Each time a new version of Windows comes out, Microsoft takes an opportunity to change user interface items that seemed to be working fine already. I call it "rearranging the furniture" because it often results in metaphorical stubbed toes. One example of this was renaming a Control Panel item from "Add/Remove Programs" in XP to "Programs and Features" in Vista. Well, they're at it again with Windows 7.I've been using Windows 7 for a couple of months, but I hadn't noticed the new features that Larry Osterman mentions in his recent blog entry. Take a look at the screen shots there -- or better yet, try it on Windows 7 if you're running it -- and see if the new functionality would be obvious to you if you hadn't read the blog.

Now, there is no doubt that the Windows 7 interface for controlling sound looks cleaner than the one in Vista or XP, and it even adds some useful functionality. Yet I also think there is no doubt that it is less discoverable, and less intuitive. The "ugly" XP dialog has the word "Mute" next to a check box for each volume control, which makes it blindingly obvious what to do to mute a source. The Vista dialog shows the mute state by changing the graphic on the speaker button when you click it. Windows 7 makes that even more lovely by taking the button look away from the speaker graphic until you hover over it. This, of course, removes any indication that the graphic is clickable until the mouse comes a-calling.

If it's hard to discover, for example, that clicking the device picture actually takes you to the device properties, what good is that cool feature anyway? The best thing about it is that once you know the secret, you can tell your friends and look like a master guru. On the other hand, if you're The Support Guy for your company and trying to give directions to someone, either in an email or over the phone, these changes are a pain. When things change unnecessarily from version to version, it makes the instructions you give much more complicated.

Now that I know how Microsoft's designers were thinking, my new way of exploring the Windows 7 interface will be to mouse-trawl each window from top to bottom, hovering and clicking on everything to see what ponies of functionality have been hidden under it.