had been converted from bmp to 3D - requiring a beefier video card - and the hardware crowd was dragging their feet getting a stable driver together. Sure Aero was a bit of 3D fluff at the tip of the iceburg...but the 3D desktop was the actual problem. That and cheapout hardware packages (like XP machines that came with only 256MB of RAM...) I'd been a long time nVidia user...until Vista. I had to switch to ATi and I've never looked back (or had any problems).

such as the System Tray cheerfully allowing third-party programs to install unwanted crudware — stuff that bogged down your PC, got in your face  and was sometimes devilishly hard to uninstall. But Microsoft ignored such long-standing flaws in favor of playing up Aero’s empty calies.

And the version in 2009′s Windows 7 looked better, performed better and was accompanied by other improvements with more substance, such as the ability to banish pesky System Tray icons.

These two put together are just to stupid for words... Hiding an icon from the user doesn't improve performance. It just makes it harder to figure out what is wasting system resources. Turning the programs off will actually resolve the issue. After listening to end lusers mindlessly babble that nothing is running... for so many time I think that allowing the icons to be hidding is the dumbest thing MS ever did (...Second only to hiding file extensions by default).

[mouser]

Agree 100% with your comments about hiding.

In fact in every case where MS has tried to hide stuff, the result has been an unmitigated non-trivial disaster on all fronts:

• Hiding (and rearranging) menu items
• Hiding system tray icons for running processes
• Hiding file extensions
• Hiding whole file directories
• Hiding where user documents are stored

Microsoft would do well to reverse this mindset and undo this stuff.

[cranioscopical]

Microsoft would do well to reverse this mindset and undo this stuff.

They, themselves, deserve a good hiding!

(One of the first things I did with 7 was to lose Aero.)

[Stoic Joker]

(One of the first things I did with 7 was to lose Aero.)

I Just drop the border thickness from (the default) 4 to 2, and find it rather handy for keeping better track of exactly which windows are behind the active one.

[Deozaan]

I Just drop the border thickness from (the default) 4 to 2

How do you do that? I haven't messed with border thickness settings before, but when I go into the settings it's already at 1, and it still seems to be pretty thick.

[TaoPhoenix]

Yeah, I'm an Aero hater too. There's room for a little style, and for years I was doing a "SciFi" color set with brooding dark colors, but the layout was still opaque. I didn't like the glassy stuff at all.

Unfortunately, Metro looks ugly as getout, so this feels like Zune for the desktop.

[Carol Haynes]

Sorry to be a party pooper but I like aero ... but then what do I know. 

[Curt]

Sorry to be a party pooper but I like aero ... but then what do I know. 

-pleased to read your post, Carol, because I was thinking the thread obviously was an exclusive ('excluding') club, so I didn't dare to post and say that I think Aero is one of the best visual improvements ever on Windows.

Judging from justice's screenshot, Win 8's design is still missing something.

[x16wda]

(...Second only to hiding file extensions by default).

AMEN BROTHER!!!

[tomos]

Sorry to be a party pooper but I like aero ... but then what do I know.  

I like it too, using Eóin's version of it:

[attachthumb=#]

[rgdot]

As long as I can have an animated gif wallpaper I am happy

[MrCrispy]

I liked Aero It didn't use up any cpu since it was all gpu rendered and got disabled on pc's which couldn't render it. And it was a very nice look.

[daddydave]

I guess Aero was pretty slow on 10-year old PCs that originally came with Windows XP. I'm sure those square boxes in Windows 8 will be an improvement. I guess Tandy was right:

Tandy DeskMate, circa 1980's (don't be fooled by the 2009 date in the screenshot)

from Wikipedia

[Deozaan]

I like Aero, too. I don't love it, but in general I do like it. I also like XP's "Fisherprice" theme.

[daddydave]

I also like XP's "Fisherprice" theme

Oh, I hate that blue and orange menace! The first thing I always did was change it to "classic" mode.

[Carol Haynes]

I think the real reason MS want to dump Aero is so that Metro doesn't look completely pants (it still does in my opinion but if you have a nice looking desktop it actually makes Metro look even worse).

PS: I hate the classic start menu - much prefer XP, Vista and 7 start menus.

[Deozaan]

I also like XP's "Fisherprice" theme

Oh, I hate that blue and orange menace! The first thing I always did was change it to "classic" mode.

Orange?

I only remember it being blue, except the red X button of course. And since blue is my favorite color... I like it. 

[daddydave]

I also like XP's "Fisherprice" theme

Oh, I hate that blue and orange menace! The first thing I always did was change it to "classic" mode.

Orange?

I only remember it being blue, except the red X button of course. And since blue is my favorite color... I like it. 

I stand corrected. I had a memory of the red X button being orange, but I guess it was just the gloss on the red making it a little lighter.

[PhilB66]

I Just drop the border thickness from (the default) 4 to 2

How do you do that? I haven't messed with border thickness settings before, but when I go into the settings it's already at 1, and it still seems to be pretty thick.

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Personalization\Window Color and Appearance

Click on "Advanced appearance settings..."
Select "Border Padding" from the dropdown menu to change the width.