Great WinForms UI examples needed for inspiration

I am a systems analyst focusing on interaction design and usability, normally working on web applications (using my Mac). However, currently I am in a project team working on a legacy ap开发者_如何转开发plication which has a Windows Forms-based front-end.

I try to simplify and clean up the interface but given my web background it's quite frustrating to work within the strict constraints of WinForms and DevExpress 8.3 controls. (WPF would be great but it is not an option: the company has lots of off-shore users logged in remotely to virtual machines. WPF was tested several times and it failed. Windows XP and IE6 are still on all workstations.)

It would be great to see some good examples for elegant UI design for complex forms with lots of input fields in different categories and groups, including read-only sections with meta-data. It should not be fancy, just simple, slick and clean. Do you happen to have some good examples?

It looks like this post might give you some ideas/leads to pursue: Where are examples of great program UI's built free with Winforms?

I still couldn't find real good ones, only sporadically. The best WinForms examples I found are in Windows XP itself and in other Microsoft products, like IE, Office.

This may be a long shot but have you considered using a metro-style layout (see wp7 et cetera)? I personally think it would be really well suited to forms with large data entry requirements, I mean, you have the spacing that will separate things perfectly for you, and it's all blocky so you know what you're doing.

This is just my opinion, but hope it can help!

With regards to being "restricted" to Windows Forms, I wouldn't see it as this. By creating your own custom controls you can do pretty much anything you want. I've always hand-coded my WF apps and they're always easier (not to mention more fun) to develop than in WPF. I think WPF is the restrictive place, but again that's just me... Haven't used it too heavily at all.