Pour One Out for Windows 95

Windows 10 Sun Valley Update ditches Windows 95 icons for modern versions

Later this year, Microsoft is planning to deliver a “sweeping visual rejuvenation” with Project Sun Valley, giving testers in the Insider program an early look at changes that will be introduced on Windows 10.

Windows 10’s big interface refresh is codenamed “Sun Valley” and it’s reportedly coming in October/November, with reports suggesting that the feature update will hit the RTM (release to manufacture) status in June. In the latest preview builds, we’ve now caught a glimpse of new icons for features from Windows 95-era.

I have mixed feelings about this. Those old icons have a certain pixel-y charm to them, and some isometric personality. They’ve survived this long mainly due to maintenance of backward compatibility. The new ones are… okay, but decidedly flat. I get why Microsoft are doing it, and frankly Windows’ user interface has felt like an archeological dig at times.

(I originally came across this story over at The Verge, but as they pretty much copied most of the story from the linked article above I’ve opted to use that, if only because it’ll load faster for most folks.)