It looks like a new mid-preview here. The thumbnail has a larger preview with more info. I don't know how usefull that info is (meta-data not presented well) but it is nice to be able to do this without opening the file completely. IMHO, this is about the max I would tolerate for previews, but it is definitely usefull)

 

Not much to say here other than the divisions between groups. I think it is clear and not too attention drawing. I don't even thing labels for the divisions are necessary (e.g. Hard Disk Drives) The icons do all the talking. I can see this turning into a decent 3D view by making the groups into tabs and using occlusion as a depth cue. A mouse over could pull the group out of a stack.

I think this is a great menu style. You can see all the items to select from, where they are in the list (how manu clicks to get there) and an icon to represent each. It is clear which one is selected and specific info is displayed nicely. Notice the return of the nice widgets in the upper right hand. There is also some nice typography going on on the left hand side. The menu item selected is bold and has a pointer. Subtle, minimalist, clear.

 

Windows Longhorn

A bunch of screenshots of microsoft's upcoming OS revision

This screen uses a lot of drop-shadows and shading to reinforce depth. In particular, the widgets at the top right. Subtle shading is used to separate groups of items. It also looks like there is some animation to the synchronization graphic (PC to device) - while this is a cheesy microsoft thing, I think it still is good for conveying a conceptual model to the user of what is going on.

 

It may be hard to se here, but there looks like there is some animation going on to reinforce that you are in a music folder. The notes may float about. Either way, I think this is a good opportunity to use the graphics card when nothing else is goin on in the file manager. Also, notice the ubiquitous filter textbox - but no search (?)

 

Another view similar to the one above. In this case a folder for documents only. I think the shaded picture/icon in the backround is a nice cue to the folder's contents. It kinda draws the eye though. Where have the nice shaded widgets from teh first screenshot gone?