Not every new feature in the next release of the Windows operating system will be behind-the-scenes (like those much-needed performance enhancements that are in the works.) Stephen over at UX Evangelist has been fortunate enough to get his hands on the M3 (Milestone 3) release of the forthcoming Windows release and reports that the old classics, including Paint, WordPad and Calcuator, have been enhanced and sport a fancy new user interface.
As you can see to the left, the Office 2007 Ribbon UI has been added to MSPaint. I’m not seeing too many new options for drawing, editing, etc. but the new interface does make this old program, that we’ve all come to know and love, a little easier to work with. This is the first noteworthy update to Paint’s interface since its release in 1995.
As for WordPad, Stephen offers the following: “Basically, imagine Microsoft taking Office 2007 Word, slimming it down, tweaking the ribbon bar UI a bit, and calling it WordPad.”
Overall, it sounds like these tools will remain pretty simple but it sure will be alot easier to work in them with the new interface.
