Slashdot Mirror

Qvwm looks like Windows 95, while MLVWM looks like classic MacOS. There are lots of other nice window managers here

qvwm is a not-so-famous, lightweight, customizable window manager that is designed to emulate the look and feel on Microsoft Windows9x. Yes, many have problems like that, but I think it suits many situations, like:
- getting new computer users comfortable with a GUI similar to the one they're most likely to encounter in the real world
- maintaining a consistent desktop in a heterogeneous computing environment
I've been using qvwm for a couple of years now with no problems. Oh, and it's internationalized, too. Check it out at www.qvwm.org

qvwm is a not-so-famous, lightweight, customizable window manager that is designed to emulate the look and feel on Microsoft Windows9x. Yes, many have problems like that, but I think it suits many situations, like:
- getting new computer users comfortable with a GUI similar to the one they're most likely to encounter in the real world
- maintaining a consistent desktop in a heterogeneous computing environment
I've been using qvwm for a couple of years now with no problems. Oh, and it's internationalized, too. Check it out at www.qvwm.org

Qvwm did it with Win95 and they still seem to be around:

http://www.qvwm.org/

ltsp.org
k12 ltsp

the k12 set up has a really easy install, complete with redhat 7.2

check out qvwm (windows style window manager) and codeweavers (Realplayer, Quicktime, etc. plugins for linux browsers)

It may be hard to get all the windows games you want but there are some that ive seen work. Go to linuxGames.com for info on setting up games with linux. I know they have a tutorial for getting Starvraft working with wine.

You silly people. This was done long ago. If you like the idea so much, jump in and help them out. It is actually a very nice wm.
http://www.qvwm.org/

I don't use Microsoft products (I fired MS several years ago), but on my home computer, I maintain an MS-looking desktop, so my MS-dependent friends who visit, can use my computer without bothering me about how to use thing. It's very easy to do, especially with the qvwm window manager. Unlike the examples on the qvwm page, I made a point of customizing my start menu so users knowthey're using Linux!. This may be overkill for a home user, but in an office environment, especially where an admin is switching users off MS, it would help to ease the transition.

It's nice to see E still moving along. The more Desktop/WM's we have the better off we'll be. One of the things that seems to be lost in the ranting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H discussions about "The Linux Desktop" is that with all the different GUI options available we can make Linux look like anything we want and thus it will fit into any environment. If you need it to look like WinXX, CDE, Mac or Bob The Builder's desktop it can.

It's interesting to me that Apple would make a big fuss over this when it pertains to the open source community, but leaves M$ untouched. I mean after all, Bill stole the GUI from Apple. Think about it, the original Mac menu was on top and had an apple icon in the top left corner that allowed the user to access many programs. All that our "friend" Bill did was move the menu (aka taskbar) to the bottom of the screen and change the apple-icon menu button to a "start" button. In response to Apple, even as evil as M$ is, they didn't make anyone remove FVWM-95 or QVWM from themes.org.
Just putting in my 2 cents....

2500 machines is a BIG rollout. If you get it wrong (which you will first time) users will hate you.

One career-saving idea is to first roll out 25 machines in a friendly department as a "beta-test", and when that works, roll out to 250 machines, then 2500 machines. Use the scaling technologies (LDAP, CODA, scripts, turnkey installation and more) that others have written about here. Also, set up web services for support tracking and help.

If you wanted to offer your users a very Windows-like environment, try the QVWM window manager (http://www.qvwm.org). It doesn't have the integration features of GNOME/KDE/E/Sawmill etc, but it is VERY light on resources, very fast, and Windows users will feel quite at home.

One of the reasons people are looking at Linux for installing on hundreds of machines (eg, Beowulf-style clusters) is that it reduces the capital software cost. The same is true for your office suite - Applixware or WordPerfect x2500 will cost heaps. I have used Star Office 5.1 (free from Sun) for some time with good results. Not resource-frugal or quirk-free, but pretty complete. I'm itching for SO 5.2....

And of course, this is just my 2c. YMMV. All the best!