Oooh, new cursors!

Well, gosh. Microsoft have only gone and added new cursors to Vista. It's mentioned down at the bottom of the piece, 'cos, well, it's not exactly important news. Except of course to me. I've said it before (and I really must get that blog entry back up. If you're interested in a telling insight into my personality...) that the default Windows cursors are rubbish, and that you need to have animated feedback while the computer's off doing something - if only for the perception that it's busy, and hasn't hung.

Most cursors you can donload off the interweb are rubbish, but I've been lucky to find a set of Mac OS X cursors, which are really rather nice. The important thing is that the pointy cursors are bland and pointy, and the busy cursors are subtle enough to not distract you, while active enough to remind you something's happening. The OS X rainbow wheel cursors are great examples of this - simple, small pointy bits, and a nice touch of colour and animation when it's busy.

Microsoft's new cursors have nailed the pointy bit - subtly bland and nicely boring. They won't get in the way. I'm not convinced by the busy animations, though. They appear to use the same "busy circle" that IE7's been using, which is fine for a busy animation in an icon for a window, but I don't know how it's going to work on a cursor.

I'll have to find a copy and give it a whirl. It'll have to be rather special to make me leave my rainbow pinwheel, though...