There is a tension between standards and innovation. I remember a couple of Adobe apps where the OK button was to the right of the Cancel button and it drove me up the wall, so I’m on side with you to that extent.

However, Microsoft ends up defining what a Windows app looks like and behaves like, so if all but Microsoft has to follow one rule (”make your apps look like Windows apps”) and Microsoft follows another (”define what a Windows app looks like”) then Microsoft becomes the only vendor with the ability to innovate - and that’s not a good thing.

There have been many cases of UI innovation outside Microsoft, of course. I think Borland introduced wizards and tabbed dialogs, for example. And where would the Windows world be without them?

So with that reservation, perhaps we should say “..like Windows apps, unless you have a really good reason.”

Especially in installers, this should make it stand out as being completely evil, and shows that the author cared more about their own needs than what would actually serve the customer.

I just about drop kicked some cd software out the door cuz it didnt use the common file open window. I had a long filename on my clipboard but no “address” field to paste it in. Instead I had to double click navigate on my company’s lan down quite a few very populated directories. Having to scan the file list each time.

…. wasnt a happy camper afterwards …. oh, BTW, the look and feel sucks compared to the CUI guidelines.