Microsoft has been making many changes in their tune towards User Experience. It has been obvious in their latest application releases such as Office and Vista, but that change has been more apparent in its development tools such as WPF and Silverlight. The original model Microsoft had used in their previous applications and development tools was very clear. They stuck to consistency as their primary focus in User Experience. And rightly so, the audience at the time did not grow up with PC's at hand, everything had to be consistent to help bring a sense of comfort to these particular users. And let’s face it, we all benefited from this particular type of focus. With these latest applications, what was originally deemed consistent and comfortable is evolving into something more and that is the beginning of change.

While consistency has an importance in user experience, this change is warranted as the audience evolves. Some will find the change to be awkward but the overall evolution of the audience demands change. This new audience has a much closer feel to computers and the interaction with them. There are some that have quite literally grown up with computers in their homes, in their schools, and even in their pockets. They have a new demand; they want personal, creative, innovative experiences with their applications. While I cannot justify all the complaints with Vista, I will claim that Vista has definitely put a wow factor into the user experience. When office released their latest 2007 I griped a bit about the new ribbon interface, but in just a few weeks it went from this "Oh, my god where is it?" to something I can’t imagine not having. And I have seen clients eat this up, and want these kinds of changes into their applications.

These changes however, don't come without a price. As this evolution takes place it is imperative that development groups and shops also begin to evolve and embrace this new paradigm. Without a sense of consistency or direction in interface design; it will be imperative that these groups add User Experience professionals into their teams. And yes, I mean User Experience professionals and not just creative artists, that’s another topic I will save for another time.