Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years.
TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust.
Connecting the dots: Microsoft is asking creators to swap their MacBook Pros for the new $2,600 Surface Laptop Ultra. So it's awkward that the wallpapers it just shared with Windows Insiders appear to have been saved in Photoshop on a Mac.
Most image files carry a small tag naming the app that last saved them, buried in a properties menu that few people ever open. When a Windows developer checked it on Microsoft's newest wallpapers, it pointed to Photoshop running on a Mac. The company has since swapped in cleaned-up copies.
The wallpapers went out by email in mid-October as a thank-you for 12 years of the company's early-access Windows Insider Program. The message said the designs drew on the program's history and "the latest Surface design aesthetic." There are ten in all, built around flowing ribbons in five colors, each in a light and a dark version.
A developer called Rafael Rivera dug into the files almost as soon as the email landed. One of the image's properties listed a Mac version of Adobe Photoshop as the program that saved it. He posted a screenshot on X with a short caption reading "Created on a Mac."
In a follow-up, he said the set came from Microsoft's in-house design team. That means the Macs in question most likely sit on desks inside the company itself.
To be fair, Macs have been a staple in design studios for decades, so Microsoft's own team working on them isn't all that surprising. The timing is just a little funny, since Rivera's post went up a day before the $2,600 Surface Laptop Ultra started shipping.
Microsoft has pitched that laptop as a MacBook Pro alternative for creators. Its online stores in the US and Canada are even offering MacBook Pro owners up to $1,000 on top of their trade-in value to switch.
The company hasn't commented on any of this, but it appears to have taken notice. Within days, someone pointed out that the files on its design site had been quietly swapped out. French outlet MacGeneration then tracked down the original pack on the Internet Archive. Opened in the Mac's built-in Preview app, those older files still credit Photoshop for Mac.
Of course, that tag only shows which app saved a file last, so it can't say where the ribbons were first drawn. Last year's 11th-anniversary pack left a different clue behind. Anyone who unzipped it on Windows found a stray __MACOSX folder, the hidden housekeeping folder macOS adds to archives created in Finder
On its own, that only proved the ZIP was packed on a Mac. Paired with this year's tag, it suggests Macs are a regular part of the team's workflow.
For anyone who just wants the ribbons, the full set is still a free download on Microsoft Design's wallpaper page.
English (US) ·