Rounded Corners May Just Be What Windows 10 Needs

Microsoft is believed to be working on a facelift for Windows 10, but there have been only a few hints that show what it entails. Rounded corners, for one, has been doing the rounds as rumors.

As in, the company is said to be testing their implementation across the OS.

That would be a major step up from the block nature of the Metro UI that the company introduced when it launched Windows 8 back in 2012. That design transitioned to what was known as Modern UI, and now the company is going all in with a new design philosophy.

One that goes by as the Fluent Design System.

The company continues to work on these changes, expected to be part of the 20H1 release of the operating system due out in the spring of next year.

In the meantime, however, concept artists are running with these rumors, and envisioning their own creations based upon the direction that they think Redmond might go with.

One such concept that recently surfaced proposes a much more dramatic overhaul of the Windows 10 experience, complete with a nice new look for the beloved Start Menu.

Observe:

Must be said, the rounded corners in this implementation make a lot of sense, not just in the Start Menu, but also across the entirety of the operating system. File Explorer got an uplift, as you can see, as does the Action Center that houses notifications.

Of course, rumor has it that Microsoft is thinking about giving up on Live Tiles, aiming instead for a simplified Start Menu that sticks with just the basics like icons and app names.

Here, the concept retains the Live Tiles, while also adding a redesigned Recent Items section.

Overall, this is one of the best concepts that have come up for Windows 10 in recent memory. It’s also a tad more dramatic than what the Redmond based company usually goes for, but it is hard to deny that something like this would look really great.

Thoughts?