The Ribbon Graphical User Interface Will Define the Windows 7 UX

The Ribbon graphical user interface will define the user experience of the next iteration of Windows, giving the operating system a new visual style trajectory compared to its predecessors, including Windows Vista. The Ribbon or Fluent GUI was born together with the Office 2007 System, but by no means will it remain confined to the Office brand umbrella. In fact, the Redmond company aims to make Ribbon a standard of graphical user interface design and functionality across Windows 7. According to the early plans for the Windows 7 user experience, Microsoft is working to convince third-party application developers to adopt the new user interface technologies in their products.

"Come lead the effort to update the Windows 7 platform with the latest advancements in User Interface design. Bring the Ribbon, Jewel, and other new UI concepts to the Windows platform and work with internal partners and ISVs to update their applications to utilize these hot new UI technologies. Our mission is to enable the next generation of user interface development on the Windows platform. We will be determining the new Windows user interface guidelines and building a platform that supports it. We’ll eliminate much of the drudgery of Win32 UI development and enable rich, graphical, animated user interface by using markup based UI and a small, high performance, native code runtime," reads an excerpt of the Microsoft job posting, via Long Zheng.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates gave the first taste of what the company has in-stored for third-party program developers that will build new products or adapt existent solutions for Windows 7, at the Office System Developers Conference 2008 in early February. Gates stated at that time that Microsoft itself would be using Ribbon across a number of applications.

"The UI Platform Team is looking for a senior technical leader to help drive the design and implementation of the new UI framework. Come join our startup team and help us grow it into a powerhouse focused on delivering solutions that developers will love. We offer an environment where you can channel your creativity towards software innovation, work with world-class software professionals and hone your professional skills to grow your career," it is added in the Microsoft job posting.

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