Linux incognito part two: Windows XP

David M Williams
Saturday, 25 October 2008 05:25

Opinion and Analysis

For an awful lot of people their first encounter with a computer will invariably be Microsoft Windows. This straight away creates a barrier against considering alternate operating systems because they look different to what the user has been accustomed to. Here's how to paint a Windows facade over Linux and remove that obstacle.

This month the theme is “I didn’t know you could do that in Linux.” Earlier this week I spoke about pimping Linux to look and act like Apple’s MacOS X Leopard operating system. Today and next time we’ll do the same thing for Microsoft Windows, both XP and Vista.

One feature of Linux that sets it apart from other operating systems is the ease in which its graphical user interface can be replaced with something quite different. In this case, we’ll work to mimic Microsoft Windows.

There are a couple of reasons you may be interested in doing this. Not least is to produce a familiar and welcoming environment for your family and friends who are hesitant about switching to Linux due to concerns about knowing how to operate it.

Of course, you ought to be concerned about precedent: if people see your Linux system sporting Windows Vista looks you might be surprised when they go buy Vista themself and it is much less stable than what you showed them!

Beginning with Windows XP, there are two separate but equally capable packages for Linux which will bring about the appearance of Microsoft’s last successful desktop operating system.

One is XPde, whose name simply means “XP Desktop Environment, and the second is LXP for “Look WinXP.”

Both projects state their design goals are, as we’ve anticipated, to make it easier for Windows XP users to use a Linux box.

Perhaps if MSI had adopted one of these they wouldn’t have experienced such a high return rate on their Linux based Wind netbooks.

Please read on for pictorial evidence as well as the details on how to pimp your Linux setup to match.

CONTINUED