Change is good. Even if you only embrace it once every quarter-century.

On 23 August, Microsoft announced a new corporate identity for the first time since 1987 and its fifth since the company’s inception in 1975. The updated logo still features the red, green, blue and yellow quartered window that has become iconic.

Changes include a non-italicised, grey sans-serif font, ditching the thick black typeface of its previous logo. In February, UK-based design firm Pentagram designed the identity for Windows 8, Microsoft’s latest operating system, featuring a similarly simple typeface and rectangular window depiction.

A peppy video that accompanied the announcement depicts the new logo being used to unite the various Microsoft brands under one common identifier. Earlier this summer, Microsoft rebranded its email servers, including Hotmail, under the unified Outlook umbrella. The new identity embraces that same spirit.

“From Windows 8 to Windows Phone 8 to Xbox services to the next version of Office, you will see a common look and feel across these products providing a familiar and seamless experience on PCs, phones, tablets and TVs,” GM of brand strategy Jeff Hansen said.

The new logo may serve to unite the various Microsoft products under one identity, but the change is not a drastic one. An informal poll on the Huffington Post asks readers if they are impressed by the logo or not. At the time of publishing, ‘No’ responses outpaced those in the ‘Yes’ column 53.57 per cent to 46.43 per cent.

Communicate magazine is also running a poll on its own 'Transform - Discussions on Rebranding' LinkedIn group.