LXP (A Linux XP look-a-like)

[_simon_]

Just spotted this on Digg and despite it being around since 2005 I've never heard of it.

LXP = LookXP and is actually Linux.

http://wskills.blogspot.com/2006/12/linux-that-looks-like-windows-xp.html

http://sourceforge.net/project/screenshots.php?group_id=173462



From the project site: "LXP is a desktop enviroment identical to Windows XP. LXP is a collection of different pieces of GNU software (icewm, xfe, idesk, etc) modified in order to look and feel identical to Windows XP. LXP has its own icewm themes and utility pack."


What better way to convert resistant parents from XP to Linux?

[K.Mandla]

There's talk of bundling it on the Xubuntu CD, and offering it as an installation option. If so, it would be a great option for older hardware and for IceWM addicts -- oops, I mean enthusiasts. ;)

[_simon_]

I think that's a fantastic idea.

It's the only way I could get my parents onto Linux I think. Their 2 XP machines are so slow and bogged down and I've suggested Linux so many times but even just adding a new shortcut to the desktop has them lost and confused!

[yabbadabbadont]

http://www.xpde.com/

Been around for a while.

[_simon_]

http://www.xpde.com/

Been around for a while.

It's good, but simple things like the colour of the start button and menu colours would really confuse my parents. They aren't that old (50's) but they seem to get less and less computer literate by the day despite them both using them daily for work.

I need something like LXP so that the next time I have to fix their mess I can do a straight swap and as long as it looks identical to XP they would be non the wiser.

[jeremy]

I really can not understand why anyone would want to make their linux system look like an outdated, proprietry, unstable, overpriced .........

[DoctorMO]

*shrug* it's only the vain part, the way it works is still gnu/linux

[wieman01]

This is absolutely insane... Never seen anything like it. It looks so genuine! Honestly, good job I'd say. I don't like the XP design at all & prefer OSX themes, however, I reckon previous XP/Windows users would appreciate it. Gives them some time to get used to the new environment, just to say I understand the rationale.

[steven8]

I loved the look and feel of XP from day one, and still do. I do, however, prefer the philosophy behind Linux, so this littl distro is a win-win for me!

I'll check in out in the morning. Thanks!

[firenewt]

I like IceWM, but making linux look like XP? Yuk. The only thing I like about windows is the thumbnail/icon speed of explorer, and that's about it. The people who I have installed ubuntu for thought more of enlightenment anyways, even if it's not that functional. At the end though, I think it's a mistake to throw this on windows users new to linux, they're just get confused and only notice the inevitable differences as shortcomings. Instead of judging a whole new approach to a desktop.

[xopher]

I agree, it's good it's there, and great that you can customize your desktop to look like anything -- But it shouldn't be a default option, anywhere. Windows can stay as windows, and let us do our thing.

[mcduck]

What can I say? That sure is as ugly as.. XP?

I don't believe that cosmetical tricks like that mean too much. All the software will still work in a different way and people will notice that whatever you do to make the desktop look like Windows.

I think it's fine to customize panels to more windows-like configuration, and perhaps use single-button menu and add desktop shortcuts, but I don't really see any point in those XP-lookalike skins.

[_simon_]

Think some of you are missing the point. ;)

Don't any of you have parents like mine whose only step into computing has been via XP and no matter how many problems they have with it it's all they know and they panic if you suggest another OS?

With people like this it's all about the cosmetics, they NEED to see that green start button and blue bar. They need to see the colourful maximise, minimise and close buttons. They need to see familiar menu's.

Hopefully at some point I can install LXP on my parents machines, giving them their familiarity but also a stable, virus free, spyware resistant OS! It would certainly make my life easier lol

mcduck... it depends what they use. All my parents do is e-mail, browse the net and use a word processor. I've already got them on Firefox (thanks to adblock plus would you believe!), thunderbird and OOO Writer look enough like Outlook and Word to not cause too much of an issue,

[steven8]

I am a parent, so maybe that's why I lean the way I do, but I felt XP was a wonderfully upbeat change from the dreary gray previous windows editions.

[Redlance]

Well to keep it authentic. does it randomly do one of the following at LEAST once a day?
1) throw obnoxious popups at random (even when not browsing)
2) corrupt system file or cause Data Execution Prevention to pop up?
3) Remind you that your antivirus/firewall are out of date or ask you to take a tour of windows AGAIN
4) Demand you verify your copy as genuine anytime you want to checkfor updates.
5) ask for 200-400 US dollars for next version or no directX 10 for you
6) random freeze
7) random crash
8) Suck up memory fast and run things 20-50% slower than it should.
9) and through a reminder that your secure and more efficient since your running windows.

[steven8]

Well to keep it authentic. does it randomly do one of the following at LEAST once a day?
1) throw obnoxious popups at random (even when not browsing)
2) corrupt system file or cause Date execution prevention to pop up?
3) Remind you that your antivirus/firewall are out of date or ask you to take a tour of windows AGAIN
4) Demand you verify your copy as genuine anytime you want to checkfor updates.
5) ask for 200-400 US dollars for next version or no directX 10 for you
6) random freeze
7) random crash
Suck up memory fast and run things 20-50% slower than it should.
9) and through a reminder that your secure and more efficient since your running windows.

H*LL, I'm on it!! :-)

[yabbadabbadont]

Well to keep it authentic. does it randomly do one of the following at LEAST once a day?
1) throw obnoxious popups at random (even when not browsing)
2) corrupt system file or cause Data Execution Prevention to pop up?
3) Remind you that your antivirus/firewall are out of date or ask you to take a tour of windows AGAIN
4) Demand you verify your copy as genuine anytime you want to checkfor updates.
5) ask for 200-400 US dollars for next version or no directX 10 for you
6) random freeze
7) random crash
8) Suck up memory fast and run things 20-50% slower than it should.
9) and through a reminder that your secure and more efficient since your running windows.

If it doesn't, it can easily be modified to do so if you wish. :twisted:

Edit: I've been just a little too slow all night tonight... :)
Edit2: Great minds, huh steven8? ;)

[Redlance]

Sweet!!! Gonna have to install that bad boy on a certain relative :D he would never notice the difference :D and make me repairing his sytem alot easier :D <sigh>

[mcduck]

mcduck... it depends what they use. All my parents do is e-mail, browse the net and use a word processor. I've already got them on Firefox (thanks to adblock plus would you believe!), thunderbird and OOO Writer look enough like Outlook and Word to not cause too much of an issue,
Yeah, perhaps that depends on the person.

I've actually moved my mom to Ubuntu, shes the most untechnical person I've ever met (having troubles even with the clock on the microwave and remote control of TV) and all I had to do with Ubuntu was to combine the 2 panels in Gnome into one panel at the bottom of the screen so that the Apllications menu is in familiar place.. I bet she wouldn't have noticed a thing if I hadn't told her what I did..

After that I haven't had to help her with her computer for about year and a half now, compared to at least 2 tech support calls per week when she was still using XP.. The funny thing is that she has been using computers since win3.11 and doesn't still understand concepts like 'window', 'desktop' or 'program', no matter how I try to explain it to her. But shes an artist, so that is probably just normal ;)

[Brunellus]

Just spotted this on Digg and despite it being around since 2005 I've never heard of it.

LXP = LookXP and is actually Linux.

http://wskills.blogspot.com/2006/12/linux-that-looks-like-windows-xp.html

http://sourceforge.net/project/screenshots.php?group_id=173462



What better way to convert resistant parents from XP to Linux?
Observation: "easing the transition" often means "extending the dependency."

I have found that my mother adapted much better to Ubuntu (with GNOME) than the much more Windows-like default KDE 3.2 which was shipping at the time that we first moved the household to Linux. The more "windows-like" the interface, the less incentive there is to unlearn windows habits, in my opinion.

Worse, if you make everything look like Windows, there is the underlying assumption that Windows programs will work. As far as the user is concerned, they *have* to, since the OS you've loaded looks and feels just like Windows.

In the end, what you're left with is not a new OS, but "Broken Windows," which is hardly the best way to represent Linux on the desktop.

[ice60]

...and doesn't still understand concepts like 'window', 'desktop' or 'program', no matter how I try to explain it to her. But shes an artist, so that is probably just normal ;)
lol i was going to install ubuntu on a friend's computer last night (there wasn't enough memory to load the destop, so i couldn't get to the 'install' icon on the desktop in the end), but i had a really hard time trying to explain what an OS was. she was thinking ubuntu would be installed inside XP, or something like that ](*,) maybe this would be good for her :confused:

[Brunellus]

lol i was going to install ubuntu on a friend's computer last night (there wasn't enough memory to load the destop, so i couldn't get to the 'install' icon on the desktop in the end), but i had a really hard time trying to explain what an OS was. she was thinking ubuntu would be installed inside XP, or something like that ](*,) maybe this would be good for her :confused:
See my earlier comments.

We should not mis-represent the software that we're installing. It's NOT Windows. It doesn't work like Windows. It doesn't use Windows programs. The sooner a user realizes this, the easier it is for everybody involved.

[jkzubu]

Simon makes a valid point, that is converting your [my] parents to using linux instead of windows variants. This is a great idea and my parents, for example, could probably easily adjust to this subtle change - maybe not even realize a change had occurred. The alternative, of course, is to tell them outright that you 'changed' or intend to change their computer. In a case of my parents knowing that a change was iminent, first they would resist the change, second it would confuse them, and third it would cause undue psychological turmoil. This alternative may very well ease the transition and I like the idea. Personally, I dislike Windows as well.

[K.Mandla]

Same here. To me, the benefit in this would not be to confuse or delude someone into using Linux, but rather an option to ease a transition, if that's what they want anyway. For example, I'm fairly sure I could convince my father to use Linux more often, if he could find things where he's used to them, and anticipate the way things will behave when he clicks on them.

Which is not to say that those things aren't possible to achieve with Gnome or KDE or some sort of variation thereof. But if it came preset and ready as part of an Ubuntu installation or available as an option on a Xubuntu install disc, it would make things easier for me to set up, and in turn easier for him to use.

Just a thought.

[Brunellus]

Simon makes a valid point, that is converting your [my] parents to using linux instead of windows variants. This is a great idea and my parents, for example, could probably easily adjust to this subtle change - maybe not even realize a change had occurred. The alternative, of course, is to tell them outright that you 'changed' or intend to change their computer. In a case of my parents knowing that a change was iminent, first they would resist the change, second it would confuse them, and third it would cause undue psychological turmoil. This alternative may very well ease the transition and I like the idea. Personally, I dislike Windows as well.
I'm going to keep resisting. Default KDE was too Windows like for my family: they kept trying to do Windows things with it, and were frustrated when their Windows behaviors did not yield Windows results. Again, the last thing I want to have is a "you broke my Windows" argument.

[nalmeth]

I'm going to keep resisting. Default KDE was too Windows like for my family: they kept trying to do Windows things with it, and were frustrated when their Windows behaviors did not yield Windows results. Again, the last thing I want to have is a "you broke my Windows" argument.
While the distro is novel, and it seems natural that someone would create a distro like this (and offer it for free unlike the russian distro), I have to agree its a recipe for a failed adoption.

I think you have the psychology right on this one Brunellus

Theres nothing wrong with trying to offer a similar experience, but making it just like windows, and pretending they won't notice any difference is silly.

I don't know, maybe if it was bundled with CrossOver office, and Cedega, making it non-free, it might push the point a little further, but it still wouldn't work the same. Its absurd to go to such great length to emulate something most users don't like or relate to anyway. They just use it because its all they know.

Not that this project isn't interesting.

[arnieboy]

The debian packages work fine. The UI is intuitive. Its a more sincere effort than xpde. I wish the creators luck.
-Arnie

[dbbolton]

i don't get it.

[Cyvros]

I can see why this would come up (just look at some theming sites with Luna-like styles), but I quite honestly would not use this. (Under Windows, I never use Luna, anyway.) I think Linux is Linux (or distro is distro) and Windows is Windows. Separate the two and have a distinction.

But, of course, this may be the only way to wean some people off Windows. I'm sure newer users would find all the different desktop environments confusing - I know I did (I started off merely knowing that Linux was good and Red Hat Linux was good, too).

It's a good initiative, though, although I'm unsure about how big the take-up would be.

However, I wonder what Microsoft thinks.

[aysiu]

See my earlier comments.

We should not mis-represent the software that we're installing. It's NOT Windows. It doesn't work like Windows. It doesn't use Windows programs. The sooner a user realizes this, the easier it is for everybody involved.
I agree wholeheartedly with Brunellus.

Tricking people into thinking Linux is Windows will always end up backfiring on you. LXP is most useful for people who like the look of Windows but are well-versed in the ways of Linux (just as Mac-clone themes are useful for those who like the look of OS X but are well-versed in the ways of Linux).

Linux novices should always see Linux as something completely different. They should have no illusions that things will function the same way as in Windows, and the interface looking almost exactly like Windows will only lead them to believe the behavior will also be similar, and then they'll end up disappointed.

Recently, I showed a co-worker Knoppix, and she was wowed by it. Wowed! She is not a tech-savvy person in general, but she loved just how different it was--everything from the tux icon appearing to the colorful verbose boot-up text. Once she got to KDE and saw that she had to single-click things and that the icons were different, she said, "It's--it's like a whole new world!" And I said it was--it's Linux.

If I had given her a Windows clone, what good what that have done?

[Brunellus]

I can see why this would come up (just look at some theming sites with Luna-like styles), but I quite honestly would not use this. (Under Windows, I never use Luna, anyway.) I think Linux is Linux (or distro is distro) and Windows is Windows. Separate the two and have a distinction.

But, of course, this may be the only way to wean some people off Windows. I'm sure newer users would find all the different desktop environments confusing - I know I did (I started off merely knowing that Linux was good and Red Hat Linux was good, too).

It's a good initiative, though, although I'm unsure about how big the take-up would be.

However, I wonder what Microsoft thinks.
their copyright-infringement axes are grinding as we speak. Which leads me to a second problem with this project--how are you going to defend against a copyright infringement action?

[lyceum]

I really can not understand why anyone would want to make their linux system look like an outdated, proprietry, unstable, overpriced .........

I think it makes new people feel "safe". The problem comes latwer when the OS that LOOKS like XP doesn't ACT like XP.

[BarfBag]

That looks bloody awful.

[patrick295767]

Just spotted this on Digg and despite it being around since 2005 I've never heard of it.

LXP = LookXP and is actually Linux.

http://wskills.blogspot.com/2006/12/linux-that-looks-like-windows-xp.html

http://sourceforge.net/project/screenshots.php?group_id=173462



What better way to convert resistant parents from XP to Linux?

we clone XP, we clone MAC !!

Who clone Linux ??

he he ;) ;)

[SunnyRabbiera]

Well I can see why some folk are angry at a linux system that looks like windows, but on the other side of that sometimes having a XP like setup makes transition better.
I know I have my system looking windows -ish or at least enough windows like not to confuse my windows using friends, I also have my "side by side" comparison wallpaper for total newbs.

[Cyvros]

their copyright-infringement axes are grinding as we speak. Which leads me to a second problem with this project--how are you going to defend against a copyright infringement action?

I thought as much. I have no idea - isn't LXP a community/group-based project? I don't think they realistically could defend themselves against action from MS. Even if I won't use it or recommend it, I hardly want to see them taken to court.

Maybe if they made it less of a clone and more an... 'inspired' thing. :S Only a suggestion.



we clone XP, we clone MAC !!

Who clone Linux ??

he he ;) ;)

The Windows themers whom I really admire and respect. :D

[maxamillion]

There was a discussion in the developers mailing list for Xubuntu to have it added as an option, the post originated from a member of the LookXP project but one of our core devs brought up the fact that LookXP would have to be packaged and accepted into the repositories and have a MOTU sponsor to keep its upstream added as time progresses. So if we are to see it added, I can't promise how soon it would happen.

I think it would be a decent idea for new users coming over, it would be a good migration tool in general but at the same time its not my favorite of concepts.

[falkenberg_cph]

None of the examples look like xp. Only the desktop background is correct.
And the look, even if it was right, wouldnt change the fact that new users would soon find out, that what was behind the Desktop was something totally different.

[Cyvros]

There was a discussion in the developers mailing list for Xubuntu to have it added as an option, the post originated from a member of the LookXP project but one of our core devs brought up the fact that LookXP would have to be packaged and accepted into the repositories and have a MOTU sponsor to keep its upstream added as time progresses. So if we are to see it added, I can't promise how soon it would happen.

I think it would be a decent idea for new users coming over, it would be a good migration tool in general but at the same time its not my favorite of concepts.

I think something similar, not a copy is what's best here. I think the current Human theme is similar without replicating. Maybe something blue with squarer buttons could be made for newer users, but nothing OTT...

Am I making sense here?



None of the examples look like xp. Only the desktop background is correct.
And the look, even if it was right, wouldnt change the fact that new users would soon find out, that what was behind the Desktop was something totally different.

I didn't think it looked too bad, but that's a point there about what's beneath all of it. "Where's my Office? What about Notepad? I use Paint, not this... Gump thing."

[K.Mandla]

Okay, so I decided to give this a whirl, just as a curiosity. I know, I know ... most people probably consider it an abomination, but I thought I'd at least give it a fair shake.

First thing I have to say is that the setup script is a dream to work with. It downloaded a list of current packages, then its own packages, then sensed the dependencies it needed and downloaded those as well. With the exception of x-window-system-core and the actual icewm package (which I installed because I was working off a server build), it set itself up.

I needed to tweak idesk and the GTK2 themes (again, because I was working off a clean server install), but aside from that it wasn't difficult at all to make it look -- no pun intended here -- like XP. Wallpaper is just something random and Bliss-like found off Google.

Obligatory screenshots, even though you have a vague idea of what it looks like if you've ever turned on an XP machine. :roll:


http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/3673/screenshot2lp3.th.jpg (http://img371.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot2lp3.jpg) http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/9944/screenshot3fv0.th.jpg (http://img371.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot3fv0.jpg) http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/4074/screenshot1jv8.th.jpg (http://img371.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot1jv8.jpg)

Pretty close, huh?

Chances are most folks here detest the idea of a Linux machine made to look like a Windows machine, but I can see a value in it. I've had people ask me to reinstall Windows because of a virus or spyware, and if I knew they were only going to use it for browsing and light word processing and maybe a Solitaire game, I think it could come in handy. If you needed to build a bulletproof XP mockup, it's not hard with this.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to zip up my flame-retardant suit. :mrgreen: