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Besides, if you want something that feels like Windows, try Xpde. It works good. Or try lycoris.

I really don't see where the 5% figure comes from. Install Xpde. It will give it the look of Windows XP. Use mozilla, with the IE theme from mozdev.org. That way mozilla will appear to be IE (duh!).

...if they had my desktop they'd be relegated to a mere 300 or so games, not counting the 4000 MAME options, 300 or so different Solitaires under PySol, or on-line stuff.

If you want a real hoot, take a screenshot of his machine, pull the disk, install any modern Linux distro (Mandrake is easiest, SuSE a close second) and then set it up with XPDE and put all of his icons back from the screenshot. If he's running Win2k now, leave a note saying you've upgraded (hah!) his workstation to XP. Then run a sweepstake on how many minutes it takes him to realise that he "isn't in Windows any more, Dorothy". (-:

I've had MS-Windows users sit down in front of KDE, and if there are OpenOffice.org icons on the desktop, walk away after doing a few hours' work on the machine having never noticed that it's not MS-Windows or MS-Office. Now admittedly these aren't the sharpest bowling-balls on the rails, but still...

Write a perl script which randomly swaps the filenames of the mp3s throughout the HDD, then for the second pass randomizes the ID3 tags.

Second option would be to install KDE XPde on the target box. Should be a riot watching someone trying to install a windows executable on Linux or searching for the Internet Explorer.

http://www.xpde.com

Implement a Windows GUI that runs on top of Linux.

Check XPde

Or did you mean all the layers of code that are required to get a game running? cause that's certainly more than just the UI ;)

I can take any lance corporal off the field, and with windows, he's most likely to know how to at least do basic stuff like surf the web, read e-mail, etc. If the guvment were to use Linux, they would have to spend additional manpower on installation, more man power keeping those boxes up to date (or pay money for RedHats up2date service), not to mention retraining a lot of staff on how to use these computers.

How many developer-years does $100,000,000 purchase? (Consider a developer at $50,000 with expenses roughly equal to salary, or $100,000 annually; this would give 1,000 developer-years.)

I for one think that perhaps the government should put out a contract on "upgrading" Linux to be pixel-compatible with Windows -- and every flavor of Windows, so if the lance corporal in your example was familiar with Windows 98, he could click the "emulate Windows 98" button, or XP, or 2K, ad nauseum.

There is already a project to make Linux look like XP: XPde. I would bet that with just $5,000,000, the government could finish the project (and be well on their way to emulating the rest of the flavors of Windows).

$5,000,000 == 50 * $100,000, so would be about 50 developer-years. Since the "hard part" is already done (the interface exists, the developers would merely be emulating it), I would imagine that a team of 50 developers could pull it off. Some of those would be testers, both to ensure that users could be moved seamlessly to the new environment, and also that all the features worked, and that it truly was pixel-compatible (VMware would be great for this testing, to take screenshots, but I digress).

It'll never happen, though, at least not under this administration.

it's also worthy to note that a lot of 2K/2K03 IT admins would probably like an exchange replacement running on Windows as well.

A lot of the software components listed as part of an MS-Exchange replacement do run under MS-Windows as well. For serious loads you would be far better off installing Linux and XPde to please the PHBs than running it under MS-Windows.

It's too bad Lindows is trying to copy windows without stealing more from OSX.

Well first, Lindows is trying to take market share away from Windows, not OSX.

Honestly, if a Linux distro tried to copy OSX as much as they copy Windows, I would load that onto my winXP box.

Second, you're not in their target market.

Third, aside from the above, that's a great idea (seriously). Start a project on SourceForge to create a look-alike OSX desktop for Linux (like XPde is trying to create an XP look-alike for Linux).

Fourth, the rest of us could start a pool based on how long it takes Apple to sue you into the ground.

from the XPde FAQ

"It's a waste of time, linux users should use KDE or Gnome!!

Yes, you are right. We use KDE, and we even think it is better than the Windows XP interface, but this project is not to replace KDE or Gnome. If you can switch a Windows XP user to Linux with the lowest learning curve as possible, then the goal of using KDE or Gnome is near. XPde is just an option for *existing* Windows XP users."

from which we can extrapolate: "sorry, but we think gnome is shit" :^)

The XPde (featured recently) website has been down since yesterday. Anyone know why?

However, this all-blue default color on XP is kind of 60's psychedelic, it gets on my eyes soon enough.

Dude, it's the BSoD. I know it seems profoundly clear under the influence but you will have your doubts later. Get some sleep.

Seriously, this article was a Windoze love in. How can anyone who likes XP diss KDE and QT as "clunky"? Oh wait, he snears at all the interfaces but BeOS, which he does not use, and XP which he praises to the stars: Best interface, "most logical" and then he describes how prety he thinks it is. If that's not enough to make you sick try this:

The best usability I get is from Windows XP. This is the only reason I keep WinXP still as my main operating system. ... I found that the best DE on integration (see: the DE that requires you LESS to open a terminal window) is Windows, hands down. Everything can be configured with a GUI and when there is not a preference panel for something, there is always the registry, even when you want to enable the most weird hacks on applications found or your system. ... Windows XP would be my second best regarding UI responsiveness. It is already very responsive, a huge (and I mean HUGE) improvement on multitasking/multithreading over the Win9x codebase, but it is not as good as in BeOS. The user can get a lot of freezing ... I found Windows XP and MacOSX to be the most stable environments ... Technology: Windows and X11 don't have many of these cool features, in fact X11 is the least powerful of all. [then give XP highest numerical rating!] ... For Windows, well, MFCs, .NET and Win32 are really powerful APIs which let you do the same thing in many different ways ... Final Rating: Windows XP 8.55 MacOSX 8.33 BeOS 8.22 KDE 6.72 Gnome 6.61

Shallow useless gloss. All the virtues of all other systems are cited as faults and all of XPs faults are smothed over or even listed as virtues in the most disgusting and self contradictory manner possible. What distro did he use to get all of those awful KDE and Gnome crashes? Why is it that my experiences don't match his? Hmmmm. If he likes BeOS so advanced, why does it not score highest? Why include it at all? "I include the BeOS in this comparison not because I consider it an OS with a bright future ..." Oh, I know, because not many people are familiar with it or will bother to try it so he thinks he can troll at will. Has this dope ever worked with another OS as his "main system"? Has he ever gotten away from the default settings in KDE or Gnome or done anything to match those leet windoze registry hacks he brags about? Poop, X can be tortured into anything but something makes me think he would have praised M$'s offerings regardless of what they were. What a whore.

Q:I'm a avid reader of Slashdot, I'm a Linux guru, I'm a BOFH, I'm a geek, Why the hell would I want this f#@#ng software?

A:Sorry, but I think this is not the project for you. (well, at least geeks like any kind of tech, so if you want to look at the source code.. ;-)

It's here

they've done this already:
made a clone of windows file explorer
heres a screenshot

they've done this already:
made a clone of windows file explorer
heres a screenshot

Explorer

Go bring it down

Sorry to reply to myself... the server is responding again - these screenshots are AWESOME. :)

Check out the Control Panel :-)

Maybe it is time to put linux on my desktop.

That's disturbingly accurate. Different enough to avoid the Microsoft litigation hounds? That remains to be seen. If anyone knows a way to extract the network info module or a project like it (like shown here) please respond.

If you really want the windows GUI the take a look at XPde. But, personally, I like KDE much better than the Windows GUI.

I did find an XP-like wm for linux, at XPde.com. I don't have
XP itself, due to the cost ( can buy a new pc with linux already on it for about $250.00) and the fact that I cannot put it on more than one machine. I'm sure anyone viewing this thread would like more information on the alternate window managers available for XP. As I said before, I like to run something like icewm to save resources, and perhaps the XP crowd would also like to do something along that line.

..tell the guy it's already been done.

Install a reasonable linux distro, get wine running, and then drop XPde on top of it, Set his wallpaper to a picture of green grass and blue skys.

There, problem solved,

Klowner

It's called XPde and it's been discussed before right here on /. ;-)

A bunch of folks have already started working on xpde. It aims to be a "transitional" window manager to give people an easier time moving to Linux from from Windows. It's basically a Windows look-alike, but instead of being the end-all like the Microsoft idea, it's meant to give people something that simply looks like windows, so they can get past desktop-shock.

KDE 3.0 is passable for a desktop GUI from a Windows standard. I'd place it at the level of Windows 95. KDE 3.1 is quie a bit nicer, and I would place it at the Windows 2000 level - if not close to XP in style and well thoughout icons/placement.

Missing, you say?

Windows XP doesn't do that. Think they forgot something in their quest to copy the WinXP interface???

Windows XP doesn't do that. Think they forgot something in their quest to copy the WinXP interface???

Windows XP 19.97% (1877)
KDE 25.60% (2406)
Gnome 15.73% (1479)
BeOS 8.10% (761)
MacOS X 21.68% (2038)
Other, please, post a comment 8.93% (839)

Yup, that's right, most people prefer KDE to XP.

Good, that saves a lot of work then.

Most of the screenshots look very close to XP (such as the network status applet, for instance), but the menu spacing & sizing doesn't look right (most easily seen in the task manager pic).

Ever since Eugenia Loli-Queru mentioned it in her review of KDE 3, I can't help but noticing that so many Linux apps suffer from odd menu sizing and spacing. (In due credit, Gnome isn't nearly so affected, as a whole.)

Important! The menu entries on every KDE's applications are extremely close to each other. Give it 4-5 more pixels please! The new Gnome 2.0 does it lovely and correctly in this respect.

(That quote is from the second page of her review.)

Most of the screenshots look very close to XP (such as the network status applet, for instance), but the menu spacing & sizing doesn't look right (most easily seen in the task manager pic).

Ever since Eugenia Loli-Queru mentioned it in her review of KDE 3, I can't help but noticing that so many Linux apps suffer from odd menu sizing and spacing. (In due credit, Gnome isn't nearly so affected, as a whole.)

Important! The menu entries on every KDE's applications are extremely close to each other. Give it 4-5 more pixels please! The new Gnome 2.0 does it lovely and correctly in this respect.

(That quote is from the second page of her review.)

I wonder if this project will get the beatdown from MS like the various Aqua skins did from Apple.

What is XPde?

XPde is a desktop environment for XWindow to allow Windows users migrate to Linux easily. It's composed by a desktop (XPde) and window manager (XPwm).

Why are you doing this?

1 To learn more Kylix and low-level Linux programming
2 For fun
3 To create software can be useful to many people
4 To have a desktop on my system I can customize

There are many reasons, but the main goal I think is to allow normal computer users enjoy the stability and security of Linux, I think right now is not possible with KDE or Gnome, so this project can be interpreted as a bridge to Linux.
[ Back to Top ]

Why do you think this project will be a success? KDE and Gnome are out there and also can be customized to look as Windows XP.

I don't know if it will be a success, but let's imagine this scenario:
-You are a Windows developer
-You develop accounting/payment and desktop applications for Windows
-You would love to develop for Linux, but you can't because none of your customers run Linux
-You could tell them, "hey!, I'm going to change all your machines to Linux, it's cheaper, faster and safer! (and all the Linux propaganda you can eat)"
-You customers would say "Why? Our system works, we know how to print, send mail, create documents, copy files and all we need, we don't want to change, this will mean to teach all my employees the new stuff and I'm not going to loose that time"
This is common scenario in the real world development, there is not time and money to forget Windows and install Linux, so this project is just another piece of software that could help to reduce the learning curve of a normal user to use a Linux computer. The main goal is to create an "exact" copy of the Windows XP interface (without any registered logo/graphic), that way, I plain user can start to use new applications (StarOffice, Mozilla, etc) without be frightened by a new desktop.

XPde FAQ

http://www.xpde.com/