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A Chinese group has created an Ubuntu Linux clone that looks, um, just like Windows XP. Two big questions: First, do customers want a Linux release (called Ylmf OS) that looks like Windows? Second, is Microsoft willing to allow a group of Ubuntu renegades to mimic Windows XP’s look and feel? Some thoughts here.
YlmF is Linux, so it's not Windows. But it's designed to look and feel like Windows XP, including the classic looks. For less knowledgeable users, it as near as makes no difference.
I recently came across Zorin, an Ubuntu based distro that focuses on easing a Windows user's transition to Linux by theming it's interface to look like Microsoft's operating system.
After reading colleague Alexander Wolfe's piece about a Linux distro called "Vixta" that apes the look and feel of Windows Vista, I confess to having mixed feelings about the whole thing. Mostly negative ones.
I don't know if Linus Torvalds has nightmares about Linux turning into Windows but some people definitely do. Linux Doesn't Need to Look Like Windows has been a popular and oft-visited article about Vixta on reddit since last week. It had spurred about 100 comments going back and forth about the merit of Vixta's user interface design and whether Linux should look like Windows.
This tutorial shows how you can set up a Linux Mint Debian 201009 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.