Adobe guru to improve Windows interface
It looks like Mark Hamburg, an Adobe Systems Photoshop and Lightroom programming guru, will be leading work to give Microsoft Windows a better user interface.
And given the dramatic user interface differences between earlier and later Adobe projects that Hamburg worked on, that raises some very intriguing possibilities.
Microsoft and Adobe Systems confirmed Hamburg’s move on Monday, but at the time, Microsoft wouldn’t share details beyond saying Hamburg would work on “user experience” for the company.
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“Given that I find the current Windows experience really annoying and yet I keep having to deal with it, this opportunity was a little too interesting to turn down.”
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Microsoft has had trouble with its “ribbon,” which presents a task-based interface across the top of Microsoft Office 2007 programs. It’s been tough for many users to adjust to the ribbon, and Microsoft is trying ways to make it easier to find the commands they want to perform.
Boy, is that the truth!
The other trouble is legacy. There are still Win95 interface elements buried under XPs Luna , buried under Vista’s Aero.
Some times their new “easier” way just ends up calling up the old way in the end. Vista’s wireless config us an excellent example of this.
Theres a lot of good about the Win interface, it just needs to be streamlined to be less ADD. maybe this guy can help with that.
I really hope this guy can do some good. I have tried over and over again to get used to the new interfaces in Vista and Office 2007, but I always give up and go back to XP and Office 2000/XP/2003.
On a side note, this is probably the number one reason I would never pay a subscription for Online Office. When Microsoft decides to change the interface (for good or ill) I don’t believe they will give you a choice of staying in the interface you are used to. I bet they just update it for everyone at once.
I’ve been saying it for a long, long time, and heard many people make the same statement: MS has to throw away it’s code and start all over again. It’s true that if they would do that, they will have compatibility issues, but nonetheless, they might win the battle against Apple’s excellent OS and Linux. More and more people asking me about moving into Linux or OS X, and less people who are willing to try Vista. Maybe MS is afraid of losing its domination on the business market, but they will lose their domination on ALL the markets unless they’ll do something. The sooner, the better.
The UI needs to be context aware and visually pleasing in 3D.
The 40 years old PARC interface needs to go.
…talk about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, as the band played on…
[Har! – ed.]
I don’t understand why they can’t offer a “Classic Mode” view for Office 2007. Most of my users are in their late 30’s to early 50’s and non-computer savvy (read: not geeks). They have no interest in learning a new interface, task based or otherwise. I’d have no problem selling new software to them if they didn’t have to relearn everything, reducing their overall productivity.
The “ribbon” in Office 2007 was a big mistake. People are all the time trying to find commonly used things like inserting a watermark which are now moved and difficult to find in the confusing ribbon. Too bad, they didn’t steal more idea from the Office 2008 for Mac developer guys.
That classic mode argument works for Windows too. They wouldn’t be shackled to bad insecure code for compatibility reasons if they would leverage virtualization.
I’m not usually much of an Apple fan, but OS9 classic mode and Rosetta were good ideas that helped both of Apples major transitions in the last 10 years.
Say farewell to Hamburg, he will sink without a trace at Microsoft, where the concept of “less is more” is heresy.
Am I the only one who thinks Adobe projects have gotten harder to use, not easier? Instead of everything being laid out in an obvious place, everything is hidden under sub-menus of sub-menus. Even when you find the right sub-menu, sometimes you have to press a special key combination to get something to appear in the menu. That’s an improvement? I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Windows.
Dynamic or “Context-Sensitive” drop down menus that keep changing DESTROY YOUR LEARNING EFFORTS !!! GET RID OF THEM ALTOGETHER !!! And why can’t I eliminate items from the pop ups that are never available ? WinBloze is NON-INTUITIVE IN THE EXTREME !!!
Window’s greatest feature is the wealth of software that runs on it. The idea of a completely new x86 OS from Microsoft will NEVER happen.
Then MS will die Aardvark. Each OS release will be more obfuscated and crappy than the last. Users will bitch that their old 1988 DOS era programs wont run, while at the same time complaining that MS isnt innovating enough and the code is insecure.
See my comment above on virtualization. With the power of todays systems and virtualization they could keep near perfect compatibility from DOS to Vista.
#11 – absolutely. Those constantly-changing menus are one of the all-time worst UI innovations. They cause endless confusion and have absolutely no benefit. People simply stop using the hidden features.
MS seems to get wedded to ideas like this and never gives them up. That’s why I LOL when I read about a new UI guru being hired. He’ll get a beautiful corner office and a 40 inch monitor. And after a couple of years of giving demos to execs who smile and thank him and quickly move on, he’ll leave.
I’m actually quite fond of the Vista/2007 Ribbon thing in Office. Only wish they would update Publisher with it.
I like the ribbon. Never could use Word (i’m on computer printing, photoediting, illustration and the like and never could “get” the so called productivity apps.) but now I can actually do stuff on Word
#2 & “16 I’m with you guys…
I saw the guy in Costco buying a pallet of turd polish.
I just checked out Lightroom…. NOT impressed, I don’t like giving up 1/2 my screen to the frigging interface.
The application was mildly impressive, now it is uninstalled.
The MS interfaces are getting worse all the time driving me toward Linux at a faster rate. Hardy Heron is looking better and better.
Give Hardy Heron a try, and assuming the hardware is compatible, you’ll never go back.
I wanted to like the ribbon. I had Office 07 installed on my main PC for a few months, but then I had to write a really long document in a short period of time. I found out I didn’t even know how to spell check, and a bunch of other stuff I do without even thinking in Office 03. I uninstalled 07 and went back to 03. Less pretty, less bragging rights, does the job…
The thing is, the PARC GUI is still very valid, and the Office 07 GUI is actually a throwback to DOS apps of old, when every app was thoroughly different. Does anybody remember? When the PARC GUI arrived to Apple and Windows, everyone could at least expect to see File, Edit, etc, Help in that sequence, and it helped a lot of people to use software. It also helped MS to sell software. The ribbon reminds me of Lotus 123, somehow. Everyone used it, but just try to go back to it today.
Now context sensitive menus, menus that hide unused stuff, and software that attempts to second-guess what you’re trying to do are hell, especially in a corporate setting, where they create a support nightmare. Ie, ‘click File, Print Area’… and on the other end of the phone you hear ‘I have no Print Area on my Excel’… Agggghhh… ‘Click the small downward pointing arrow at the bottom of the File Menu’, followed by ‘what? I see no such arrow… Couldn’t you come over here to sort this out? I have an urgent job to finish…’ You know the drill…
I don’t mean the Ribbon is a bad idea. It’s probably brilliant. It’s just a bad idea in the real world. What we need is software that is simple, with useless, geeky stuff left out to some add on pack (Vista 2 Ultimate?), and just one way of doing things. Make that Windows Vista 2 Standard. Have only two versions. The same for Office.
Otherwise companies will keep wasting money just configuring PCs to all act in the same way. Keep it simple! Please!
Adobe should make their products easier to use before thinking they can help someone else.
#21 – Everything old is new again !!! M$’s idea of “Innovation” !!! Sigh !
i liked office 2007 somewhat, and ms shouldn’t be afraid to overhaul things like that. the problem is that they are too damned big for anything useful to come out of all of those committees (even though the office group is “separate”).
the fact is most people only need the barest set of features, and power users need to be able to work quickly instead of fighting the ui.
I thought Apple was buying Adobe?
How does this help the blind man?
#25… Helooo… Apple buying Adobe? I know Apple is 160Bn company vs. a 20 Bn company, but… why?…Apple has enough brainpower to build an inhouse Photoshop killer. At least they could do it for less than 20 Bn…
And the moment Apple bought Adobe, M$ would start building a Photoshop killer themselves.
Nope, doesn’t seem plausible… but strange things happen.
#2 Yup, you’re the only one
#11 Nope, you’re not alone
#6 You win
it’s not the UI, it’s the underlying concept, stupid!
pj
I haven’t seen a decent WP program since ProWrite!