Microsoft pushing for 'pretty' PC's
Microsoft hand out design kits to 70+ designers
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2006/tc20060726_652632.htm
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Microsoft has just hand-delivered a new toolkit to some 70 design teams at major PC companies including Dell, HP, Lenovo (IBM) and Logitech. The toolkit is designed to give system manufacturers the design specifications that will ensure their product is a succes - without them having to do hundreds of thousands of dollars in research.
"So far, Microsoft is using a soft sell with PC makers. The Windows Vista Industrial Design Toolkit, hand-delivered to about 70 designers, contains everything a PC maker needs—color palette, suggested materials, even graphics for icons and power buttons—to create computers, laptops, and peripherals that hew to Vista's look. A separate booklet exhorts hardware makers to eschew drab, utilitarian boxes. Microsoft is providing the toolkit for free and vows not to strong-arm any company into incorporating the concepts."
It's expected that companies like Dell and HP won't be so interested, as they have their own designs and like to make their products look and feel unique - but other companies, including 'A Living Picture' (who make a picture frame that displays digital photos that it grabs from your PC), are already praising the product and the money it has saved them. Lenovo has indicated that they will not follow these designs.
From Business Week
"So far, Microsoft is using a soft sell with PC makers. The Windows Vista Industrial Design Toolkit, hand-delivered to about 70 designers, contains everything a PC maker needs—color palette, suggested materials, even graphics for icons and power buttons—to create computers, laptops, and peripherals that hew to Vista's look. A separate booklet exhorts hardware makers to eschew drab, utilitarian boxes. Microsoft is providing the toolkit for free and vows not to strong-arm any company into incorporating the concepts."
It's expected that companies like Dell and HP won't be so interested, as they have their own designs and like to make their products look and feel unique - but other companies, including 'A Living Picture' (who make a picture frame that displays digital photos that it grabs from your PC), are already praising the product and the money it has saved them. Lenovo has indicated that they will not follow these designs.
From Business Week