Windows 8: death of the Aero Glass interface

With the Windows 8 operating system, Microsoft has abandoned the Aero Glass graphical interface.

In a new blog post, Microsoft has spoken about their Windows 8 user interface and their choice of interface, including the desktop.

The future Windows operating system will be split with two desktops – one with the Metro interface which is tactile and Cloud orientated with a range of applications, and the other a more classic desktop. But this desktop interface will have some changes as Aero Glass will be abandoned.

For Microsoft, the Windows 8 desktop should be familiar to Windows 7 users without sacrificing the compatibility of already existent applications (for x86 architecture hardware), while assuring a link to the Metro interface.

Aero Glass therefore appears to be too much. There is now no place for transparent effects, shadows, 3D effects and well-rounded windows. Microsoft will be scrapping all aesthetic elements. The time has come for things to be more squared and flat, with colours being more modern and neutral.

The task bar is still mixed with the screen background, but it seems "less complicated" according to Microsoft. The appearance of most controls like the buttons has also been reworked. It can be noted that the appearance of the Ribbon in the Explorer has also been modified.

These visual changes (and others) won’t necessarily be present with the Windows 8 Release Preview planned for early June. "You will see everything in the final version of Windows 8!"

Aero Glass calls on part of the video cards graphics processor and Microsoft has wanted to better marry with low energy use hardware to overcome energy use issues, with this to better take into account mobile devices (and their batteries) over desktop computers. This is one of the reasons that Aero Glass is being abandoned. Changing to economic energy mode in Windows 7 (or Vista) nevertheless disables Aero Glass.