Microsoft`s Vista Industrial Design Toolkit: Taking a Bite out of Apple (Page 1 of 4 )
Microsoft’s newest operating system, Vista, is getting ready to ship this January. Microsoft is taking a lesson from the Apple playbook with the Windows Vista Industrial Design Toolkit.
In an effort to redesign the proverbial wheel Microsoft issued this product to 70 computer designers. MS has obviously been feeling the pressure from Apple's various product lines and has designed this guide in an effort to synergize hardware and software in the PC industry. Their guide accentuates several important areas for designers to consider when designing a "Vista PC."
The Vista Industrial Design Toolkit has been developed in secret for the past eighteen months at Microsoft headquarters in anticipation of the launch of their latest operating system by a team of nearly 20 in-house designers. This isn't Microsoft's first foray into hardware design but it is notable because it is the software giant's first attempt to encourage the injection of design and creativity into what is otherwise a very utilitarian, and ultimately drab, box.
Much like Apple's early days of accentuating design as well as function, Microsoft is encouraging system builders with adjectives to help them in designing a new Vista-oriented PC. Words like "accentuated curves" and "purposeful contrast" are being used to create the right atmosphere for these new systems.
"We want people to fall in love with their PCs, not to simply use them and be productive" the booklet says. "We want PCs to be objects of pure desire."
This design kit and its supportive phrasing hearkens back to the launch of Windows 95 when Microsoft released all the stops to welcome in a golden age of personal computing. Celebrities, a Rolling Stones theme song and more press coverage than ever seen before were used to introduce the world to this new operating system. Since that day, though, no version of Windows has seen such fanfare at introduction, though each continues unabated to be draped in rolling landscapes and fluffy clouds.
Next: And the response is...? >>
More Hardware News Articles
More By Remco Degooyer
| Recommended by Dev Hardware |
|---|
|
