Linux Mint was designed to deliver a smooth landing from Windows, and if you’re the type of guy to have a problem with it, then the entire FOSS communtiy is gonna have a problem with you, because you’re making it harder for people to escape from corporate solutions.
I mean… I used to have a macbook with Linux inside customized to look like Windows 🥸😈
Thats fine its your linux.
I just want an icon only taskbar at the bottom and a Windows 7-like application launcher. Besides that it doesn’t have to look like Windows at all.
Yeah gatekeeping is exactly how we get people to try Linux…
Ooh wait, that’s the opposite.
Let people use Linux however they want. That’s the whole point of the OS family, it’s incredibly customisable
random comment to see if i can comment… (im not a bot)
There is a heckuva lot to be said for the classic “start” category based app menu, tied to a task bar. XFCE, MATE, OpenBox, all draw from a paradigm established in the Windows 95 design.
Its not a bad design. Personally, I couldn’t get used to anything else (and I’ve tried). My first PC had Win 95 and I’m now on a Plasma desktop.
Microsoft is doing a great job at completely crippling the fuck out of their start menu though, proving once again they have no idea what direction they’re going in.
AeroThemePlasma iykyk
What’s wrong with wanting a UI you’re used to?
Everyone wants other people to switch to Linux until they do literally anything a purist wouldn’t do with their own personal setup 😅
You’re using a UI?!?? 😡
My grandmother never realized she was using Linux because it just looked like all the other computers. (Linux was not the cause of her death)
great comment!
(Linux was not the cause of explodicle’s grandmother’s death)
There’s nothing wrong with tuning your UI to match one you’re more comfortable with. Thats the beauty of Linux.
I wish I could tweak Win 11 to look like Win 7. The only improvement since then was putting the Folder Up button back and adding tabs to Explorer, everything else is worse.
There’s this project you could try in a vm https://classic7.lol/
Exact same. That missing up button alone made me not like Windows 7, I didn’t realize how much I relied on it in xp. I have one pc that I keep Windows 11 on for work because there’s just too much niche software I need that only supports Windows, but everything else is Linux at this point.
I used to do this, and it meant I’d hold onto old habits and never used my current OS how it was intended.
This wasnt just for Linux either, I’d try using Win95 like 3.1, I’d try using XP like 98, I’d try using win 8 like 7, I’d try using OS X like Windows and I’d try using Linux like OS X or like Windows.
When I decided to learn the OS I was using (which didn’t take much effort, but was a bit of a conscious decision) I had a much better time, less frustrated and more comfortable.
That would always be my recommendation to anyone switching OS (Or DE) learn it the way it was intended and you’ll have a much better time
The way my OS was intended was to be windowslike.
It uses kwin
Being comfortable with something is overrated, try new things and see what clicks for you. I never understood the “it’s what I’m used to” thing, that just drives me crazy because you are so aware of the issues and there’s never any excitement and interest of discovery. And I don’t mean that you need to change everything all the time, I very much have specific things that I go to great lengths to have but I have those because I’ve found them and nothing else has come close to feeling as good.
Trying new stuff is great - when you choose it. Random surprise tweaks that you’re forced to spend a while figuring out how to revert are pure fucking evil and everyone knows it.
What’s especially terrible is when people change stuff for the worse, then remove the old better option.
I frequently compare my XFCE setup to Windows 95. The job of an OS is to run programs.
I tweaked my KDE desktop to look like XFCE.
What does that make me?KDFCE boy :)
That’s my favorite comic strip
Now, now, are we talking windows 11 or XP?
Windows 8… or Windows 11 😬
There is a scale of psychopathy…
XP, though? Hell yeah. I still miss that theme.
Lol, I grew up with the 98se theme and xp theme, and at this point i just think they’re both incredibly ugly. Peak windows desktop prettiness and usability was windows 7 for me.
Honestly, I think Windows 8 Beta’s theme was the best looking (if you ignore the issues with the start screen): pairing Aero with the squared windows actually looked really good.
That they not only removed Aero in the final version but also soccer their lawyers on anyone who tried to bring it back was just incredibly shitty on their part
I disabled the UI stuff where it would look like Windows 2000 from XP until it stopped letting me. Different strokes, I guess.
Put this thing in a VM and then let a scammer remote into it, see what he does.
You mean the Fisher Price theme? While it wasn’t as bad as people seemed to think at the time, it really was kinda ugly and childish looking (but still an improvement over the corpo-boring '95 era theme)
The Media Center theme was a nice twist on the default XP theme I’ll admit.

I used Royale Blue for ages, it was super easy to find the installer for and was signed by M$ so needed no UXTheme patch.
There was also Royale Noir and Royale Zune. Noir is a dark theme (Not to be confused with dark mode) and Zune, which was a different shade of black and sported an orange start button. Lastly there was also Royale Embedded which was a darker shade of blue, and had a blue Start button.
XP or NT, I’d go back
98 SE.
Windows 95 blew my mind.
Then windows 98 preview also was amazeballs
Vista
vista and 7 both look really good, so thats fair
WindowsME
Psychopath
The Mountain Dew Baja blast of windows releases
Inexplicably beloved by furries?
… no hang on, that actually tracks.
XP
Honestly, 8 and 8.1 weren’t bad visually (technically a whole different matter). I wouldn’t mind making my WM resemble good old Windows 8, but actually has a sane technical base of Linux underneath it.
It was the one with the weird start menu wasn’t it? Also wasn’t it the one that they started adding the second duplicate ui in a half assed way?
Like where they ended up with 2 control panels
Yeah, Microsoft removed the Start Menu and added full screen tiles, that were widgets that updated with stuff (like news). I don’t remember when the two 2 control panels things happened, Windows had always been a mess to me up to that point. It could’ve been sooner or later, because Windows was built with legacy support in mind.
DOS
Powershell
That’s one of the bad ones
Windows Me!
I tweak my linux so it becomes a prison for anyone that boots that isn’t me, we are not the same.
Reminds me of this youtuber that fell for a scammer’s bait intentionally except he was in a VM of hannah montana linux. The scammer was so fucking confused haha
Got a link?
I don’t have a link either, but i’d check Kitboga’s channel, he is usually screwing around with scammers in insane ways
No sry, was a long time ago
“what in the fuck is a luks?”
If someone that isn’t me can competently use my computer I consider it a personal failing. Always open to tips
That’s why I log in through tty. What comes next is anyone’s guess. Nerd wizardry.
























