Geek Posted August 30, 2011 Posted August 30, 2011 <div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/windows-8-ribbon.jpg" alt="Windows 8 Clutter Ribbon" title="windows-8-ribbon" width="620" height="148" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-20750" /></p> <p>I would be convinced this was an April Fools joke out of Redmond were it not August, but no, it’s the new Windows 8 Explorer default interface.</p> <p>While Apple is busy reducing clutter and creating minimalist interfaces, streamlining <a href="http://osxdaily.com/category/mac-os-x/">OS X</a> and <a href="http://osxdaily.com/tag/ios/">iOS</a>, Microsoft is busy moving in the opposite direction. Believe it or not, these pictures show what, somehow, Microsoft has determined is the future of the user interface and file system; adding <em>even more</em> buttons, icons, actions, tabs, and whatever else they could stuff onto the already cluttered Windows Explorer interface. </p> <p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/windows-8-clutter-edition.jpg" alt="Windows 8 Clutter Edition" title="windows-8-clutter-edition" width="526" height="666" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-20751" /></p> <p>Microsoft is proudly displaying this new UI to the world on a <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/08/26/improvements-in-windows-explorer.aspx">MSDN blog post</a> titled <em>“Improvements to Windows Explorer”</em> (seriously).</p> <p>Everything imaginable is jammed into your brand new ultra-cluttered window toolbar, and you thought Microsoft Office had a mess of an interface? I suppose once you get below the disastrous ‘home tab’ eating the top half of the window, it just looks like Windows 7: <span id="more-20708"></span> <img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/windows-8-wtf.jpg" alt="Windows 8 Ribbonized UI" title="windows-8-wtf" width="620" height="698" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-20709" /></p> <p>For some comparison, here is the Mac equivalent to Windows Explorer, the Finder of OS X Lion, in a comparable list view of a heavily populated folder.</p> <p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/mac-os-x-lion.jpg" alt="Mac OS X Lion File Browser" title="mac-os-x-lion" width="620" height="574" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-20752" /></p> <p>Which looks easier to use?</p> <p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/windows-8-vs-mac-os-x-lion.jpg" alt="Windows 8 vs Mac OS X Lion" title="windows-8-vs-mac-os-x-lion" width="620" height="336" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-20755" /></p> <p>Putting iOS side-by-side with Windows 8 makes Microsofts future UI even more silly looking, as posted by <a href="http://parislemon.com/post/9558558373/apples-vision-for-the-future-of-computing-versus">MG Siegler</a>, who calls it “one of the worst UIs I’ve ever seen”:</p> <blockquote><p>Apple’s vision for the future of computing versus Microsoft’s vision for the future of computing. </p></blockquote> <p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/windows-8-vs-ios-ipad.jpg" alt="Windows 8 vs iOS" title="windows-8-vs-ios-ipad" width="620" height="340" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-20749" /></p> <p>It’s no wonder this is being lambasted around the web, being called a “<a href="http://seldo.tumblr.com/post/9549775746/this-is-genuinely-microsofts-idea-of-a">self parody</a>” and drawing comparisons to Homer Simpson <a href="http://mistermorris.tumblr.com/post/9583362708/the-bigger-problem-with-the-windows-8-ui">designing a car</a>. </p> <p>To be clear, I’m not trying to Microsoft-bash here, I think the <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/06/02/windows-8-video-demo/">Windows 8 touch interface</a> shows promise and I even wrote about how <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/06/02/6-features-ios-needs-from-windows-8/">iOS would benefit</a> from borrowing some of Windows 8 features. But this? 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