Microsoft Going Metro: Windows 8 Logon Screen, Outlook 15 UI

It looks like Microsoft is going all out with its Metro UI design language and early leaks are showing bold moves for the company's flagship products. First up is a new video from Winfuture.de of Windows 8 which shows off the log-on process from boot up to desktop. First there's a new lock screen (which probably doubles as the screensaver now) and features the date/time in large Segoe font on top of a weird background of a man/elf. The login page to pick between different accounts is now much more simplistic, with square icons (lacking the glossy Aero) centered in the page and an arrow button to return to the lock screen. Besides that the video also shows the new area for your user icon (or Windows Live account) in the right corner of the taskbar and the new options available from there. The original video was taken down, but you can watch the re-uploaded one above for your viewing pleasure.

In another leak, originating from TheHotFix but available to see courtesy of Winrumors, new screenshots of Outlook 15 showed off a much greater use of Metro in its design, looking extremely similar in layout to the Zune desktop software, specifically the Settings page. It's a huge improvement on the overly-cluttered experience today, but it is unknown if Outlook 15 will look the same in the tablet version of Windows 8. Check out a picture of that at the source link.

Via: Microsoft News
Source: Hotfix (post taken down), Winfuture.de, Winrumors