Windows 8 and OS X Lion are completely different in design philosophy

Microsoft has begun to leak the details of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system. With the current leaked images, we can deduce that Windows 8 is completely different from Apple's OS X Lion. Steven Sinofsky, director of Microsoft's Windows division, posted a blog post saying that Windows 8 will be completely different from Apple's Mac OS X design.

First of all, let's take a look at the history of Windows file browsing. Windows File System Manager starts with MS DOS Executive, which displays the DOS command line in a graphical environment, which is completely different from the icon-centric display of the Mac system.

When Windows became more and more popular, Microsoft created its own graphical file manager, and when web browsing became popular, Microsoft added the file browser to the same browser as the web browser. The function, and the file manager is re-expressed as Windows Explorer, and the added function is the address bar and the back button that can input the URL.

After that, Microsoft added more Mac elements to Windows Explorer, such as turning file browsing into icon-based. And since the release of Mac OS X, Microsoft has also highlighted its own documents, pictures, music and videos instead of the normal file root system.

While Windows 8 has filed the Ribbon system, the biggest change in Windows 8 is that many pre-installed programs of the system are the same as Office, and the main function is called Ribbon. This is completely different from the simple interface Apple promoted in the Finder. The default function keys in the Finder are only the category, QuickVeiw, advanced features, and search bar.

And Microsoft Windows 8 Explorer has 19 visible features in 5 categories by default, which is only on the Home tab. The Ribbon interface also brings four other tabs that are identical to the Mac's main menu. Sinofsky explained that the Home tag is a major part of the new Explorer. 84% of the commands executed by the user are done here.

The Microsoft Office Ribbon design does not match the Mac operating environment, so Microsoft created a hybrid Ribbon interface for Office for Mac. The design of Apple's own iWork software is also based on simplicity, adding unneeded function keys to the menu.

Beyond the graphical interface, the design of Microsoft Windows 8 also marks the shift of Windows to mobile devices, such as tablets. The existing Windows 7 programs cannot be run on the ARM chip tablet, but the web application launched in Windows 8 is fine.