Adobe Lightroom worker to mend Windows UI
updated 04:25 pm EDT, Wed April 30, 2008
Adobe Staff on Windows
An influential Adobe programmer has been tapped to help develop the interface for the next version of Windows, according to an observer at Photoshop News. Lightroom and former Photoshop programmer Mark Hamburg has been recruited by Microsoft to work on the "user experience" of the operating system and has reportedly been given an exceptional offer that persuaded him to switch to the Redmond-based company. The move is also said to have been spurred on by a desire to change fields and comes out of a desire to potentially resolve Windows design decisions.
"Now, given that I find the current Windows experience really annoying and yet I keep having to deal with it, this opportunity was a little too interesting to turn down," Hamburg says.
What elements of the interface would be addressed are unknown and unlikely to be revealed, though the Adobe staffer's experience in designing Lightroom is believed to have a significant part to play in the role, CNET photography expert Stephen Shankland adds. While Photoshop is built on a legacy design, Lightroom provides a context-sensitive interface that adds or removes features to the screen.
Microsoft recently began embracing a similar interface with the "ribbon" interface in Office 2007 and a similar element in Office for Mac 2008, suggesting wider adoption of the concept by the company. The ribbon largely replaces traditional menus with buttons and other controls that change depending on the situation.
The next version of Windows, so far known only as version 7, is planned for a 2010 release and in very early test builds continues to resemble Vista, with more substantial changes unlikely to occur until the beta stage.
Why not outsource?
04/30, 04:44pm reply
Why not outsource it to that tiny company in Cupertino? By the way, no 10.5 UI designers need apply here. Stick to 10.4.
Paul Huang
Forum Regular
Joined: Sep 1999
Got a good title...
04/30, 05:06pm reply
...for him
"t*** Polisher"
That would look great on his business card.
phillymjs
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2000
yea but...
04/30, 05:07pm reply
will they listen to him?? This is one guy going up against a huge group of stiffs who havent had much luck with UI...
eldarkus
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 2004
Leave it to MS
04/30, 06:04pm reply
To hire the designer of the one Adobe application UI which is flashy but a pain in the a** to actually use.
Doofuses.
robttwo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2005
does this mean
04/30, 06:14pm reply
the windows interface will kill mail services, or phone home constantly, only to hang the system?
Perhaps you'll have to call Adobe to unlicense your old machine so you can license your new machine?
Maybe Microsoft Version Queue will c*** out on you and take all your work with it?
Come to think of it. Aren't Adobe and Microsoft the same company anyway?
Flying Meat
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2007
lol
04/30, 06:27pm reply
Polishing a t*** doesn't make it any better.
If ribbons are any indication, MS is doing a great service driving users away from windows.
dliup
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2006
you forget...
04/30, 06:52pm reply
...There comes a time in a man's life, when it's time to look at just a single variable -- and that's simply, how much are they paying you?
While certainly Adobe probably paid him a decent amount, I'm certain that MS was waving a whole lotta cash in front of his face, stock options, and a healthy benefits package - which is far more than Adobe would have done.
It's an age old game - go to a competitor, get paid a ton more, then move on after 4-5 years, and return back to your old job, at twice the pay and benefits.
More than anything else, this was just about money, and he doesn't care about what difference he can make. I wouldn't.
ZinkDifferent
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2005
lightroom
04/30, 07:12pm reply
Ligthroom is a great application to use for managing huge amounts of RAW images. I used Aperture during its first incarnation and IMHO Apple really screwed up. I must say tho, v2 looks pretty good, but I have no need to learn a new application, when Lightroom does the same job (altho direct tethered shooting would be nice.)
mogura
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2001
it's not the GUI
04/30, 11:35pm reply
I don't think the user interface is the problem. It's never been the problem with windows. Windows has been ugly and then with XP went to candy coated. But the real problem is the only thing MS seems to not really want to worry about. IT'S ABOUT THE CODE!!! Hence, it's about the functionality.
I'm so sick of every time some column compares Mac to Windows and they always talk about the GUI. Never the underlying code and functionality.
I'm sure the next Windows will look beautiful… the OS just won't work right!!!
manleycreative
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2005
Good move
05/01, 10:12am reply
MS are doing the right thing here, at last.
henjin
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2007