Concept imagines the old Windows 98 with a modern touch

Mar 30, 2020 06:33 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is all about Windows 10 these days, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the whole world has already left behind the previous Windows versions.

And while so many people still love Windows 7 and even Windows XP, Zee-Al-Eid Ahmad Rana, who already created several pretty cool concepts, decided to give Windows 98 a modern touch with his very own facelift.

So what we have here is a Windows 98 refresh based on Fluent Design, the design language that Microsoft uses in Windows 10 and in several other products.

The concept imagines a redesign UI for several core Windows 98 components, including Windows Explorer, the Start menu, and Microsoft Edge (as a matter of fact, Microsoft Edge didn’t exist in the Windows 98 era; this is a browser that Microsoft developed for Windows 10, and Windows 98 shipped with Internet Explorer as the default browser).

The clean Start menu

Needless to say, this can very well be just a skin for Windows 10 because, let’s be honest about it, really looks great. The Start menu itself is likely to be the thing so many people love, especially thanks to its clean design which reminds of the Windows 7 version.

The Start menu has evolved in Windows 10, now coming with live tiles and other elements, but those upgrading from Windows 7 would rather stick with a more simplified and cleaner look just like the one in the 2009 operating system.

At the end of the day, it’s important to remember this is just a concept and there’s basically no chance to see something like that ever going live in Windows 10. Microsoft rarely uses these concepts as the source of inspiration for its visual updates, despite the fact the company would really do itself a favor to check out such ideas every now and then.