Use an OS X-Style Global Menu in Ubuntu

Most “Make X Look Like a Mac” hacks for any system end up merely putting a new skin on the same basic window and menu layouts. Not so with Global Menu, an Ubuntu project that’s seen a lot of community input and has matured along with it. After installing more than a dozen packages and crossing your fingers, your top menu bar should emulate the OS X style, moving your program dialogs up there and keeping the application window relatively clean. At this point, the trick doesn’t work with Firefox and some Java-based apps (hello OpenOffice), but add it to one previously-mentioned modification tutorial and a new Thunderbird theme, and you’re getting much closer to the look and feel of a Mac, if that’s your preference. Hit the link for the detailed installation instructions.