Get Linux to Look like Windows

By +John Teacake
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Grand Master

+John Teacake MVC

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Seriously this might be a dumb question and I might get laughed off the forum here but How can I make Linux more to the point Ubuntu look as Crisp as Windows. A windows desktop always seems much more crisp and polished to me. No matter what I do I cant seem to get Linux to look as good.

 

Thoughts? 

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The_Observer

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i dont think you can. Linux is Linux and trying to make it look like something like windows i think is a waste of time imho. GL and let us know what happens.

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Max Norris

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Well if you mean "looks like" as in visual styles, then there's a few out there.  (Big "eww" personally, not a fan of one OS trying to look like another.)  Just polish in general, eh that's preference.. really hard to take somebody else's word for it when you're the one who has to live with it.  Fire up a VM and fool around with the different desktops, find one that's "you."   I kinda lean towards KDE myself, lots of polish and it also has a similar-ish workflow like the traditional Windows desktop.  Different, but you won't feel like you just walked into the wrong side of town like with say Gnome 3, etc, some design decisions feel like it was done "just because" and some are pretty bad.  Visually it's pretty snazzy too, although once you start mixing QT and GTK apps that tends to go out the window if you don't care for the default theme.. hard to get both engines looking just right. 

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Grand Master

+John Teacake MVC

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The tweak tool makes it look a bit better, I just get the feelings from the Windows desktop that the at least the fonts display a bit crisper. The UI feels a bit more polished in Windows. 

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Ambroos

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The tweak tool makes it look a bit better, I just get the feelings from the Windows desktop that the at least the fonts display a bit crisper. The UI feels a bit more polished in Windows. 

 

Font rendering on Windows is indeed quite thin compared to most other operating systems. Personally I've replaced my Windows font rendering with something more Linux-like because I actually prefer it. You get used to it after a while

 

If you like a polished UI, you should try Elementary OS as mentioned before. It's by far the best looking Linux distro there is, and because it's Ubuntu 12.04 at the core it's quite compatible and stable too.

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PGHammer

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i dont think you can. Linux is Linux and trying to make it look like something like windows i think is a waste of time imho. GL and let us know what happens.

Actually, it's relatively easy - start with the K Desktop Environment (KDE) 4.xx if you're into an XP-style Linux DE.  And yes, I'm quite serious.

 

Where there are applications for KDE that are similar to those of GNOME (and vice-versa), KDE, and especially since version 4, has become almost an XP clone - and nowhere is this more obvious than KMail - KDE's default mail client.

By default, KMail is arranged a LOT like Evolution - or Outlook 200x; as a result, migrating from either to KMail is largely painless.  (In fact, KMail and Evolution are the only mail clients I will use in any Linux distribution - same applies to the BSDs.)

 

And if you can tag-team KDE with Compiz (yes - you CAN use Compiz with KDE), you can basically get a fancier XP clone than XP itself ever was.

 

However, that same familiarity has gotten KDE quite a bit of derision - while GNOME 3 is too "out there" to be respected, KDE (in the eyes of a lot of Linux fanatics), went too much the other way in terms of being an XP clone.

 

So, it's quite possible - it just will get you a lot of scorn.

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The_Observer

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Actually, it's relatively easy - start with the K Desktop Environment (KDE) 4.xx if you're into an XP-style Linux DE.  And yes, I'm quite serious.

 

Where there are applications for KDE that are similar to those of GNOME (and vice-versa), KDE, and especially since version 4, has become almost an XP clone - and nowhere is this more obvious than KMail - KDE's default mail client.

By default, KMail is arranged a LOT like Evolution - or Outlook 200x; as a result, migrating from either to KMail is largely painless.  (In fact, KMail and Evolution are the only mail clients I will use in any Linux distribution - same applies to the BSDs.)

 

And if you can tag-team KDE with Compiz (yes - you CAN use Compiz with KDE), you can basically get a fancier XP clone than XP itself ever was.

 

However, that same familiarity has gotten KDE quite a bit of derision - while GNOME 3 is too "out there" to be respected, KDE (in the eyes of a lot of Linux fanatics), went too much the other way in terms of being an XP clone.

 

So, it's quite possible - it just will get you a lot of scorn.

My point is more towards, stop trying to treat linux like windows and just use linux. Your learn faster the in's and out's  of linux if you treat it like it is. Spending so much time in trying to make it look like windows, when you could just learn how linux works, imho would make your time worth while.

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Grand Master

ichi

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If you want something that looks like Windows, just install Windows 7 or 8...

 

Maybe some people prefer Linux but for some devious reason actually like how Windows looks. I think is ok that these themes exist for them, as long as they keep in mind that looking the same and working the same way are two completely unrelated subjects.

 

Now, if you want something that works exactly the same as Windows then yeah, look no further: install Windows.

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snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member

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I feel that the only really good reason to make it look like Windows is if you can't find a decentish theme/style that you personally like for whatever WM you are using. It happens. Most of the knock offs I've seen don't do a very good job of looking like Windows though.

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PGHammer

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My point is more towards, stop trying to treat linux like windows and just use linux. Your learn faster the in's and out's  of linux if you treat it like it is. Spending so much time in trying to make it look like windows, when you could just learn how linux works, imho would make your time worth while.

And you just drove home exactly what I meant by "scorn" and "derision".

 

The reasoning behind the OP's post is quite sound - it's one I've heard a lot since XP, in fact.  (I am referring to the RTM of XP.)  There are still plenty of users that think that XP is the pinnacle of what is right with a desktop UI - however, XP, merely in terms of price, is not exactly cheap.  (Then there is the reality that support for XP is about to absolutely croak.)  A Linux DE, for home use, costs abolutely nothing, and can be installed from a USB stick, burned CD or DVD, or even from within Windows (dual-boot) - further, depending on what applications you install, it can even completely replace XP, depending on the user and the use.  It can basically be everything the person with XP on older-than-legacy hardware - such as an old notebook or laptop - could want.  (Mom, for example, has an old Gateway Solo that came with XP as standard and it can't be upgraded even to Vista - no DVD drive and a decided lack of HDD space; the HDD space issue is the biggest problem. With XP basically, dead, a Linux DE would be the only real way to repurpose it - and that is for any user - even me.  It's a straight repurpose - I have more modern hardware running a more modern OS - I'm simply looking to keep old hardware in use.  I don't need fancy - in terms of applications OR OS; in such a case, a Linux DE running KDE makes all sorts of sense.)  I can use the terminal in Linux just fine - you don't necessarily have to give up any of what makes a Linux distribution because of a DE choice.  (My favorite example is, of all distributions, Sabayon - a Gentoo derivative with several desktop environment options - including KDE.  Where I'd be limited with Sabayon as a distribution choice is by the hardware I'm running it on - NOT Sabayon itself.  The mere fact that it would be basically dressed in XP clothing says exactly diddly about the OS underneath - to assume otherwise means that you are looking merely skin-deep (or DE deep) and are seeing only the sheep's clothing - not the wolf that is wearing it.  That is why Sabayon is my preferred Linux DE - it's a wolf in sheep's clothing.)

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