First Windows 7 M3 screenshot appears

Interesting! Paint hardly has any menu items, so I'm not sure the ribbon is even useful here.

The thing about the ribbon that has always bothered me is the fact that it takes up usable real-estate. I wish they would give you an option in Office 2007 to use the old menu's or the new ribbon. Then again they would be hurting all of those third party utility makers.

Oh, and if any of you are developers who want to use the Fluent UI in your applications, the Office Fluent User Interface Developer Portal is at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905530.aspx

I think they could ADD the orb, and get rid of the start button. Just picture this= EVERY window has a Start Menu Orb attached, with context apps prioritized, access to commonly used programs and whatever... Even when no window is open, you could just use Ctrl+Esc or the Winkey to spawn a start menu UNDER your mouse pointer... OR... A Ribbon-like task bar, with special ribbon gadgets that point to open apps options and features, thus ditching sidebar. Mail, Calendar, Pictures. I don't know... just evolve the paradigm already!!! ;-)

I've grown to like the ribbon, though I certainly hope there's more to Windows 7 than ribbonizing the built-in apps.

(Or browsers or online stores) And maybe others I'm forgetting but, still, a tiny number of restrictions. DISCLAIMER: I am not a lawyer. Go read the agreement yourself and start writing really cool apps.

gorath I'm chilled, I just don't like people being told things that are demonstrably not true. Seems pretty rational to me.

Hey Paul (or anyone), Do you know if we'll be able to switch it back to the old way? Not for me, but I work in a small office full of old, old people, who are afraid of new technology. Like, really, really afraid. I regularly get panickedcalls for "You can't use these characters to name a file: *#^&[=-] etc"... By the same 3 people!...I'll be grey by the time I hit 30... ANYWAY, if they get a machine with this installed, it's over. So please tell me that I can click "Windows Classic" somewhere and the whole OS and all the apps will look like an anti-aliased version of Windows 95. Save my hair. I personally love it, it's the first thing that has actually made me care about Windows 7. But it's very different.

Mum, Yes. There are other Microsoft apps that use Fluent. Remember that Microsoft makes thousands of programs.

I personally love the Office 2007 ribbon. If this is standardized across the board in Seven, then I'm all for it. This UI ribbon is a nice evolutionary shift foward from what's been the Windows UI. The small incremental changes have been nice. Its time to shift foward and push the interface foward. This is one of my biggest criticisms of OS-X, that it still bares little difference to the orginal 1984 Mac OS. Nothing has really change in their UI interface in 24 years. Do we still design car interiors like we did in 1950's, 1960's, or the 1970's? No, of course we don't. The materials change, the needs of consumers change, the technology changes, costs change, and thats how we move foward. The same is true of Operating Systems. Granted, they've added to OS-X, the user interface stays the same. Obviously, they've kept some sort of Windows classic inferface in XP and Vista. If I was designing a business version of Seven, it would have that Windows classic as the default. That way Microsoft is being mindful of the needs of business training and support. They can keep it simple for business. Or if they find better productivity with the new UI, they can train their folks on the new UI. I believe OS training on multiple platforms should be happening in the middle school and high school level, so that colleges can concentrate on more advanced concepts. If a 5 year old can learn his way around Windows with very little help, I think its reasonable to make it part of everyone's basic training. Its a reality of the 21st century. (True story. My 5 year old neighbor back in 1993 was using Windows 3.11 with no formal training. Then again he's attending Harvard.) If Microsoft makes it consistent and works with feedback, I believe the Ribbon UI will work for the average users and the advanced user.

Mike, you're dead on as usual. In my younger days, my father would introduce me as a doctor, and then all the questions or their 'interesting medical history' would keep me standing in the 92 degree sun for 20 minutes or so, almost causing all of heat stroke. It's always "I had some test". What kind I asked. The reply was "I don't know" and also "I don't know the result", followed by "What do you think", even after telling them that their problem was not in my field. Well, at least I can bring computers back top life more often. Lawyers bring patients back to life more than we doctors. They just call them "Plaintiff's estate". However, I get fewer tech help calls now that Vista is here. That may be anecdotal to you, but it's heaven to me. I should be on a Vista commercial. Bill and I eating hamburgers [bacon cheese burgers], you know, MEAT!!! Both of us healthy looking with rosey cheeks, unlike some vegetarian we know. How's them Apples? Can't SJ eat plain pizza?

john Nope. Totally different to anybody not wanting to tar Microsoft with Apple's brush. Microsoft offers a free, amazingly complex tool with the only restriction that you can't compete with the 5 apps that paid for its development. Microsoft places those terms up front so the few rules that are in place are clear before you even evaluate whether you want to use the design. Microsoft makes no restriction of sales, distribution or development. Apple reserves the right to block any and all apps that compete with anything they write or will write or may write. Apple blocks distribution of apps that they don't approve for whatever arbitrary reason they choose. Apple bricks devices that try to use a distribution channel other than their own. Apple charges a 30% fee for all apps. Apple charges an annual fee for the use of their toolkit. Apple prohibits apps that not only compete with them but with their preferred partners, Apple reserves the right and exercises the right to block apps even if they meet all the published guidelines, Apple does not make the determination of what will or won't be approved until development is done, Apple provides no independent means of appealing their decisions. You really had a straight face when you wrote that those were the same?

"This use seems to be pretty flawed considering that most monitors are now widescreen" Not so fast. I would seem to be that way, but the reality is very different. As subzero suggested, check out the Engineering 7 blog, particularly this post which provides some insight in to this very matter. I'm confident that the number is increasing, but they have to develop for the wide reality here, which is a lower resolution. http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2008/09/10/the-windows-feedback-program...

@dip, That's very illuminating. You're right. This is a great design for the userbase. @Mike, Markets are about money. What percentage of all software revenues and profits for Windows and Mac OS do you think Microsoft Office has? What is the profit margin on Microsoft Office? You keep saying "it's only preventing competition with 5 programs" as if those 5 programs aren't the 5 most widely used, widely distributed and widely purchased programs in the history of computing. Let's have a little perspective here. I think it's great that Microsoft is giving this UI away. I think office is a generally very good product (if a bit frustrating at times). But give me a break. Microsoft's Office profits pay for their development many many times over. As for the Appstore, you are conflating many different, unrelated things into one big Apple-bashing heap. Apple's 30% charge for all distribution and bandwidth I believe is much lower than the competitor's fees and there seems to be a general consensus from the iPhone dev community that it's a fair deal. Apple even eats the cost for free apps, which has been the path many devs have used to release "lite" versions that act as trials. Apple's alleged "bricking" has not been proven to be a malicious act and it's dishonest for you to portray it as policy. I downloaded the SDK for free with no fees, so I don't know what this annual fee is that your talking about. Is that just a lie, or am I missing something? I believe you need to pay $99 to get access to testing on the device itself instead of the simulator, but the full SDK is there and free to download and use. I don't know if the $99 is a recurring cost, but it certainly isn't expensive by any definition. To all this I ask, how much does Microsoft charge for it's development tools? Are they free like Apple's? I thought they were quite expensive. Am I wrong? As for the overall opaque Apple approval process, I agree on all fronts. If they don't straighten this out soon, they are going to really damage the young software ecosystem of the platform. No question. I'm not sure why you feel you must muddy up your good arguments with Apple-bashing partisan FUD. It's not a credible way to conduct things.