While no doubt Google’s simple and clean applications have been a hit with some users, I’m really impressed with what Yahoo is showing off in its new Messenger for Windows Vista.
The product isn’t out yet, but looks to be almost ready, and they’ve got a video showing off its capabilities.
The new Yahoo Messenger for Windows Vista takes advantage of a new technology in Vista called the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), which makes it easier for developers to create applications that use rich graphics without some of the massive coding and design work previously involved in such applications, and with better performance by taking advantage of native Windows Vista technologies. The Vista Messenger sets such a great visual standard for rich WPF applications in Vista, that it actually puts to shame a lot of what Microsoft has been developing to show off its new operating system, and that’s a good sign.
While it looks great and has some really cool features (seriously, check out the video) I’m sure it isn’t for everyone, including a lot of people who swear by Google’s designs. Still, I wonder if we’ll ever see from Google products that are visually arresting, and not just because of immense amounts of white space. I wouldn’t mind a Google Talk that had just a little bit of extra design work in it, taking advantage of the power of the computer I paid good money for. Because I really like Google, does that mean I have to give up on rich, beautiful, feature-filled applications, all in the interest of simplicity? How does everyone else feel?
(via Neowin)
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Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.
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