Redmond is looking into ways to make the OS more eye candy

Oct 21, 2014 09:44 GMT  ·  By

Windows 10 Technical Preview does bring some subtle changes in terms of looks, but nothing too dramatic, as Microsoft wanted it to be a really familiar working environment especially for those who migrate from Windows 7.

The upcoming testing builds of Windows 10, however, will also include some other changes that would make the operating system altogether a bit more eye candy, while also retaining the traditional design elements that make the desktop look so familiar for those with a mouse and keyboard.

Brad Sams of Neowin claims that the next Windows 10 Technical Preview release will be a build in the 9860 class and will include lots of changes, some of which are supposed to improve the experience on the desktop in terms of looks and usability.

Among the tweaks that Microsoft will include in this release, there are also some new window animations that could be inspired from rival platforms.

Mac OS X-like window opening/minimizing effects

The fact that Microsoft is working on new window animations isn’t new, but no details have been provided so far, so this is pretty much the first time we’re hearing about a possible implementation that might be based on features first seen somewhere else.

According to the aforementioned source, opening a new app from the taskbar will trigger a new effect that will make the window fly out from the icon and collapse back when you minimize it.

These effects, however, won’t be as “dramatic” as what you can see right now on Mac OS X, Sams writes, and there’s no doubt that Microsoft doesn’t need one of its key features to be compared to the ones available on rival platforms.

Start menu animations also coming

Microsoft might be adding new animations for opening, closing, and minimizing windows, but users also want the company to introduce transition effects for the Start menu.

“Add a little animation/transition when opening the Start menu. It looks fantastic (great job, team!), but the lack of animation and the rawness in which it simply appears and disappears makes it look unpolished! A little fade in with an upward slide would look incredible!” one of the most voted feature requests in the feedback app for Windows 10 reads.

Of course, many of these are very likely to be part of the final Windows 10 release, but not everything will be disclosed by Microsoft before the public launch, so testing builds would only include a limited amount of improvements.