Microsoft learned from the past to design its future

theverge.com

15 points·benryon··6 comments

I found it amusing to see pictures in the article showing Microsoft's design team using Macs instead of anything else running windows. No "eating your own dog food" here, move along.

I worked on the Windows team in the past, and it was a legitimate problem. Exposure to competitive products is great to stay aware of options and what others are doing, but the designers I worked with used Macs exclusively to the point where they didn't understand core Windows app switching/launching/task management workflows. A significant portion of my interactions was often explaining to them how proposed changes would interact with normal users, legacy apps, and everything else outside of idealized rendered screenshots.

> A significant portion of my interactions was often explaining to them how proposed changes would interact with normal users, legacy apps, and everything else outside of idealized rendered screenshots.

Ouch, that must be painful to do and keep doing. Did you manage to make a change in the end? (or should I take the articles' movie as an example that it did not change :-) )

Interesting to see that Figma seems to be adopted by at least the OneDrive team. They were working on some explanatory images and copywriting there. Does anyone know if they use any other tools to collaborate on design?

Did they show Macs by purpose on the pictures? ;)

Haha at least they covered up the logo with a sticker

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