This is the first release of XPDE with a completely rewritten code base. A screenshot can be seen here. Go at TechDigest to pose your question for an interview with XPDE.
XPDE 0.5.0 Released
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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this screenshot looks better http://www.xpde.com/fullshot.png
A screenshot with better window control buttons can be seen <a href=http://www.xpde.com/fullshot.png>here. I got this working with Fedora, and it’s pretty featureless now. Hopefully the next version will have all the features that were present with 0.4
I personally don’t want linux to look like windows, but I’m glad that the option will be there.
yeah it’s in png, but one meg for a screenie?
Honestly i think this is a good thing…
It will get more windows users to use linux!
So, dont complain about how this looks!
Actually, I don’t think so. It doesn’t even look as nice as Windows, which isn’t saying a lot. Look how crappy the fonts look, they look straight out of GTK. What underlaying toolkit does it use, anyway?
…but that’s probably due to the version of freetype they’re using. I mean, fonts aren’t handled by the DE anyway, so I’m sure you could get nice anti-aliased freetype fonts with the right library.
I could never understand that expression. From now on I will never use it again.
Anyway, one can see in the app screenshots that some fonts look nice, so maybe I’m completely mistaken about the whole issue, and it is in fact XPDE that has yet to integrate AA font support.
It’s late. Gimme a break.
The fonts are managed by the distro.
XPDE4 looked really slick, kind of like Windows 2000. I really wouldn’t have guessed that the guy would have made it electric blue like Windows XP in the new version.
But I am happy with XFCE4, which has a strikingly similar name.
Don’t rip into the looks of it yet. It’s only version .5 and is already much better looking then version .4.
Having said that, I’m really excited about this. I use both Windows and Linux, but tend to find myself more comfortable in Windows because I’m used to the interface. But, I love Linux for it’s open nature, anti-establishment philosophies, low cost, and it’s ability to be customized.
It’d be great if I could one day be on a system which looks exactly like Windows, but still has all the other advantages of Linux.
I actually wouldn’t be too surprised in Novell snatches this up one day. I know they have Ximian, but as you can read here:
http://www.newsforge.com/os/03/08/09/1329244.shtml
the CTO of Novell, Alan Nugent things the wide adoption of Linux will be by making “it so users can’t tell (and don’t care) it’s not Windows”
Well….I think XPde will have accomplished this one goal quicker then Gnome.
Does anyone know where i can find that wallpaper that is shown on the screenie? it looks great
Sorry, but I don’t understand why someone should use this ugly thing. Ok, maybe it will help some switchers, but I guess a few weeks of “learning” would be better for them..
LoCal
This kind of looks like WinXP (not exactly). The funny thing is that I like the looks more than the real XP.
Disclaimer, I prefer *BSD/Linux and Win2k.
Does it do multiple desktops? Sorry, I dont mean to respond to myself..
Good luck trying to find that wallpaper. It took about 30 minutes of searching at my mom’s house. I’d upload it for you but her house is 6 hours away and I forgot to bring it back here (since I want it, too).
However I do remember going to google images and using the search string “longhorn bliss.” The wallpaper will show up in the results, but it’s only the cached version as the site is down at the moment.
I’d be very interested in that wallpaper too. Found it, but the site is down
Silly me. Why didn’t I think about that before? Just download XPDE and extract and look for the wallpaper. It must be in the tar.gz file
http://osfocus.net/Landscape_wallpaper.jpg
The theme isn’t based on XP at all, btw; it’s based on Longhorn’s M6 Plex, which you can see here.
http://slipstreamx.net/M6Desktop.jpg
Why the hell are you people arguing over something as subjective as appearance and design? Are you actually hoping to accomplish something? The electric blue might not be your cup of tea, but try comparing the “tone” of the screenshot with another distro. There’s life in the XPde screenshot. That’s the magic of alpha-blending and png support. With work–and some crafty theming–you nasayers would likely be changing your tunes.
Yap. Great point.
The guy has been quite busy with his company the past months. He didn’t get much help with it either, mainly people who _said_ they want to help. The code has been completely rewritten in this release and some stuff isn’t implemented yet which was in the 0.4 and earlier releases. And those features, like the things in common Win2k like My Computer, Configuration, Windows Explorer, Display Properties, and such are still missing. I think that’s more important than theming. One great thing would be when this DE has support for the Windows .theme files; those hang around on the net quite a bit and allow easy integration. The guy also wrote a legal document about how one develops something like this without attracting lawsuits. Which is a great thing too, imo.
Personally i prefer a lightwight WM however i’d suggest to new Linux kernel + desktop users that they’d better check out a fully working, user-friendly DE like XFce4/KDE3/GNOME2. But there are people who prefer not to, there are people who just want to get rid of Windows and use something more Free/free which is like Windows. IOW: a small re-learn curve. Some of these people will prefer to use their common Windows applications too, so WINE is another good point which can be integrated in this DE. Perhaps something like CrossOver. For those of you who prefer a Windows Explorer-like program to browsse their computer (tree-like) try XFE. In a internet cafe running fully on Free software we succesfully integrated XFE into XFce4 and newbies find this a user-friendly combination (among others).
Yeah, let’s cry about how bad Windows is and how good Linux is, then COMPLETELY RIP OFF Windows XP with our desktops.
Let’s stick with ugly 2D windows forever, and ever, and ever…
Wha? Isn’t design the most important part of a DE? Seriously, for most idiot windows users, if it dosn’t LOOK the same they’ll be to scared to even try it. On the other hand, I’m not so sure I want a bunch of windows users messing around with my linux. Next thing you know there will be so much crap tacked on it will be worse then windows. Then I geuss I’ll have to move back to *BSD. *sigh*
You mean .msstyles, not .theme.
“Wha? Isn’t design the most important part of a DE?”
If that were true, we wouldn’t be RIPPING OFF Windows, we’d be going with a better design.
“Seriously, for most idiot windows users, if it dosn’t LOOK the same they’ll be to scared to even try it.”
When did Linux become the anti-Windows? I don’t care if Windows users are scared to try it. They’re probably scared because of people like you and others who make complete rip-offs, and then the users tries it thinking it’s going to behave like Windows–and it doesn’t.
Dude….You’re missing the point. The idea of this environment isn’t that Linux needs to have XP’s look and feel because XP’s style is superior. It’s so that you can migrate Windows users to Linux without them feeling like they’re in a foreign environment.
It’s a great idea too. Think of corporations who can’t/won’t switch their employees PC’s to Linux because they’re afraid of an uproar from their employees who don’t want to change. But with XPde, half of the employees wouldn’t even know they were’nt running Windows.
From the XPde FAQ: “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 logos or graphics). That way, a plain user can start to use new applications (StarOffice, Mozilla, etc) without being frightened by a new desktop.”