“Just gonna leave this here,” says Microsoft in a new Instagram post, taking a jibe at Apple for discovering Windows Vista’s Aero design in 2025 with macOS 26.
At WWDC 2025, Apple announced the new “Liquid Glass” design language, which feels similar not only to Windows Vista’s Aero Glass (introduced in 2006) but also to Microsoft’s Fluent Design System (announced in 2015 with Windows 10). In Apple’s own words, Liquid Glass is a “translucent” design that behaves like glass in the real world.
Liquid Glass doesn’t feel like a major upgrade. The internet is already mocking Apple for recreating Windows Vista in 2025, and this time, Microsoft isn’t staying quiet.
Microsoft, which typically avoids jumping in on rival announcements, has responded to Apple’s Liquid Glass design with a video posted on its official Instagram account.
The “Just gonna leave this here” video includes hashtags like “#WindowsAero” and plays soothing, nostalgic Windows music. It takes you back to the early 2000s, when Microsoft introduced Windows Vista with the iconic Aero Glass effect, which had translucent, glassy window borders that let you see the desktop wallpaper behind them.
Just like how macOS 26 applies “glassy” effects to the Dock and other surfaces, Windows Vista also applied translucent effects across the OS, including the Start menu, taskbar, and apps.
Apple says visionOS inspired it to build a Liquid Design for all products
In a press release, Apple says visionOS (the OS for the company’s overpriced AR glasses) inspired it to craft a new Liquid Design for all its products.
Liquid Glass design is being shipped now, thanks to Apple’s advances in graphics and hardware, especially the new, powerful ARM silicon chips.
“The new material, Liquid Glass, is translucent and behaves like glass in the real world,” Apple says.
“Its color is informed by surrounding content and intelligently adapts between light and dark environments.”
Interestingly, Microsoft also used phrases like “glass-like interface” to promote Windows Vista nearly two decades ago.
I tried Windows Vista again to compare the two OSes
After Apple announced macOS 26, I fired up my virtual machine and installed a copy of Windows Vista I had saved on an external drive.
When you closely compare macOS 26’s design language with Windows Vista’s Aero, the idea similarities are hard to miss. It’s the same glassy effects all over again.
Even today, Vista holds up surprisingly well in terms of visuals, as you can see in the screenshots below, thanks to its original Aero Glass design
As I pointed out in my previous story on macOS vs Windows Aero, I am not saying Apple has copied Windows, and the design language of “glassy effect” belongs to Microsoft, but we need to acknowledge the fact that Apple’s implementation is neither an innovation nor a significant design facelift.
Microsoft shipped Windows Vista in 2006 with the Aero Glass design applied across the entire OS. It didn’t go well with consumers or businesses at the time, largely due to compatibility issues and the need for newer hardware.
Is it still fair to call Apple an innovator? I personally don’t think so, and I wouldn’t consider Apple’s Liquid Design a meaningful or significant upgrade.
What do you think?
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