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  • (January 12, 2023, 01:18:11 AM)

Author Topic: XPDE  (Read 3284 times)

Demosthenes

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XPDE
« on: January 29, 2004, 10:35:40 AM »
A part of me thinks this is really cool, and yet another part of me finds it strangely distasteful:  XPDE


Really cool in that I'm impressed at what these guys have done in the interest of making something that Windows users won't shy away from or be able to legitimately point at and say "I don't want to use Linux because I don't want to learn an entirely new interface".


Strangely distasteful in that I don't think XP is very nice to look at or use in any OS.  Part of me wants to say "if you're so dead-set on using Windows XP, just use Windows XP".

Know what I mean?
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XPDE
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2004, 10:43:15 AM »
Tuesday's UserFriendly strip

I agree. Someone who's in love with the way Windows XP looks shouldn't be using Linux.
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Demosthenes

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XPDE
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2004, 11:13:52 AM »
Quote from: catwritr
Tuesday's UserFriendly strip


Yeah, I saw that the other day.  I thought it was a joke in the strip, but I googled "XPDE" and came up with the actual site and thought holy crap, this thing is for real!  :lol:

Quote
I agree. Someone who's in love with the way Windows XP looks shouldn't be using Linux.


Well, don't get me wrong... I can still see some use in such a thing for really showing people that Linux doesn't have to be just for techies and uber-geeks... that regular people can learn it and that if you can point-and-click your way around Windows, you can learn Linux as well.  It's good for showcasing the capabilities of something that people are becoming more and more aware of.

It's like "See?  This Linux thing can be anything you want it to be.  This is because it's open source.  Open standards are a strength, not a weakness".


And at the same time, seeing Linux with a gawd-awful XP interface makes me cringe.

I don't think I'll be running this one.  I'm tempted to download it and install it just to see how well it works, but....
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« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2004, 11:29:58 AM »
True, but my point was that people who like an operating system for superficial reasons, like its color scheme, should stick with what they know.

These are usually the kinds of people who get confused when trying to do simple things in new programs. I shit you not, one woman in my Dreamweaver class was confused by the Open File dialogue (which is exactly the same as in Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.). She couldn't find the Desktop. Her excuse was that she was using a new program. If you know how to find your desktop using Word's Open File dialogue, you should be able to find it using any other program for Windows. (I did learn that I should never take a Beginners course again.)

Sure, using a WindowsXP-like desktop environment can do exactly what you said: show people that Linux isn't inaccessible to all but programmers and ubergeeks. But many of these novice users will get flustered and confused simply because they know they're using something different, no matter how familiar it looks.
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Demosthenes

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XPDE
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2004, 12:30:14 PM »
Well, you already know my opinion about that kind of thing... most of those people shouldn't be using computers at all, so that point is pretty much moot.
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XPDE
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2004, 02:43:27 PM »
How long do you give it until Microsoft throws a fit and starts filing lawsuits?
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Demosthenes

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XPDE
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2004, 03:23:00 PM »
Over what?

A color scheme?  A desktop layout?

It's totally developed under the GPL, and they're taking pains to avoid any actual trademarked images, names, et al...

If they could sue over this, then no graphical environment is safe.

They mention something about that in the XPde FAQ section on that site.  I think they'd be pretty hard-pressed to find any grounds for a lawsuit in something as flimsy as what essentially amounts to being a color scheme and a style set for a Linux window manager.
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XPDE
« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2004, 05:55:34 PM »
I disagree that this is a bad thing. Why? Because some people would *LOVE* to move to Linux, but are too scared to make the move because of unfamiliarity. Wouldn't you be happy if this allowed for more people to make the move from XP to Linux, allowing them to learn enough to move to things such as Debian/SuSe?
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HeavyJay

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XPDE
« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2004, 12:34:38 PM »
Reminds me of Lindows.  MS pitched a fit over that one, but I believe it was more because of the name than anything.[/url]
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got redneck?

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XPDE
« Reply #9 on: January 31, 2004, 07:54:08 PM »
still not as good as ximian
just my .02
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XPDE
« Reply #10 on: January 31, 2004, 11:00:21 PM »
*shrug* I'll stick with XP and 95 for now.  Linux is too much of a pain to install.  it eats up precious time that i could be here or playing Tiberian Sun.

Quote from: got redneck?
still not as good as ximian
just my .02


btw, .02 what, exactly?  grams?  Pounds?  inches? meters? Lightyears? Seconds?





j/k  :wink:
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XPDE
« Reply #11 on: January 31, 2004, 11:14:09 PM »
windows blah on that
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HeavyJay

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« Reply #12 on: February 01, 2004, 12:52:16 PM »
Did that come from Fark or something?  It's...hideous!
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