- Microsoft compared liquid glass to Windows Vista on its Instagram account
- It is late enough for the party to draw this kind of comparison
- Please note, if someone has the right to do so, it was Microsoft, who caused transparency with the aerodynamic effect on the Vista desktop
Microsoft has joined the crowd of those who laughed at the new Apple liquid glass interface for MacOS Tahoe 26 (and iOS 26 or other platforms such as iPados 26).
Yesterday, on its Instagram account, as indicated by Windows, Microsoft published a collection of screenshots by Windows Vista. This happened complete with nostalgic sound effects (the chime to start on the desk) of Back in the Day (2007), with a single simple sentence: “I’m just going to leave this here.”
In case you have missed it, Apple has caught a large volley of criticisms with regard to the impression that liquid glass has reinvented the idea of transparency – a glass and transparent interface – when it was done by Microsoft in … Yes, you guessed it: Windows Vista.
In Windows Vista, this effect was called Aero (and later, Aero also came to Windows 7), and as you can see in the Instagram assembly above, these are translucent windows, allowing you to see the background through them.
Microsoft is late at the party here, really and in this regard, the company looks a little stupid. Everyone has made their point of view on how the liquid glass is Vista (or Windows 7), how Apple is copycates, etc. – And therefore Microsoft runs the risk of inducing certain yawns here.
But still, Microsoft invented Aero with these venerable office operating systems a lot There are translucent moons, so in a way, more than anyone, the software giant has the right to make fun of MacOS Tahoe 26 here.
Analysis: fun but not fair?
So, given the hail of critical bullets trying to break Apple’s liquid glass – the latest Microsoft pothot included – it is worth considering a key question. Is it really fair to level charges to Mac and Idevice Maker to be so original and dated with its user interface innovation here?
I don’t think this is the case. However, Apple had to know that he was going to face this type of counterpoup, even if it is a rather ironic affair (mainly). And for Microsoft, it is an obvious opportunity to rival in an ankle or two, which, let’s face it, is not missed. However, I don’t know why Microsoft was slow to move with your job.
Anyway, one thing is obvious: liquid glass does not equivalent to the aerodynamic effect of Vista (and I barely think that Microsoft suggests that, of course). Yes, there are clear visual parallels, but what MacOS Tahoe 26 does is very different from Windows Vista or 7.
To begin with, the reason why no one liked aero much to Windows Vista was because she made the environment of the slower operating system work – nobody wanted to offset when the windows around the desk, not surprising. (Windows 7 did better here, of course).
Not only is contemporary equipment ripe for a much better implementation of transparent interface elements now, so everything will be properly reactive, but Apple’s liquid glass seems to be far more sophisticated in nature. It seems that there is a lot of careful crafts here, with nuances in the way in which light passes through the “glass” and interacts with the interface behind.
Admittedly, it is still too early to say exactly how it will happen, but the aero is not, that’s for sure. Others have told me other members of the Techradar team who saw the action interface that it seems much better in real use than screenshots cannot transmit.
Even so, the concerns remain, without a doubt. The most obvious potential spine is the decrease in accessibility and the potential lack of clarity that these sophisticated and transparent effects could cause. What we don’t want is a muddy look where the user can have trouble reading the basic text or distinguishing icons in the foreground.
Time will tell us about these concerns, but Apple seems to have thought of the whole of this plan and global philosophy through completely, since it is not only a simple interface overhaul, but a large multiplatform unification for macos, iOS and all other operating systems of the company.
So far, liquid glass seems fairly smooth, it seems that the function is as important as the shape, and yes, it looks a bit like Windows Vista. But hey, what were you expecting for Apple to do with all your eyes on his large WWDC 25 interface? Recognize Microsoft as the precursor of glass transparency in the field of office operating systems?
