Windows 7

[HynoTech]

Hello all,

I was just wondering if anyone here had noticed the remarkable similarities between Linux Mint and Windows 7, yet. My son just got sent a laptop from his school that was loaded up with it, and it seems like they're doing everything they can to copy the look and feel of Linux.

[gibbs1984]

To be honest, no. I have a Windows 7 partition along side my Linux Mint Gnome partition and the only thing I can see that maybe is the same is the mintMenu, what is it that you think looks the same?

Unless we're talking about KDE?

[Midnighter]

I think most of the desktops are "borrowing" from one another these days. And some will just complain that the other had it first, etc, but so many elements simply get re-used, it doesn't really matter.

[jesica]

it does not look the same to me

[hunkirdowne]

Probably the biggest similarity I see is the running application preview widget available for the panel ('task bar' for Windows and 'dock' for Mac OS X). But almost regardless which "Linux" desktop environment you use (GNOME, KDE, Xfce, etc.) this and many other features can be turned on/off so it doesn't always show up. I've found the panel(s) and other desktop objects to be so highly configurable in Mint (as well as other distros based on the Linux kernel) that you can probably mimic just about any Windows or Mac OS X desktop at least in appearance if not function.

Windows' task bar is rather customizable as well, I might add, but it does require a little more effort and it doesn't always yield a usable result. In fact, I have modified (in XP) the environment to have skinny title bars, skinny task bar, etc. in an effort to gain some screen real estate. But this is just one of many reasons why Mint (and other Debian-based distros) are my first choice to get my (personal) work done -- the 'out of the box' experience works better for me than either of the other two more commercial solutions out of Redmond and Cupertino.

My 15.0" TFT display running 1400 x 1050 looks absolutely wonderful on this Pentium-4 laptop w/ KDE 3.5.10 ...

In the end, I guess I'm a bit spartan in my approach but I prefer the screen to be devoted to the task and not the menus, icons, and other bling. I really like having access to functions that I can keystroke or right-mouse-click to get when I need them but are otherwise unobtrusive.

[Dajunka]

After taking up Linux for a week I booted up my windows 7, and my first impression was how horrible windows 7 really is in comparison to Linux mint.
I have now been a Linux user for about a month and in all of that time Mint has never crashed or locked up on me. Going back to windows 7 to handle a bit of work resulted in 1 crash and one system freeze in the space of one hour.

Once I have found a way to run my last few applications on Linux, then it will be bin time for my windows 7.

[cpatrick08]

After taking up Linux for a week I booted up my windows 7, and my first impression was how horrible windows 7 really is in comparison to Linux mint.
I have now been a Linux user for about a month and in all of that time Mint has never crashed or locked up on me. Going back to windows 7 to handle a bit of work resulted in 1 crash and one system freeze in the space of one hour.

Once I have found a way to run my last few applications on Linux, then it will be bin time for my windows 7.

i am just waiting for the day that netflix works with Linux then goodbye Microsoft and windows 7

[DrHu]

Hello all,
I was just wondering if anyone here had noticed the remarkable similarities between Linux Mint and Windows 7, yet..

Not necessarily so, but..

Every desktop OS or even cloud computing OS or Mobile OS is copying everyone else
--if they spot an idea that seems to give one vendor an edge, they will all start copying it. the same thing happens with Movies: hence we get a run of action pictures or dramas or comedies or romances every so often, as in that's just a trend..

With some vendors the Who is first question? is seemingly important to their company, so they make the claim; whether or not it is a complete lie (or as they might say in marketing world only a spin) or not!

[AlbertP]

Hmm indeed, that you get an A when pressing the A is also similar and Linux copied that behaviour from other OSes.

[pythagorean]

The aero effects in windows 7 take a lot mmore graphics capability than the compiz effects in linux do. You can get some effects out of Linux in a virtual box but you get nothing from windows in a virtual box.

[rdonnelly]

I have windoze 7 on an old dusty partition that is infrequently booted unless I want to punish myself I also have it installed in virtualbox for those windoze apps I need to run. My impression is a counterfeit sluggishly slow Gnome desktop with minimal compositing effects.

[Ash-Lee]

The gimmicky 'aero-snap' feature, i actually find useful.

But i find 'Alt-Tab-Arrow' better, multiple desktops makes life easier for me.

[maverickjesterx]

Hyno,
I really think its the other way around. Windows 7 does not look like Linux but Linux Mint or Linux running KDE which also copied WIndows Look and feel. Linux Mint looks like Windows imho to help people transition over to Linux. If the look and feel is similar the transition will be easier. Most Linux that runs Gnome looks more like OS X.

[rdonnelly]

Hyno,
I really think its the other way around. Windows 7 does not look like Linux but Linux Mint or Linux running KDE which also copied WIndows Look and feel. Linux Mint looks like Windows imho to help people transition over to Linux. If the look and feel is similar the transition will be easier. Most Linux that runs Gnome looks more like OS X.

If you want to get technical, they all copied IBM OS\2. Windoze 95 looked like OS\2 2.1 from 1992.

[Roken]

Actually, they all copied Xerox - circa 1972:

[rdonnelly]

Actually, they all copied Xerox - circa 1972:

Well then we can all agree the Bill Gates did not invent the GUI, he was the original software pirate

[maverickjesterx]

Yes they did all copy Zerox. There was a book fire in the valley and later a tv film The Pirates of Silcon Valley or something to that effect that covers all of this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_Silicon_Valley). I was just commenting on the original posters comments about Windows Copying Linux.

[Hawkeye_52]

I was recently out wish-shopping for my next computer (read absolutely can't afford, but REALLY want). My reading had driven me to look at touch screens -- that seems to be the direction technology is taking us, either expectantly or kicking and screaming no -- so I went to my local large technology store to see what hardware was available. I say hardware because in the last 8 years of computer shopping, my buying practice has been to pick the hardware that suited me, go home, and wipe Windows before I installed my favorite Linux distro (or two). I fully expect to do the same this time.

The sale clerk was very helpful in getting me acquainted with touch screen technology. Cute, but I'm not sure it's ready for prime time (or maybe it's just my old school habits/attitudes ), and there was nothing especially redeeming about Windows 7 -- at least for me. Except -- except. The sales clerk showed me the web cam app that, I guess is a part of Windows 7. I was captivated! It will show you your picture, but it did so many more things -- combining so many aspects of different graphics that I had to chuckle with pleasure. Image manipulation, multiple avatars that move their faces in mimic of your movements as you speak and/or gesture. It was, well, just fun to play with. I could have spent as much time with that app as I would with a game...

In summary, I would definitely not 'switch teams' for their web cam app, but it was intriguing, engaging, and just plain fun. The number of different graphic apps that would have to be integrated in Linux to make something similar means that we probably won't have anything similar in the near future.

For all the fun I got out of those 5-10 minutes, it is a fairly sad commentary that the web cam app was really the only redeeming feature I found in Windows 7 after a fairly serious 45-60 minute test drive. Everybody's mileage, of course, may vary...

Hawkeye

[donec]

Hi Hawkeye,
What version of Windows 7 did the touchpad have? I ask because I have a Gateway computer that came with Win7 Home Premium and it did not come with software for the webcam. This makes me think the software was something the computer manufacture added instead of being part of Win7.

[Hawkeye_52]

Hi Hawkeye,
What version of Windows 7 did the touchpad have? I ask because I have a Gateway computer that came with Win7 Home Premium and it did not come with software for the webcam. This makes me think the software was something the computer manufacture added instead of being part of Win7.

Donec,

I am not sure, but I do know that it was a brand-new HP touch screen, I was walking up as the tech was finishing up on the installation. That means I was the first to use the new display computer. Not being that much of a Windows person, I just assumed that it would be the normal, most current version of Windows.

Your question raises an interesting and valid point, that may have made my post irrelevant . The web cam app may well have been a 'tweak' provide by HP. It would not be beyond them to do that. I did not look at any other brands and their touch screens, to see if the app was present on them. Next time I visit the store, I am going to have to investigate that. Until then, it looks like my comments regarding Windows, specifically, may have been a little 'half-baked'.

I am sorry if this gave the wrong impression regarding Windows, but however that web cam app came about -- it was fun!...

Hawkeye