Microsoft shows what Windows 10 will look like down the road

By Paul Lilly 09 February 2017

First look at ‘Project Neon’.

Visual changes are coming to Windows 10. Looking past the upcoming Creators Update, Microsoft is working on an updated design language that it internally calls Project Neon. We’ve heard about this before, though it hadn’t been officially recognized by Microsoft until now.

Microsoft gave developers a first look at Project Neon during a keynote at its Windows Developers Day event. There was some large text piled on top that obstructed the screenshot, though PCWorld discovered a clean view by Twitter user Tom Hounsell. That image is shown above.

According to Windows Central, Microsoft’s goal with Project Neon is to «add fluidity, animation, and blur to apps and the operating system.» It’s a visual overhaul that will affect a range of Windows 10 devices, everything from desktops and laptops to HoloLens, Windows 10 Mobile, and Xbox. Microsoft has even begun providing Project Neon APIs in its Windows 10 Preview builds so that developers can start utilizing the new UI and design language.

While official information is rather scarce, it appears that Project Neon is an attempt to beautify Windows 10. MSPowerUser leaked a handful of additional screenshots a month ago and said at the time that Project Neon isn’t a major or complete overhaul of Windows 10’s design language. Instead, it’s a «minor update» that Microsoft is building on top of the current Windows 10 UI.

In the screenshot above, there is an open Groove Music window without a dedicated title bar. The options to close it out, minimize, and maximize the window can be found in the upper-right corner.

Also visible is a more streamlined taskbar. It’s not a lot to look at and of course elements such as animation and blur effects can’t been accurately portrayed in a still shot, but it’s a glimpse nonetheless.

Microsoft has to be careful with tweaking the look of Windows 10 so that it doesn’t alienate users and push them back to Windows 7. Windows 10 has seen steady growth and has proven popular among gamers—around half of all Steam users run Windows 10—but if the changes are too jarring, users might seek out greener pastures wherever they can find them.

Paul has been playing PC games and raking his knuckles on computer hardware since the Commodore 64. He does not have any tattoos, but thinks it would be cool to get one that reads LOAD»*»,8,1. In his off time, he rides motorcycles and wrestles alligators (only one of those is true).

Things I don’t like about Windows 10 a.k.a (Why Windows 10 is ugly ?)

UI-wise this version is really ugly, flat and meant for phone/tablet or some other touch screen device users..

It’s little bit faster than Windows 8.1, but Windows 10 lags first 2 mins on startup and it’s impossible to click anything on the taskbar at that time.

Here is my list of the things I hate about Windows 10:

• Drop down list is out of the window.

• Why title bars are so big now (also minimize/maximize/close section) ?

• Can’t view any update details, can’t hide updates, can’t copy details or stop some particular update

• I can’t choose power plans now ? This was probably one of the most used feature on my PC.. I used it for CPU control and if it heats too much balanced power saver

• This is small thing, but previously there was 15 min option, it would be great if I could enter my own number instead of choosing something.

• Why’s there so big padding between everything and font size ? Is this OS for old people, or for people with big fingers ?
• Also why is the sidebar so wide if text is not even close to the right border ?
• On win8 I could see all details about programs, now on win10 I can’t
• http://geeksontime.com/sites/default/files/field/image/Uninstall%20a%20program%20in%20windows%208.png

• Waste of space. there could have been a lot more things in one window, like it was on win8, on win10 I have to scroll to find something, it’s not easy reachable. Is there a way to reduce spaces in registry somehow ?

• Jump lists. again — huge paddings everywhere.

• If this new Windows is so advanced and etc.. Then why can’t I find anything in the start menu ? I pressed letter «P» for paint and it doesn’t do anything, it wasn’t even there, I had to use Win+R mspaint, this new start menu doesn’t even have «Run» button. (Now I’m using Classic Start Menu, and I can access things a lot faster — services, firewall advanced config, device manager, etc) I was using it since Windows 8, so I didn’t saw anything that happened in the Start Screen, I opened it only maybe like 20-30 times since September 2014.

• I miss Windows 8.1 taskbar and icons. Icon boxes had style, now it’s just plain and flat, and I could change color of taskbar, I know I can do it now, but there’s only limited color choices and it doesn’t look as good as on Windows 8.1

• Themes are useless now, only thing they change is 1px border color

This will probably be updated.

I hope some of the things will be fixed and included in the next patches/updates/service packs. Seriously, this looks like an unfinished version or some test OS which is missing lot’s of UI fixes. BTW looks like Windows 10 was designed by the same designers that did Skype, it’s noticeable because of those huge white spaces.

Here is some comparison:

Was this discussion helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this discussion?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this discussion?

Thanks for your feedback.

Replies (12) 

* Please try a lower page number.

* Please enter only numbers.

* Please try a lower page number.

* Please enter only numbers.

Geeee I am here for the same reason.

I just don’t understand it at all. Not only I am disappointed. I am depressed with this grey look everywhere. After 25 years I have windows based on colours of inactive windows 😉

Already I have trauma of switching office 2007 to 365, now I have whole environment this way. AND I am not considering myself to have shiny stuff. Minimalistic windows 8 is enough nice for me. Just the colours.

As for the size — be aware that it is all designed probably for tablet use.

I just suppose that:
— MS has too colourful offices and grey let them perform better
— MS works on UHD displays, 10″ tablets and 30″ touch screens

Do not expect them to know consumers 😉

8 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

I totally agree . I installed Windows 10 before the official launch on a spare PC and uninstalled it within 2 hours.

The atrocious UI is a deal breaker and that’s why I, among many I bet, will be sticking with Windows 7 until Hell freezes over if need be.

ALL traces of that UGLY Flat Fisher-Price UI needs to be removed, I use a DESKTOP with a color monitor not an under powered tablet. If I wanted a UI with such a primitive look I would reinstall Windows 3.1 (which came out in 1992).

Whoever came up with this eyesore should be fired on the spot.

18 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

3 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Yep. Windows new «minimalist» UI. BS minimalist means that we get a hideous monochrome UI. Also what is with all this white background with grey text. There should be some choice of color in the work environment. It doesn’t help that they took Control Panel, and split functions between it and Settings. Awful all the way around. BTW the Insider Preview builds look the same as the End User version, ugly, clunky, and invasive.

Windows 10. An exercise in masochism.

7 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

7 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

The thing of it is, that this is a big f<>king joke for The development team, their management, and especially Tony Prophet (Director of Marketing for Windows 10, and general harbinger of disaster).

Black Hat hacker for the common good

Microsoft. Have you taken your Soma today?

1 person found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

Windows 10 is terribly ugly. It seems MS asked some summer trainee CS graduates to build this new OS. All of the GUI seems to be developed by 2nd year computer-science graduate, willing to show off his skills to his professor to gain good marks. But alas. even that professor isn’t pacified with this ultra ugly look. He might have said «Hey, why didn’t you use standard Windows UI and controls? Why didn’t you consider MS GUI guidelines? Did you need my help to enable theming for your application?» (read: common-control manifest)

UI and flexibility is beyond ****/non-sense/utter-nonsense. You simply cant do what you could have done with Windows 7 (and even with «normal ugly» Windows 8).

And to MS, the Start button sucks, sucks big time. It sucks the resources, the time, screen space, graphics card, and the intelligence of human ability. Bring back Windows 7 start menu!!

And this Edge. More of **** than a browser!

Look at crappy Calculator.

Wasted Windows Explorer showing absolutely unnecessary elements.

The default «Photos» application — oh man.. that student got 6 out of 10 marks!

Look at control panel, no option to go back to classic or icon view — why?

3 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

2 people found this reply helpful

Was this reply helpful?

Sorry this didn’t help.

Great! Thanks for your feedback.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site.

How satisfied are you with this reply?

Thanks for your feedback.

I totally agree 100%, Windows Vista and 7 are really beautiful versions, the UI, the icons, everything. I love the Windows 7 appearance. In each release, Windows appearance went better and better, until Windows 8 was released, the appearance went worse, the UI went flat, solid-colored, and unnecesarily huge, fortunately, the icons weren’t changed. When Windows 10 was released, the appearance went even worse than 8, the icons went terribly ugly.

The «look» timeline: Classic (95, 98 and ME) => Luna (XP) => Aero (Vista and 7) => Metro (8 and 10). For me the most beautiful look is «Aero» and the ugliest is «Metro».

Compare this (if you think Metro is better, you are retarded):

The ugliness is not the only complaint, forced updates is a real issue for slow connection users and metered bandwidths, in the country I live, Internet is slow and expensive, and my ISP slows me down if I reach 70GB download in the month. Updates take all bandwidth and make other devices unusable online. Windows 10 isn’t as familiar as Windows 7, the return of Start Menu isn’t enough. I’ve had to take a few days to learn to use Windows 10 (it’s like Windows 8). Windows 10 removed the gadgets, the games explorer, the Windows Media Center, the Windows Experience Index, and etc., and Windows 10 added junk like Windows Store, Universal Apps, live tiles, Cortana (on PCs), phone companion (it can’t do great things), Microsoft Edge (it’s Internet Explorer but renamed), the Windows-as-a-service, etc.

I’ve used Windows 10 as my main OS for a month, when I had the chance, I’ve downgraded to Windows 7 as main OS and I’ve installed Windows 10 as VM (for UWP debugging). I really hate Windows 10, the root of these problems / issues is the «device unification», PC is not a phone, PC is not a tablet, PC is a computer (Windows 10 seems to be a OS designed and optimized for mobile devices). The universal platform is a gimmick, Cortana is useless on PCs, the multi-desktop is a good idea, but it isn’t a big deal. Windows as-a-product is better than as-a-service, the email address in logon screen (where everyone can see) is a privacy invasion (anyone with access to my PC would see my email in the logon screen).

I’ll stick with Windows 7 until extended support ends.

How can I make Windows 10 look more like Windows 7?

Elizabeth’s new laptop has Windows 10 but she prefers Windows 7. What are her options?

Windows 10 is an improvement in most ways but those who wish it looked or behaved more like Windows 7 have a few options. Photograph: Simply Signs/Alamy

Windows 10 is an improvement in most ways but those who wish it looked or behaved more like Windows 7 have a few options. Photograph: Simply Signs/Alamy

Last modified on Thu 6 Jun 2019 08.01 BST

I now have a Lenovo laptop which has Windows 10 installed, but to be honest with you, I preferred Windows 7, which was on my last two computers. What would you suggest? Elizabeth

As most Windows 7 users know – and if they don’t yet, Microsoft will nag them about it soon – Windows 7’s support stops in January 2020. After that, there will be no more security updates, except for companies that pay an annual fee that doubles every year. This is a powerful incentive to migrate from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

My best suggestion is just to get used to Windows 10. Some people cling to obsolete versions of Windows but eventually most of them recognise they would have been better off if they had moved earlier. New versions of Windows always provide more stability and better security, even if they get other things wrong. (Full screen apps in Windows 8 is a classic example but Microsoft fixed that in Windows 10.)

I shared your love of Windows 7: I recommended people to move to it as soon as possible and stick with it for as long as possible. I kept it on my desktop PC, which doesn’t have a touchscreen, instead of moving to Windows 8. I changed my mind after using Windows 10 for some time, because it did more and worked better. That persuaded me to stick with the free upgrade.

Try using Windows 10 for six months before having a play with an earlier version. Hindsight often makes the old stuff look clunky and out of date.

What have you lost?

Microsoft Paint remains after an outpouring of affection from fans. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Do you miss any features from Windows 7? Microsoft dumped several things in the transition via Windows 8. The main ones were the Windows Media Centre, the bundled games, the desktop gadgets and the built-in DVD compatibility. The separate Windows Live Essentials suite, including Windows Live Mail and Movie Maker, was terminated with extreme prejudice.

Windows Media Centre was the home theatre software launched with XP and not many people used it. (It is not to be confused with the Windows Media Player, which continues.) The desktop gadgets introduced with Windows Vista also perished but most people only used the nice clock.

For some Windows 7 users the games were the biggest loss. Happily, there are free clones of Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, Hearts, FreeCell (the best!) and Minesweeper. Microsoft also has some free but ad-supported versions in the Microsoft Store. Chess Titans, developed by the now-defunct Oberon Games, is harder to replace but Chess Giants (€9.90) is pitching for that market. Otherwise, Windows XP games run in Windows 10 and (so far) Windows updates do not remove them.

Games, Live Mail and some other programs were casualties of Microsoft’s shift from traditional desktop programs (which use the Win32 applications programming interface) to packaged Microsoft Store apps (which use the new WinRT or Windows Runtime API). Store apps are easier to install, update and remove because they don’t use the Windows Registry. They are also touch-friendly, more secure, and can be suspended in the background to save resources.

However, not all the old Win32 utilities are dead. Microsoft Paint and Internet Explorer still ship with Windows 10, despite being replaced by Paint 3D and Edge. The Control Panel lives on because not everything has been transferred to the Settings app. Windows Live Mail mostly works despite being replaced by the Mail app.

If you desperately miss an old Windows 7 program, you may be able to get it back via Sergey Tkachenko’s Winaero Tweaker. This includes Windows Photo Viewer and old versions of Calculator, Sticky Notes and Task Manager.

Looks matter

Users have always been able to change Windows’ appearance, and you can easily make Windows 10 look more like Windows 7. The simplest option is to change your current background wallpaper to whatever you used in Windows 7. The standard offering was a wavy Windows logo in the middle of a blue sky but you probably changed that to something prettier.

Microsoft also changed the Taskbar. This used to be a semi-transparent blue with an orb at the left end and no search box. Windows 10 has a black Taskbar with a tiny white flag at the left end, plus a search box.

You can make the search box disappear by right-clicking on the Taskbar, selecting Cortana and then Hidden on the drop-down menu. After that, if you click the white Windows icon and start typing something, the search box will reappear. Frankly, I think usability is improved by having a search box that you can see.

You can change the colour of the Taskbar by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Personalise. This brings up the Personalisation page in the Settings (cogwheel) app. Select Colors then scroll down to the More Options section. Tick the two boxes there to show accent colours on the Taskbar and in title bars and windows borders, then select a colour from the array provided. I think it’s worth ticking only the second box, to add an accent colour (eg navy blue) to title bars but the Taskbar looks better in black.

The Settings app also has separate pages for the Start menu and Taskbar. Use these to choose which programs to show.

Back to Start

The Start menu on Windows 10 makes it easier to get to your most-used programs. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

Some people seem desperate to get their Windows 7 Start menu back, or an earlier “classic” menu, though I don’t understand why. Today, all your most used programs should be on the Taskbar, where you can run them with one click, or by hitting WinKey-6 or whatever (that will run whichever program is sixth in line). You can run less-used programs by double-clicking their desktop icons, or by clicking the Start menu and then the program’s Live Tile. That’s still only two clicks.

Live Tiles are big, so they are easy to hit, even with a blunt finger. You can make them bigger or smaller, position them in groups and remove all the ones you don’t want. (Right-click, select “Unpin from Start”.) There’s no rational reason for wanting to scroll through extended menus of tiny text. You should switch to Windows 10’s simpler, faster approach.

However, menu masochists will be pleased to learn that the two most popular Start menu replacements from the Windows 8 era are still available. Classic Shell is no longer being developed but you can still download it from the original site. Alternatively, try the Open Shell version that is being developed by volunteers. Meanwhile, Stardock has developed Start8 into Start10, which costs $4.99 after a free trial period.

Classic Shell takes over the otherwise useful right-click on the Start menu to access its settings. For a fuller Windows 7 effect, use these settings to change the white icon to an orb and change the Skin entry from Metro to Windows Aero.

Back to reality

Don’t mess with the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 as it’s a crucial element needed by the operating system for smooth running. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian

You may be happier if Windows 10 looks and works more like Windows 7 but don’t go mad and start crippling its functionality. It’s foolish to remove the Notifications panel, rather than just using the Settings to remove any links you don’t need. It’s even more foolish to use Internet Explorer today unless a website won’t work in anything else. It’s a waste of time to remove apps you don’t think you want because it won’t save any space or increase performance. You can hide or remove their icons and forget about them but you’ll still be able to run them from the search box if you need them. In particular, don’t mess with the Microsoft Store.

Windows 10 runs an SIHClient – for Server-Initiated Healing – which tries to repair any damage to the operating system. I sometimes wonder if it spends more time protecting the OS from users than from external threats. Unless your name is Mark Russinovich, the less you mess around with Windows 10’s internals, the better it will work.

Aero interface (used in Windows Vista and 7)	Metro interface (used in Windows 8 and 10)