Apple’s unveiling of the Liquid Glass interface at WWDC 2025 drew immediate and predictable comparisons to Microsoft’s Windows Vista. Critics pointed to the translucent visuals, layered depth, and animated gloss as signs of Apple “catching up” to what Microsoft attempted nearly two decades ago. But the claim doesn’t hold. Apple isn’t copying Vista. It’s evolving its own long-standing design language.
Liquid Glass builds directly on Aqua, the user interface Apple introduced in 2000, seven years before Vista debuted. Aqua featured vibrant colors, translucency, and a heavy emphasis on depth and motion. These visual principles have defined macOS across every major update, from Cheetah to Sequoia. Liquid Glass simply continues that trajectory with a more refined use of glass-like effects, integrated lighting, and spatial depth. It’s a clear iteration, not imitation.
Aqua Did It First
Translucent menus, animated windows, and reflective surfaces weren’t new in Vista. They were visible in macOS years earlier. Apple’s Aqua debuted publicly at Macworld 2000, described by Steve Jobs as so fluid you’d “want to lick it.” Aqua’s interface leaned heavily into visual flourishes: gel-like buttons, pinstripes, drop shadows, and bounce animations meant to enhance clarity and engagement.
By the time Microsoft launched Vista in 2007 with its Aero interface, many of the so-called “innovations” in visual design had long been part of macOS. Aero’s glassy window frames and animated transitions were seen as catch-up moves at the time, not breakthroughs.
Liquid Glass Is a Continuation, Not a Copy
Liquid Glass isn’t a break from Aqua. It’s the next phase. The aesthetic minimizes visual clutter while preserving texture and motion. It removes skeuomorphic remnants and leans into modern UI clarity, not unlike the flattening trend seen across all platforms. Unlike Aero, which was criticized for its heavy system load and inconsistent implementation, Liquid Glass prioritizes performance and cohesion across Apple’s ecosystem.
Wikipedia reports that Aqua has gone through numerous transformations over its 25-year history, from gel effects and brushed metal to Yosemite’s vibrancy and Big Sur’s depth-driven layout. Each iteration reflected changes in both user behavior and Apple’s hardware capabilities. Liquid Glass fits into that long-term roadmap. It does not borrow from Aero. It builds on Apple’s own foundation.
According to the same source, the Liquid Glass update comes at a time when Aqua is being officially retired. While Aero was a one-off, quickly abandoned by Microsoft in later Windows versions, Aqua lasted across two decades of macOS. That alone signals the difference in philosophy. Apple has evolved one UI lineage, not jumped trends.
Apple’s design team isn’t looking at Vista. It’s looking at its own legacy and refining it for what comes next.