Microsoft trolls Apple's new Liquid Glass UI for looking like Windows Vista

Daniel Sims

Daniel Sims

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In a nutshell: The OS updates coming to Apple devices later this year will institute the company's first major UI design shift in over a decade, but eagle-eyed observers noticed similarities with an old version of Windows – comparisons that haven't escaped Microsoft's notice. Thankfully, users concerned about Apple's upcoming interface will have options to change its visual presentation.

Some of Microsoft's social media accounts recently poked fun at the upcoming "Liquid Glass" user interface design language Apple unveiled at WWDC this week. Although the Cupertino giant has hailed the update as a major innovation, many immediately began comparing it to Microsoft's nearly two-decade-old Windows Vista UI.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Windows (@windows)

Liquid Glass is Apple's name for the new visual style arriving in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 Tahoe, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26, which will launch this fall. Inspired by the Apple Vision Pro's visionOS, the design language favors rounded edges and transparent backgrounds for inputs and other UI functions.

It is Apple's most significant design change since iOS 7 debuted almost 12 years ago, and the first to establish a unified language across all of the company's devices.

On the left: nice Liquid Glass UI minimalistic look. On the right: Liquid Glass looking all kinds of wrong in the current beta.

Apps, wallpapers, and other background content will be visible through app icons, notifications, and menu elements for a glass-like appearance. Apple claims that the effect will improve cohesion across the interface, but beta testers are concerned that text will become less readable.

Others, including Microsoft, mocked the update's resemblance to Windows Vista's glass-like "Aero" aesthetic, which debuted in 2007. That OS also made UI elements partially transparent, but Microsoft eventually phased it out when it began moving toward its current design language.

The official Windows Instagram account recently responded to Apple's presentation by posting a slideshow of Vista screenshots played over a nostalgic Windows boot tune. The Windows Twitter account also shared a picture recalling the Vista-era profile icons.

Other social media users joined in on the fun. Some highlighted the unfortunate placement of the YouTube icon in Apple's Liquid Glass explainer video, which the company altered. Others compared the design language to the unique chassis for Apple's 2000 Power Mac G4 Cube and the main menu for Nintendo's 2012 Wii U game console.

Fortunately, users can customize Liquid Glass by switching between transparent, light, and dark modes. They can also opt for a slightly more opaque presentation with a toggle located under Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Reduce Transparency.

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Microsoft trolls Apple's new Liquid Glass UI for looking like Windows Vista

 
Is anyone actually surprised? This is what Apple's "innovation" looks like. They just take ideas from other people / places, improve on them slightly, then pretend they invented it. Apple still pretends they invented smart phones and tablets.
 
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Not a huge fan of this redesign, themes like this were available back then on 3GS with jailbreak, but Microsoft is the last one in line to criticize something
 
Kashim said:
Is anyone actually surprised? This is what Apple's "innovation" looks like. They just take ideas from other people / places, improve on them slightly, then pretend they invented it. Apple still pretends they invented smart phones and tablets.
Click to expand...

Let’s not forget how Windows 11 decided to cosplay as macOS with its taskbar makeover.....center-aligned icons like it’s trying out for a role in an Apple commercial. And don’t get me started on the whole vibe. Honestly, it’s like someone cracked open the Windows Vista time capsule and said, “Yep, this’ll do, but shinier.” I mean, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Apple and Vista must be blushing!
 
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When things don't go your way, might as well troll others. That's Microsoft politics.

When Windows Vista came out, there wasn't a computer available on which the translucent UI wasn't very slow. And there were no retina-like screens to make it look good, or screen quality for that matter. It was just a non-practical know-how.

iOS translucency is fast, and it looks awesome due to hi resolution and great screen quality.

 
I'm still using iPhone 14 Pro Max 1TB and I want the upgrade to iPhone 17 2TB. I honestly don't care about anything else at this point beyond the storage increase - although I'm sure the other upgrades will make it "the best iPhone ever" (yawn).
 
Translucency is just a bad design language, it just muddles stuff up and makes it harder to read things.

Are there ways to fix this? Sure. But why am I fixing the theme out of the box instead of just getting something usable to begin with?
 
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It looks kinda cool, but it might be overwhelming constantly having these animations while trying to do something. It does remind me of Windows Vista and 7 but refined. Everyone is making fun of it now but what usually happens is they all follow suit.
 
What? I read about liquid glass redesign and saw pictures, but now seeing the videos is something different: IT IS AWEFUL !!! Who wants to have the software act as glass and refract light in this way? Very annoying IMHO.
 
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