Microsoft Copied Me So Crazy or (More Likely) We Are Both Boring

As you may or may not know, Microsoft just came out with their new logo:

As you may or may not know, I recently redesigned the Windows logo (in 20 minutes):

Is it just me or do they look suspiciously similar? The Windows and Microsoft logo used to be interchangeable, but now they have been given a definite distinction.

Also as you may or may not know, the new Windows logo has gotten a lot of crap. I find myself getting defensive when people criticize it because it feels like I designed it. Then I remember I designed it in 20 minutes . . . and that I didn’t actually design it.

It seems designers like it while non-designers don’t. They finally stripped away all the crud and gradients and for-no-reason-italicized font. It is unfortunate that the typeface looks so much like Apple’s Myriad, and I still think they should have considered a serif typeface like the one that I used. Basically, they tried to make it look as Apple looking as possible while keeping the minimum Microsoft “personality.” Microsoft has always copied Apple way after the fact anyways so why not keep with tradition?

At the end of the day, is the new Microsoft logo boring? Yes. But I think it fits the company perfectly.