10 year old blog post on flat design
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Thought this was quite interesting, with Windows 8, iOS7 etc. going for flat design in the last few years like it's a brand new idea. Calling XP flat at this point just seems a bit weird:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/07/28/199589.aspx
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So now the pendulum of fashion has swung away from 3D back towards flatness. Who knows how long this school of visual expression will hold the upper hand. Will 3D return with a vengeance when people tire of the starkness of the flat look?
How long? Until MS releases that hololens thing, or however it's called. Then everything is going THREE-DEE once more, and if it looks lame on your screen, well, that's only because you don't have the proper hardware!
Source: touchscreen on laptops before release of Win8.
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Windows XP jumped on the "flat is good" bandwagon
With its round-edged Taskbar and boiled sweet window buttons, which are about as flat as the top of a LEGO brick.
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Since the first "modern" flat interface (not counting stuff like Mac OS < 7.0 or Windows < 3 as is mentioned in the article where it was more a technical necessity) was the Zune back in 2006. So, the look is 10 years old.
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I don't know what the original Zunes looked like, and I'm not having much luck on Google. What as it like?
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That image doesn't show the "squares" screens, though. The main menu was scrolling text, which is present in for example Windows Phone (look at Settings) but isn't used as a main menu anymore.