Microsoft Tests Colorful New System Icons for Windows 10

[TumbleGeorge]

New icons with increase speed of random read/write/copy of small program files from SSD

 

[Mr Bill]

Personally, I would prefer if Microsoft focus on the below,
1. Stability of OS - While I agree that there is no bug free software, but I don't think it is acceptable to see teething/ glaring issues with each big release. Especially when majority out there are using Windows Home edition where they can't really opt out of all these updates for long
2. Optimized for better performance - I feel with all the fanciful UI, its making the already bloated OS even more bloated
3. Improve UX - I don't know if its only me, but I noticed that in order to keep the UI clean, they are hiding features/ functions which should ideally be easily accessible.

Most software companies follow MS, the lost following the lost. My VPN "Private Internet Access" doesn't even support 7 anymore, so I just use 7 for the web, and keep it backed up with Acronis. With all the bloat on 10, soon we will need 500 gig of ram and a 20 GHz processor to even boot our machines. It's become a world of speed, funny thing is, even with all this speed, most folks have less time to relax, go figure.

 

[micropage7]

could be yes, but it looks like it influenced by google, icons are getting more simple and more simple, but it just don't feel right
Microsoft is following the trend?

 

[Prima.Vera]

Where is my 3D desktop like in sci-fi movies?

There you go:

BumpTop - Open Source 3D Physics Desktop

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

New icons with increase speed of random read/write/copy of small program files from SSD

it occurs to me there is small chance you might be right, they might replace how windows stores and handles icons for that .0001% increase.

 

[zlobby]

Return to monke!

 

[R-T-B]

MS did you add true 10-bit color support to windows/2D desktop yet?

I love how they support up to 16bpc in png format for backgrounds, but they decided it had to have an artificial 20mb file size limit, making it nearly useless.

Some days I feel like the win95 team is secretly sabotaging their source code with arbitrary limitations drawn from the 90s. Whats next, unlimited file size, in 8bit color?

 

[rtwjunkie]

Goddammit people, I keep saying that it's not gonna be removed yet.

No plans for it other than slowly migrating things from Control panel to Settings. And they're taking their sweet time doing it.

Well in truth, half of it has been moved already. Not happy about that at all.

 

[Mr Bill]

I wished they would make some icons like the Monopoly pieces, I really like the Top Hat.

 

[cyneater]

Latest windows is monochrome icons.
Its either go back to dos or use more colour

 

[R-T-B]

Well in truth, half of it has been moved already. Not happy about that at all.

I agree: there was no reason to get rid of it on a Desktop in the first place.

 

[windwhirl]

Well in truth, half of it has been moved already. Not happy about that at all.

And it took them 6 years. Still a long way to go.

I agree: there was no reason to get rid of it on a Desktop in the first place.

I can agree with that, though. The overcategorization of settings and the fact that you can only operate a single setting window at any given time is frustrating.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
How very linux of them.

 

[Totally]

These new icons look dated, look like old mac os icons from 5-10 years ago.

 

[Wirko]

To move ahead with the times, MS could at least licence that photo of a black hole and use it as the new trash can icon.

 

[windwhirl]

I also hope the new folder icons for pictures/movies can still display a small preview image of what's in the folder.

To answer your question, there are no previews for folders' contents now.

 

[lazord00d]

I just wish M$ would finally figure out one of the oldest, most venerable, and refined peripherals in computing history.. the printer. Ive been working in the IT realm for almost 20y. Over and over their updates wreak havok on this tried and true technology. And I've spent countless hours cleaning up their mess so my clients can simply do their jobs. :-( I mean printers are pretty basic, and have not changed significantly in decades. Just sayin..

 

[windwhirl]

I just wish M$ would finally figure out one of the oldest, most venerable, and refined peripherals in computing history.. the printer. Ive been working in the IT realm for almost 20y. Over and over their updates wreak havok on this tried and true technology. And I've spent countless hours cleaning up their mess so my clients can simply do their jobs. :-( I mean printers are pretty basic, and have not changed significantly in decades. Just sayin..

Yeah. My boss can no longer print with a Kyocera MFP because of an update.

 

[lazord00d]

Oh trust me I know.. and that's just the latest episode of "No Hard Copies 4 You!" courtesy of Gates et al.

 

[Melvis]

Goddammit people, I keep saying that it's not gonna be removed yet.

No plans for it other than slowly migrating things from Control panel to Settings. And they're taking their sweet time doing it.

Yet? but that means it will......and how do you know all this anyway? got links? and "when" they do its going to be an even worse OS....When is MS 11 coming?

 

[Wirko]

Oh trust me I know.. and that's just the latest episode of "No Hard Copies 4 You!" courtesy of Gates et al.

Last time they tried, in June last year, they brought down the print-to-PDF functionality too.
https://www.techradar.com/news/windows-10-printer-chaos-has-been-resolved-heres-how-to-get-the-fix
A hotfix came after many days, with many warnings that it could break other things (like wifi).

 

[windwhirl]

Yet? but that means it will......and how do you know all this anyway? got links? and "when" they do its going to be an even worse OS....When is MS 11 coming?

I'm not denying that it will happen. Though I'm not 100% sure it will either. If the backlash is big enough, MS might reconsider it.

The reality is that most users will probably use all of the Control Panel (well, Control Panel and Settings app) once, maybe. After that, very sporadically they will circle back to touch this or that.

Think about it: most items in it are at best used once when the user is setting things up for the first time (accessibility options, Bitlocker, mouse and keyboard, sound...), some aren't even used (myself I never use the Work folders thing, Storage Spaces, Color Management or Windows Firewall). And then you have the big loads of enterprise users that rarely touch anything there because the IT staff disabled almost everything company-wide, while doing a lot if not all of the configuration through Group Policy and Active Directory or whatever they call it these days.

So, yeah, a bit of a pain in the neck for those that actually do use it relatively frequently (whether that's just for the shits and giggles or because something is/got broken, it's another matter entirely). But most users will just go "oh, so this is now in the Settings app? ok, cool" and forget about the thing entirely once they're done.

On how do I know about it? It's a guess, but it's based on the following:
The Settings app launched with Windows 10.
Since then, aside from what was available in the Settings app that got removed from Control Panel during launch, very few things have been moved.
Every single time something got moved, I saw it announced months before it reached the mass userbase because the thing that got moved was detailed in the Insider build release notes.
Finally, there are still a lot of settings inside the classic Control Panel. Some of them have been duplicated in Settings for a long time already and yet they are still there. So, I don't think Microsoft is willing or caring to move everything in one go. It will be a slow process.

And it's taken almost 6 years to get to where we are now. I'd say it will take at least a few more years, if only because they're focused on other stuff. Again, Microsoft doesn't expect users to tinker all the time with the settings, beyond the usual wallpaper change, and they do have the telemetry to know it, after all, so it's very likely that moving things from CP to Settings is low priority or not even registered as a goal for anytime soon.

 

[TechLurker]

To answer your question, there are no previews for folders' contents now.

Well damn. Thanks for checking. I'll have to hope that the option remains if selecting the old folder icon style, as well as hope that MS makes it an "advanced" toggle option for the new style.

 

[WhitetailAni]

Why not call it Windows 10.1 at this point?
21H2 vs 21H1 seems like it's basically a whole new OS, or at least deserving of a new number.

 

[windwhirl]

Well damn. Thanks for checking. I'll have to hope that the option remains if selecting the old folder icon style, as well as hope that MS makes it an "advanced" toggle option for the new style.

As far as I know, there's no toggle for this. Once you get the build, all the icons are changed and folder content previews are disabled. How that works, I have no idea, though maybe the icon for that function has not been made yet?

In any case, the bug has been reported multiple times in Feedback hub, so Microsoft is probably aware of this already.

Why not call it Windows 10.1 at this point?
21H2 vs 21H1 seems like it's basically a whole new OS, or at least deserving of a new number.

I'm betting on MS pulling an Apple and calling it Windows 10 for at least 5 more years