Windows 7 taskbar

Taisto · #1 12-23-2008, 12:57 PM

Have you seen new taskbar in Windows 7 ? Is it only me or it works just like dock in Mac OS X ?
You can pin programs to it, open them ( opened ones get highlighted ), when we close them, they stay in the taskbar, of course we can unpin them. Actually it`s working very nice. The only difference is that minimalized windows are hidden "inside" the icon of program, not at the right corner like in Mac OS X, which i personally find very convinient. I wonder if Apple will do anything aobut it ? I don`t say that it`s copied concept, but you have to admit that it`s very similar.

R0GUE · #2 12-23-2008, 01:56 PM

I'm no fan of Windows, but the picture of Boomer (Grace Park) is a definite win!

Taisto · #3 12-23-2008, 04:15 PM

Haha, i didn`t think that anyone would notice her :P well, was just watching the episode while making the screen.

DoiX · #4 12-23-2008, 04:26 PM

it reminds me of open suse

still... it's ugly

nfoav8or · #5 12-23-2008, 08:08 PM

I agree on the ugliness but the cleanness stands out with the taskbar and windows having the same transparency. I also like the minimized windows hidden within the Program's icon. Its a nice touch, but not enough to make me want to install windows. I'll use it in fusion but thats only because my work requires Windows.

Taisto · #6 12-23-2008, 10:23 PM

I agree too - it doesn`t look very nice, but...it`s still beta, so maybe the look of it will change. but it`s about being usefull - and well, job`s done, new taskbar definitely is 100 times more useful than previous versions.

naquaada · #7 01-11-2009, 03:13 PM

A Windows 7 Review:

Taskbar: It looks like a stripped Tiger Dock. Remove all Applications except Finder, that'll be the same. Or look at the AmigaOS 4 beta Dock. The icons in the systray are now only in black and white (call it 'simple style') - like in the Apple menu bar.

Windows: Transparent windows you also had in the AmigaOS 4 betas, I think there were patches for AmigaOS 3.x versions. But anyway - what sense make transparent window frames when the contents have to be opaque?

Explorer localizations: That may not know all guys here - Vista (and so Windows 7) also uses now file and folder localizations. In the German version of XP the 'Program Files' has the name 'Programme', in Vista it's still 'Program Files', but shown 'Programme'. OS X does the same, the Finder only shows special system folders and filenames localized, the real file and path names are in English. Screenshot: both windows /Applications/Utilities - in German it's shown /Programme/Dienstprogramme in Finder.

Viruses, Trojans, annoying requesters: These are not copied from OS X - Microsoft knows better how to turn users into a nervous wreck.

Windows 7 is only a remake of Vista, with more OS X copies. It's like Ubuntu Beryl - looks cool if anyone needs entertainment but isn't really useful. Beryl also has a lot of similarities to OS X, hm? Menu bar, Dock, etc... Looks like a mixture of Windows and OS X, only that you don't get professional programs for it :-P But if you compare it to AmigaOS 4.1 hasn't to hide against this, it's a lightweight OS which runs on PPC platforms - also on the Mac Mini.

For me is Windows definetively dead. I have in Parallels a Media Center Edition for a very few reasons, but without visible taskbar and in Coherence mode you don't see anything of it.

cmdshft · #8 01-11-2009, 04:50 PM

The taskbar has a nostalgic mode of sorts, where you can have the names and icon show in tasks, and like task from the same application which requires a separate window automatically group together (and are physically connected, while different apps task buttons don't touch at all). I feel this version looks nicer, also the different colors (I think these come from the majority color of the icon) add a nice touch, along with a glow which follows the mouse as you move across the app task buttons.

I'll add some screenshots soon.

dagger · #9 01-11-2009, 05:49 PM

I won't try and compare the new Windows 7 to OS X in any way (though I am tempted), only to say that in one hand, it does present a more efficient way to accessing running programs than previous versions of Windows, but on the other hand, I've already been used to havng such convenience with OS X.

cmdshft · #10 01-11-2009, 05:56 PM

Screenshots are here, in a zip file.