Windows 8 was released on October 26, 2012, and introduced features such as the new Start screen, the Charms, apps, and touchscreen support for devices such as the new Surface tablet. Notably, this logo ditched the flag design that had been used since 2001, as well as the three-dimensional Aero theme, replacing it with a simple window tilted to the left, designed by Pentagram. This logo was unveiled on Windows 8 Consumer Preview, released in February 2012. So what are your thoughts? Do you like Apple’s consistency with the menu bar, or do you think Microsoft has the right idea in trying to kill the floating static menu in favor of multi-touch gestures, as they have done in Windows 8? Of course, Microsoft appears set to bring back the Start menu for an encore in the upcoming Windows 8.1.Microsoft overhauled their logo again to fit in with the new Metro design language on Windows 8, which removed the colors to become all blue and introduced a slightly modified Segoe font. So which OS got it right? I don’t think there is a right or wrong, but there’s something to be said about Apple’s ability to make an OS in 2013 feel new, while still keeping the overall appearance similar to that of the first Macintosh released during the Reagan administration. Although Microsoft did decide to screw up the idea of a simple, clear and concise menu by introducing the “Ribbon” menu concept. Application settings and functions always appear in menu form at the top of each application window. While Windows has been widely inconsistent in placement of core system settings and functions, the Microsoft operating system has been quite consistent in placement of in-application functions. Or how about in the “Start” menu, which debuted with Windows 95?Īnd then of course the Start menu itself morphed and changed its appearance over the years until Windows 8, when Microsoft decided to kill the Start menu in favor of…well, let’s just say the jury is still out on that one. So, are core system functions in the “Main” menu of the “Program Manager” as it was in Windows 3.1? Of course, no such taskbar existed prior to Windows 95. For much of the past two decades, Windows users accessed a “Start” menu located on the bottom left of the screen as part of the taskbar. If you notice in the title of this article I said “Windows taskbar,” well, because there hasn’t been a definitive central location for OS settings during the lifespan of Windows, so I had to pick something to compare to the Menu Bar in OS X. In contrast, Microsoft Windows hasn’t quite figured out where to put global system features.
Instead of putting menu options within the window of each application, the menu bar serves as the hub for all application features, as well as global system features. When sitting in front of a Mac, the menu bar is right there, at the top of the screen, where it’s always been, with the Apple logo sitting in the same position for nearly 30 years! While the functions available on this menu have changed with time, the menu bar is still a central design component of Apple’s computer operating system.