too bad it doesn't run on 64-bit vista machines :/

bsankr

I've been running this for years. It's a great way to get that OSX look on your Windows machines.

Paul

is it easy to uninstall after you installed it?

srudes2

Didn't get the Mac you asked for this Christmas but still desperate to feel like you're running OS X, even if it is on a Windows computer

Isn't this something like eating soy burgers so you can pretend you are having hamburgers? I guess I just don't get it.

ramblnrev

Mmmm that doesn't look as good as Vista.

Onouris

I stuck with Windows 2000 theme. It is the fastest and the most lag-less UI you can get from Windows.

Of course, I also have a real mac, and its UI's faster than Window's classic theme. =P

knvb1123

another project attempting the same goal is Vista OSX at [vistaosx.patrick-loewer.de]

dekay46

I like the look of Vista with a hacked UI, and Rocket Dock.

It's my favorite!

[img296.imageshack.us]
[img296.imageshack.us]
[img296.imageshack.us]

malnourish

@srudes2:
I recently tested out FlyakiteOSX on my computer running XP and ended up having to reformat my computer when trying to uninstall the program. It may have just been my system couldn't take the added tweaks or something else on my end but im done trying to make my computers theme different.

Woodsyx

I think Vista looks fantastic.

dmccall

@Onouris: ew.

i offer my opinion that nearly anything looks better than vista, so now there's a vote each way :P

Quine

I'm quite surprised there hasn't been any Anti-Mac/Anti-Windows vitriol in the comments yet. Please, let's keep it this way. :)

calpchen

Me, I got tired of looking at XP, even in classic mode, so I ditched the entire interface and now I'm running blackbox and slickrun and look at nothing but (mostly) bare monitor. It's lovely.

I mean, if I can't be looking at my macs, I may as well be looking at soothing blue, no?

Ah, wait, I forget that 'blue screen' has different meaning to Winusers...

gyffes

Once again, the How-To-Geek is late on the news. Tech-Recipes covered this back in early October. [blogs.tech-recipes.com]

blakfoot

Yes, DO NOT INSTALL THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE!!! This program has a key logger built into the installer. I have found in in every installation no matter which version I download. Indeed it looks great, but if you don't have anti-virus software don't install it. If you do just make sure to scan your computer after the installation if nothing is found during the installation.

Girrelephant_Master

@Quine: really? I am a big fan of vista aero - if nothing else is an upgrade, the appearance is.

@malnourish: looks very nice - but why would you have a rocket dock and start bar? That was my main concern when I previously used it.

@Fred:
hmmm, see below
@asabru88:
hmmm, see above

ajskhan

Many people reported that there is a virus in the programe
And my Anti-virus also find a Trojan.DL.Agent.erz in it

ymone

I agree with Xoodsyx also. I tried Flakiteosx on my XP installation. Totally trashed. Couldn't even fix it with System Restore, so I had to wipe the entire windows installation.
Also, I think Vista looks awesome, just add a dock and it's perfect.

asabru88

I'm with woodxyx ... i used flyakiteosx in an XP VM on my mac and lots of things stop working. As you install new applications you find that flyakiteOSX has over-written DLL's and lots of things get all confused. Trying to remove it proved impossible and I just had to trash the VM and start over again (buy hey, that's what
VM's are good at ;-)

Fred

Isn't this the second "Featured great program" that ended up being no more than a big invasion of privacy. That IE shell you guys featured a year or so ago was a fraud, and sent your web activites to some server, and now this destroying Windows installations and being laden with Keyloggers.

HarrisonHopkins

...or you can just grab a copy of OSX and install that on your PC. I still prefer a properly configured Vista though.

GBirdii

This just sounds like a horrible idea....but when you read the comments and there's mention of "reformatting" and "viruses and/or keyloggers".....I'm really confused why Lifehacker is featuring such a program.

I'll pass on this one, I like it when my OS works...and when it doesn't try to half-ass emulate a Mac.

trunk8

I'm sorry... up until now, I suppose I have foolishly trusted the download recommendations from lifehacker.com... under the misguided assumption that some responsible person had actually looked into things beyond the initial bells and whistles. Shame on me.

I can no longer trust lifehacker.com.

My son and I are now in the middle of the hours long reconstruction process of totally wiping his HD and reinstalling absolutely everything (except for this horrid piece of crap).

BTW: we got lots of awesome error messages from the bundled key-logger as soon as we unplugged the ethernet cable from the infected machine.

I can only hope that someone quickly posts a retraction so that other people do not suffer my fate.

dromedary512

I downloaded this a few months ago but haven't been ballsey enough to try and install it yet since others have cited problems with it; however, if you're a fan of the Mac look, check out osx-e.com. They have heaps of ways for you to macinzise your PC, including a new Mac skin for your Thunderbird.

da5id_nz

@Dooga: Do you like the keylogger?

HarrisonHopkins

I don't really like the dock.

Dooga

I ran this for maybe 6 months on my Acer laptop prior to switching to Mac's after 20 years as a PC user. Great program that offers a lot of what you get on a Mac (atleast Tiger anyway) to those not wanting to make the switch, or gearing up to it. Once you try the layout you never want to go back. Highly recommended.

Duncan

If i wanted my computer to look like a MAC i would purchase a mac..but that brings to mind a joke.

MAC: Hi, I'm a Mac.
PC: And, I am a PC.
MAC: Hey PC, What'cha doin?
PC: Playing a video game.
MAC: Really? Which one?
PC: ALL
MAC: :(

skilled1

I tried Flyakite about a year ago. It looked gorgeous but slowed down my computer horribly and I too ended up wiping my HD.

Micho

I scanned this download for viruses and didn't come up with anything.

To the people complaining about keyloggers and viruses, could somebody explain what antivirus software they used that gave this error?

I've tested this out thoroughly and found no evidence of spyware or viruses. That said, it's not completely out of the question, and I'd like to know some more details.

It should be noted that any software that dramatically modifies your system like this is very likely to cause problems, and shouldn't be attempted on an important computer.

The How-To Geek

@ajskhan:

I usually have the start menu auto-hidden, but for the sake of examples, I chose to show it.

I am also looking for a program that could semi-permanently hide my task bar. I don't like edging over it and it showing up.

malnourish

@ajskhan: Though I'm not a big fan of Vista period (it helped motivate me to stop using PCs entirely), I can see why some people think it's gorgeous (It is a lot less pixely than XP and the gradients are much nicer, and the transparency is nice for people who like transparency).

However, to me it just looks like all the windows are puffy and all the buttons are like vegas lights that are more distracting than visually appealing. Plus, a lot of it really really looks like a glamorized GNOME rip-off to me (top-right button styles, the spinning circle while it loads).

Just my seven cents.

Quine

@skilled1: Mac: Who needs ALL games when you can play Jeopardy! Delux and Wheel of Fortune Delux on your Mac! That's all the gaming anyone ever needs!
([kotaku.com])

:P

Quine

Changing your theme with 3rd party software is all well and good, but why bother when you can get the Royale Theme (Media centre edition XP) in black, signed by windows. No extra bulk to add to your system, and no worries about destroying your computer. Check it out here.

If you're feeling a little more adventerous, a patched UXTheme.dll will allow you to change the bitmap used for pretty much any aspect of the theme, without windows kicking up a fuss. All you need is resource hacker, and a decent photo editting program and your good to go. The patched UXTheme.dll and install instructions can be found here.

A combination of the 2 processes running on my own system. Check out the iTunes mini player :P

[i78.photobucket.com]

zoziox

Is there anything like this that can make XP look like Vista?

Roriniho

@malnourish: If you uncheck the box that puts the taskbar on top of all other windows, then you won't accidentally mouse over it. You'll still be able to show it using the Windows key or ctrl+esc.

zoziox

OS X isn't about the look. It's about the speed of the OS, the simplicity on the front end and the complexity on the back. I tried getting OS X skins to make my windows feel like OS X, but somehow, Windows still feels like crap. This is like buying a buying a Model-T, painting in Ferrari Red and saying, "HEY LOOK I HAVE A FERRARI."

Joseph

I installed the Flyakyte thing couple of years ago on three computers (two desktops and one laptop) and all went well. Eventually the installation on desktops were removed because my kids did not like it because of its un-windows-like. I do not need to wipe the harddisk though. The one on laptop stayed for a while and I removed it piece by piece. Only thing left now is the MacOSX boot screen.

wwni60

Nooo! Lifehacker I thought I could trust you. Anyone have any advice for a poor sap that installed this? I have system restore points and a backup of registry from the last time I used ccleaner...

brownsin07

Meh, I only like the actually useful bits of OSX, like for instance Expose. I highly recommend TopDesk by Otaku Software as an XP alternative to Expose, although its not as good as the real thing.

m4dm4n

Sweet! Does it replace that annoying "maximize window" button with "zoom window"? :-} Seriously, as solid as OSX is under the hood I always found the interface a little too wrapped up in design "philosophy". "Bob", talking paperclips and search puppies none withstanding, Windows XP look and feel isn't something I have a big issue with. Close the window = close the program just makes a lot of sense to me. Sorry. Although it must be said no one out appears to be working on a "make your OSX look & feel like Win XP" package.
Also - you download a free program off the net that takes a big hacksaw to the underlying OS and registry settings and you assume that it'll all work glitch-free, hmmm? This maybe - MAYBE - something you'd want to try if you're doing a fresh WinXP install or reinstall, but not on a currently functioning WinXP with dozens of other apps already installed.

RevWaldo

@WatchingTheNet: Thanks for the followup...

I wholeheartedly agree with the use of a virtual environment to do heavy testing like this.

The How-To Geek

"It should be noted that any software that dramatically modifies your system like this is very likely to cause problems, and shouldn't be attempted on an important computer"

In Geeks defense, this is sound advice when playing with software on your main computer.

Better advice is to use one of the free virtualization software available from VMWare (Server) or Microsoft (Virtual PC), then install the trial version of XP or Vista? This will let you easily test software and if it blows up, then you know it's not worth it.

WatchingTheNet

@Quine: have you actually seen how many games are out for the mac,and not just the crap listed in that kotaku post? have you ever actually even used one?
i didn't think so.

firesign

psh my ubuntu looks better than both of those anyways :P

[img256.imageshack.us]
[img186.imageshack.us]

-emory-

Oh, and as long as we're talking Macs... not trying to start a flamewar, but I thought people would get a kick out of this strip:

[www.absurdnotions.org]

HeartBurnKid

@flyakite: OK, it's one thing to rebut false info, but when you get that angry and defensive over a legitimate security concern, it makes me think there may be some fire behind that smoke.

HeartBurnKid

my mac looks a lot like a mac. no software required.

glass

I have to wonder if the Antivirus program didn't cause false positives? I turned mine off before i started the install, and it went smoothly, and a scan afterwards returned no alerts. afterwards i uninstalled it, and that also went smoothly. it takes a second reboot to fix the bootscreen back to the boring-winXP one tho.

Mystikite

I like it!!!
I switched to a macbook pro a month ago but need to run Windows XP for a couple of work functions. Now when I boot into XP via Parallels, it feels like home again. Thank You!!

coachal

I think I should note that a) the site to which Lifehacker linked to for FlyakiteOSX is NOT the real site for FlyakiteOSX. Whoever is responsible for Flyakiteosx.com is not the real author of FlyakiteOSX and is using the site to make money off ads. If you read [tinyurl.com], you'll see what I mean.

For the users encountering problems, note, the downloads on FlyakiteOSX.com are NOT reliable. If you're having problems (as a lot of you seem to be), feel free to ask for help at this thread: [tinyurl.com]

ark_de

@Girrelephant_Master: No, it doesn't. You have NO idea what you are talking about. I am the developer of this project. Whatever your anti-virus reports about FlyakiteOSX is a false positive. Just because your anti-virus flags something doesn't mean it's correct. There is a tool in FlyakiteOSX that simulates mouse movements to move the taskbar to the top of the screen and many AV programs see this type of behavior as malicious, but in this case it's not.

Thanks for trying to alarm everyone with false information though.

flyakite

Just so you're aware, www.flyakiteosx.com is NOT the official site. [osx.portraitofakite.com] is.

flyakite

does slow down your comp?

cloudsymphony

@ SRUDES2
i dont think so. Im pretty sure it modifies system files.

l33tforlif3

@glass: False. You need OS X, which is software. :)

Miche1987

Ooops, maybe this will work:

[farm2.static.flickr.com]

macnewb

I had to do this for my sister on her new Dell. She couldn't afford a new Mac but loved the feel of OS X on our Macs, so I hooked it up:

macnewb

@zoziox:

Thanks!

malnourish

@-emory-: that's hot =] if i ever buy an imac, my hp is having ubuntu installed on it

Collaboratory

Wow, that comic strip was so not funny... makes me want to read "Cathy"....

Dirk

I would not touch this program with a stick, It messes with systems Files!

I advise anyone thinking of installing this not to.

GeorgiaBoot

@-emory-: [tuxenclave.wordpress.com]

Draku

Yeah I would advise anyone considering to install this to think again, there's simply too much of a chance you're system will be buggered when attempting to uninstall (and believe me you will).

Anyway, the mac look isn't that great, neither is Vista's. I personally think the standard XP theme with a more subtle dark colour is perfectly nice. See here:
[img165.imageshack.us]

The background is always important to get right, which is why I like minimalist designs with patterns that use darker coulours. Also keep desktop icons to a minimum (I don't really like having none at all, I think three is about the sweet spot, excluding the recycle bin which resides in the bottom right corner out of the way)

Whizkidd

For the record... My son installed this and then I saw there were some concerns so I suggested he uninstall.

He ran the uninstaller and it appeared to do virtually nothing. It was at this point that I became alarmed and told him to quickly get off the net (as I have seen malware behave just this way in the past).

After unplugging the network cable and seeing numerous error dialogs about "unable to process key press" (or something similar (it was late (so sue me))). By now I was quite convinced that not everything is above board... and I have seen nothing since that would sway that conclusion.

Again: do not install this software unless you are willing to do a total reinstall of XP in order to get rid of it.

Also: lifehacker.com contributors should be more careful about what the recommend in the future; they're risking the honor, integrity and reputation of this site (which is just about all you've got on the Net these days).

dromedary512

@-emory-: That is gorgeous. I think it's all down to personal preference at that point for the static elements of the UI, but there's no question that compiz wins for everything else.

Quine

*zealots and twits

Quine

@firesign: Oh man that cracks me up. People like you are the reason I have to explain that some Mac users are zealots twits but most are normal people. Take a joke!

As you clearly don't know with your amazing assuming abilities, I'm a Cocoa developer LOL. I wonder if I've ever used a Mac eh?

[Firesign correctIgnorantAssertion]

Quine

There's an updated version of this software available here:

[www.osx-e.com]

Note that I've not tested the 3.5 version, just the 3.0 version linked in this article.

The How-To Geek

Do not like! As soon as I installed this, my Start menu and Taskbar flew to the top of my screen. Attempting to launch iTunes resulted in an error message. All kinds of annoying sounds occurred even when simply clicking an icon or navigating windows. There were a couple of strange programs in my quicklaunch that I didn't recognize -- Search Spy was one. I immediately uninstalled this thing and hope it didn't do any permanent damage. I have a Mac and will just use that when I am feeling nostalgic for its simple and elegant interface.

shelo

@Pseudo17: Vista, and RocketDock is my guess.

HarrisonHopkins

Are you using the program that was shown by Lifehacker or did you use something else? I really like the dock and how the start button is also located on it... how'd you do that?? @macnewb:

Pseudo17

Maybe you can try to install a real Mac OS X on your X86 PC. It's a bit tough, but really worth it.
Best solution - buy a mac :-)

monoself

@Roriniho:
[www.google.com]

desipenguin

Seems to me that either we have envious devs here attacking the portrait of a kite... or commenters who do not read:

FlyakiteOSX is a transformation pack. It will transform the look of an ordinary Windows XP+ system to resemble the look of Mac OS X. The installer automates the process of replacing system files, applying registry tweaks, installing 3rd part software, skins, and extras such as cursors, sounds, visual styles, etc.

In case you are not happy with the results of FlyakiteOSX, everything is completely removable. Just run the uninstaller from the Start Menu or from Add/Remove Programs...

That wasn't so bad, it was on his about entry on the flyakite menu on his site (it has been there for a long time)... oh wait, but there's more:

- Option to create System Restore Point

That's on the what's included entry...So maybe you waived your right to complain when you refused to make such restore point...

Now, Transformation packs are not new, there are other transformation packs (try looking for the Vista Transformation Pack), and all they do is patch your DLL to change icons or dialogs on it.

Back then when this was new, most people asked for the System Restore Point creation on the installer ( before you had to do it yourself, how difficult :D ). And i cannot remember if it was the guy from flyakite or the Vista dudes who came out with the idea of putting it all on another folder, and creating an Unistallation string ...

If you think this is too risque... Google for the Neowin Universal Theme patch utility and download themes from respectable sources, not themexp.org (THOSE DO HAVE SPYWARE AND SUCH).

Maybe this community needs a little pruning?

whiskey

@Roriniho: before i was able to switch to Vista, i used Vista Transformation Pack with little to no problems. I think my dad still uses it on the computer i sold him. :-P

Get VTP from:
[www.jcxp.net]

dekay46

Why not just use Stardock's Windowblinds? It's not free, but it's only $20 and definitely works without trashing your system to bits. It's at version 6 and has been developed for quite a while now. Plus there are hundreds of skins to choose from if you get tired of the same old thing.

mardigan71

If all you're looking for is something different than the standard XP look, Xpise is a great alternative. I've installed it on all my PC's now. Doesn't really change much than the taskbar and Alt+tab menu, but there's some icon mods you can do and a few other tweaks. Run that with RocketDock and you've got another nice Mac look-alike or for me just a change of scenery.

agroom