Microsoft is changing even more Windows 10 icons as part of the latest version Insider Preview Build 21343The company has has the icons of his built-in apps and a few others, such as Windows Security, Narrator and Notepad. And back in 2018, Microsoft has thoroughly revised its Office iconsMore changes came in 2020. (To be fair, I still haven’t gotten used to the changes to the Office icon, although I accept it.)
This last round of changes, which should eventually roll out to every Windows 10 computer, are just as dramatic as the Office icon changes. But is it just me, or are Windows 10 icons starting to look more and more like macOS icons as time goes by?
Let’s start with the Drive and Trash icons. Instead of a three-quarter view, both now face forward and look like similar to the same icons on macOS. Exhibition A:
Notice how the green dot on the row icon has now switched places, from the right to the left. The drive icon on macOS Big Sur and Catalina (the icon that appears when you insert a flash drive into the USB port) are also front-faced, but the green dot is on the right, there the dot is on the current Windows 10 drive icon. The new Windows disk icon has less of a slope, but still looks more Mac-like.
The new Windows recycle bin is also more Mac-like than before. It is also forward facing and slightly larger. The macOS trash can icon is round, not rectangular, but it is also partially transparent with paper almost overflowing at the top. The paper is a slightly more colorful than the Windows version, but still.
G / O Media can receive a commission
As if those macOS look-a-like icons weren’t bad enough, Microsoft is completely redesigning the folder icons for Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, and Videos. Annex B:
Microsoft says it is redoing these icons to create it “Easier to tell them apart at a glance.” I would say that the current icons are already easily distinguishable from each other as each icon already contains a musical note, arrow, etc., but those pieces of the icons hang around an open folder in Manila instead of being embedded in the center like the new icons in the image above. Do you know what else has such icons? macOS.
They are not that colorful, as Apple chose to make all of its folders a single shade of blue. But they all have different icons in the center to distinguish them from each other. The new Pictures and Desktop Windows 10 icons, in particular, are also different shades of blue, like macOS, but the rest of the new icons are more colorful, as is the colorful macOS desktop icon bar.
Especially for Big Sur, Apple wanted its icons look more consistent with those on iOSMicrosoft is trying to do the same with these new Windows 10 icons.
“Several changes have been made, such as the orientation of the folder icons and the default file type icons, for greater consistency between Microsoft products that display files,” Microsoft said in its recent Windows Insider blog.
That’s all well and good, but it seems to be related to a greater trend to simplify icons as much as possible. When you compare, the icon changes from macOS Catalina to Big Sur, for instance, you will see notable changes in the Calculator, Calendar and Mail icons in particular(Not everyone was a fan of that, one of both.)
If we look back on when Microsoft started changing more of the Windows 10 icons in 2020, it even said it wanted to maintain a consistent look and feel on Android, iOS and macOS. Having icons that are more Mac-like certainly helps with that mission, although it seems like it serves to make it Windows 10 itself look more Mac-like instead of standing out. Maybe I just hate change, but these new icons are a no for me.