Microsoft to start working on Windows 8 Milestone 3 soon

Gornot said:

I still "dream" of the day I see Windows Media Player redesigned COMPLETELY, with new features and updates to some old stuff that linger since version 9!

Customization is still to this day a big lack in Microsoft's products, and it would truly be awesome to see this improved, especially because the default look of Win7 is so ugly and bland (IMHO)
If the IE9 icon is any indication of the future look of Windows 8, I may be getting very excited to see the new look.

Dear Gornot,
We both are "brothers in arms"when it comes to the logo of IE9-the slightly glassy, yet not entirely aero-looking one! But it's the stuff under the hood that really matters! For example, take Flashpeak Slim Browser , a browser built on the lines of IE and has it's own download(default) manager which is so appealing a feature! Kindly have a look at SlimBrowser : http://www.flashpeak.com/
Regards,
DR.Sreedhav:)

Ah, yes, I remember SlimBrowser, though I never had a chance to use it; I guess it was never appealing enough to me. The difference between IE9 beta VS. IE9 RC icons and UI is slim, though I liked the look of beta better.

Recently I found myself jumping more and more between Win7 and Ubuntu 10.10 just to rest my eyes from Aero and just enjoy an alternative.
Even by default, Ubuntu is very, VERY pleasing to the eye, and there are tons of options for customization, though no Linux has ever been able to "do the job" for me as good as Windows does; I guess it's simply a matter of advancement on the software solutions. I can never get used to the fonts used by Ubuntu, especially while browsing the web. Although the Ubuntu font family is pure awesomeness, some websites (like deviantART) look simply disastrous because of the fonts; not to mention that Linux itself heavily depends on its Terminal commands (same thing as Windows' Command Prompt) and that I had much to learn before I could get the hang of some basic things I could do in Windows with just a few clicks instead.

But back on the topic at hand, I also agree that Win8 should be something different from 7 and would love to be surprised at what it can do. Still, I can't help but feel a bit skeptical at it all, considering the fact that the next version of Windows is likely to be released much sooner than needed, because 7 is so good at what it does.
The jump from XP to Vista was mesmerizing, and even now I can freely say that I preferred the look of Vista over 7. The superbar is a very cool feature, but when using small icons the way windows open in the taskbar is just weird. I liked that the taskbar was black-ish while the window border colors could be changed independently, unlike in 7.