@tek - "Post of the day" Great Post!

Bodybybuddha

Let me paraphrase the next thousand posts or so:

Vista sux
Mac sux
UR dum
No UR dum
YOUR MOM!

ooooooooooooooooooooooo burn.

Hopefully this will cut out some the of chatter of the younglings ;)

Well, download's done... time to install.

tek

@majortom1981: Out of the box Vista uses A LOT of memory but it can (just like other OS's) be dumbed down to meet your requirements.

There is always the right tool for the right job! Sometimes it is M$ and others it is Apple.

AskTheAdmin

@monster79: Explain to me how Vista is resource hungry?

majortom1981

Finally this satisfies my craving for an excessively resource-hungry OS that looks kind of like OS X. Apple just can't satisfy my OS bloat needs.

monster79

You just made my one windows user in our marketing department the happiest kid ever! He has been bringing his MBP to work on because and I quote....

"I can't deal with this windows thing it looks horrible!"

So far so good!

Warm geeky regards,

Karl "TheAdmiN" Gechlik

AskTheAdmin

Wow thats ugly...

DigiNegs

Vista 32-bit only. :(

nettleman

I'm a big fan of flyakiteosx because I love the mac look. Too poor to own one though. This is just what I've been wanting for my Vista partition. With flyakitsosx I was able to trick some of my friends into thinking I had mac osx on my HP desktop. One friend even argued with me. HA.

Hopefully this is just as good. I'll update after I install.

t2technology

@Wiliam Hook: But of course. I have gotten vista to run a lot better after tweaking and using readyBoost.

But I am still FAAAAAAAAR from switching anytime soon. I only have it installed so I can troubleshoot client machines.

Oh and @Tek LMFAO! Best Comment of The Day! It sure shut up that chatter before it stopped! I figured the next comment was going to be...

No your moms!

AskTheAdmin

make sure you create a system restore point before you install like i did. i immediately had to restore my system.

i expect better from lifehacker. this was a so-so, undeveloped product

mmacante

doesn't work very well. theme only gets half implemented. make sure to create a system restore point before applying the theme as i did. i had to restore almost immediately after i installed.

i expect better from lifehacker

mmacante

@t2technology: Macbooks are cheap to finance...

holymogwai

ah damn, only Vista x32... Nothing works with x64... :(

CYG

@AskTheAdmin: Of course, by saying that I presume you know that Vista uses about half your RAM for it's cache, and if it's needed for other stuff it'll be shared to that program?

Or did you not know that? ;-)

Wiliam Hook

@tek: OM NOM NOM NOM

JiveMasterT

Setting a system restore point is critical before using any of these theme installers... they don't usually uninstall very well, and they are modifying system files. I have heard good things about this particular theme pack, though.

@t2technology: You can buy a Mac Mini for cheap if you want to get the Mac experience without paying a ton of money.

Personally I upgraded my Mac Mini to Linux... =)

The How-To Geek

Vista is such a great interface, why would you want to clunk it up with OSX? It would be like buying a new Ferrari painted brown!

@gibwar: I agree with you! UAC might be a pain for some people, but so far, it hasn't irritated me one bit. I guess if you have your system configured properly, you don't get as much UAC interaction.

Hail Vista!

dtaschler

okay... not a bad start, but not the first either.

In the good old days I installed similar mac skins on a windows xp machine, but at uninstallation it totally messed up windows' theme and that forced me to install "another skin" (VistaXP) if I remembered correctly (back then on XP). oh, system restore before installing!!!

I do know that not all people use macs but hey, if you really want mac, why not try out a real mac for your next upgrade. If you don't, you can always go back to your HP/Dell/other.

psccs

I'm sorry, but anything that requires you to disable UAC is a poorly written program. This is off my list.

gibwar

XP + Mac theming = way to go.

Firefox -> Safari guide to start:
[www.lemonlimedesigns.ca]

Ash A

XP + Mac theming is the way to go.

Firefox to Safari:
[lemonlimedesigns.ca]

Ash A

Couldn't get hold of this. Every time I try to download it takes me back to the homepage.

I'd try a Mac myself if it wasn't going to cost me hundreds of pounds for an experience I expect I wouldn't stick with. If I was on the go and needed a laptop I think a Macbook would be a good way to go since I wouldn't be fiddling with it much or needing to do as much stuff so I'd like something that was simple and just worked but as for a home computer; I want it to do everything.

Twinnie

@majortom1981: I guess my comment was a bit trollish.

My point actually wasn't to knock Vista. What I meant was that theming OSes to look like other OSes is silly - it's like taking a Ford and sticking a Lexus body on it. It doesn't fit quite right, and you don't get any of the stuff that made the Lexus nice in the first place.

monster79

Where's my download? It's busted!

SirPwn4g3

what an awesome download, i loved how you hit "download" and it takes you right back to the home page to try the download again. which, when you hit "download" again you'll be sent right back to the homepage. TOTALLY AWESOME PROGRAM.

i like my vista look anyway...

rand0mCreep

Installed this and now I can't get rid of it. Uninstalling just says that it can't find some specific file then does nothing. Hoping a system restore will get rid of it.

Twinnie

@monster79: I don't see the problem. If you like the functionality of one OS but the look of another, why not change the look. I find that I'm more productive in a Mac OS X environment when using XP.

Your analogy about cars isn't quite right either: you do not look at the body constantly while driving while you do look at your windows, icons, and apps while on the computer. I do understand that by making it look like OS X, it is still not OS X.

XP to OS X Guide:
[lemonlimedesigns.ca]

Ash A

i want this theme but when i go to the website it wont even download for me ;(

fullyrandomtandem

For anyone using Linux, this is a fairly extensive guide on how to theme GNOME desktops to achieve the same effect. Haven't tried it myself because there are plenty of other themes for Linux, but it looks pretty solid.

[www.taimila.com]

urmston

Meh. I was a Mac user for two years; now on Vista. I find the Mac look (especially Leopard) a little too dark gray for my taste.

RE: UAC

All my research has indicated that UAC is false security and you'll have far fewer compatibility issues by disabling it anyway. Which I've done, with no downside so far.

Rhywun

@Ash A: The problem is that "look" and "functionality" are integrated in good application design. You can imitate OS X on Windows with Rocketdock, skins, etc, but it's never going to be as seamless as the original (and vice-versa, though being able to run Windows in a virtual machine helps.)

Just my $0.02; if you want your PC to look like a Mac, go for it...

monster79

You have to right click and save as, but then it fails to execute. Here's an older version.

[patrickgs.deviantart.com]

SirPwn4g3

[rapidshare.com] is another place to download since the site link is broken?!?! Anyways I will pass on this one. The whole reason I installed Vista on my work PC was for more security, not to turn it off LOL. Thank God I have an Apple at home :D :D :D

jtadmin

I am really excited about this. I spent all weekend working with WindowBlinds and ObjectDock and RocketDock (while I like RocketDock better, ObjectDock had better features for me) to try and replicate some of the UI of Leopard on my PC. Seeing as I work all day on OS X, coming home to Windows was fairly jarring. I have got my current theme working fairly like OS X, but I am pretty excited to try this all in one pack out.

rup3t

Got the rapidshare version. Wallpaper and some icons worked, theme isn't working out too well, it looks exactly like Vista except for the back/forward buttons. Re-downloading to try a new install.

SirPwn4g3

Unfortunately, for some reason, no restore point was created on my machine when I installed this. Now I am left with some unmatching system icons and boot screens. Any advice on restoring to default Vista without reinstalling the OS?

egojab

I've been using this for about two weeks now. I love it. Leftsider, the program the puts the close/minimize buttons on the left side of the screen, makes my day. But it's nice to have such a clean looking desktop despite the fact that I'm stuck with Vista!

skittlzncombos

@egojab: Just Uninstall the software. it should revert back to its original state.

skittlzncombos

@tek: Every time I read "YOUR MOM!" I crack up! Perfect post, absolutely perfect.

Averain

yeah, that didn't work either...though I have found several .dll.vx3 files, I'm gonna try restoring those adn see what happens.

egojab

@jtadmin:
@SirPwn4g3:

thanks, im downloading these, for some reason 1 is 38mb and the other is 4mb

fullyrandomtandem

i had to system restore to get rid of the changes the rapidshare one made

fullyrandomtandem

rapidshare and deviantart didnt do much, rapidshare worked, installed, but only the loginscreen was different and windows defender thought it was a trojan. and the deviantart one did not have the install file

fullyrandomtandem

I'm going to assume the download is down, as it redirects to its home and he says "Please bear with me" over the download. Haven't tried the rapidshare or deviantart, but since others seem to be having issues, I'll just wait for a bit.

Avielus

Cannot get the download to work. Tried in FF2 and IE8. I just get sent back to the home page. Anywhere else to d/l this from?

apex2000

Ummm...don't download the rapidshare version. I got notification of 9 infected files in the setup of the software. Most of which were TROJ_SPAMBOTB so if I were you, I would steer clear. So if anyone has any alternate download locations, I'd like to hear 'em.

vegasbabyx

Important:
-The file on the official site is NOT working
-The file on the rapid share link IS A TROJAN

I have made the mistake of installing it and was forced to do a system restore. DO NOT download and install ANY files for this project without first scanning it for viruses.

Free online virus scanner: virustotal.com

mviloria

Found no trojan from the rapidshare file. It works, some things need to be run manually, like the Dock(RKLauncher) and LeftSider. It all worked very well, looks very nice, but at the end of the day it's still Windows, and is easier for me to navigate the Windows way. Definitely perform a backup before installing.

SirPwn4g3

@nettleman: I have vista 64 bit... it's still slow though :).

Joseph

Sorry guys but I still don't trust it - mainly because it wasn't just Windows Defender that picked it up but also my Avast.

mviloria

@holymogwai: I hope that was a joke because there is no way I consider something I have to finance "cheap". I've never paid for my computers or parts with anything other than cash or a card drawing off my checking account. Once I have to take out a 2nd mortgage to pay for a laptop I will know I'm spending too much on a laptop ;)

JerryA

Hmm... setup link goes to main page.

ViperBorg

Why in the hell would you want to do this? Vista is a beautiful OS! Don't be hatin, I primarily use a Mac.

vinylkemist

@Rhywun:
> "All my research has indicated that UAC is false security "

I'm sorry, but that's an extraordinarily stupid thing to say. UAC is nothing more (or less) than Microsoft's implementation of the Principle of least privilege , or, more specifically, least-privileged user accounts. This is a proven principle of computer security that's been sucessfully used for decades in the the various *nixes; and an implementation of it is now used in all three of the major desktop operating systems (Authenticate in Mac OS X, su & sudo variations in Linux distros).

So Microsoft's actually pretty late to the LUA party; but UAC is certainly a good implementation (enforced with mandatory access controls) of a long proven principle. Might I be impertinent if I suggest that your "research" that indicates that "UAC is false security" is a load of crap?

SEMW

@SEMW:
It's false security in that as an admin, all it does for you is bug you with a process-halting yes/no dialogue every time you want to do anything. That's a horrible, horrible implementation relative to how Linux and OSX do it.

DoubleFelix

I'm sorry, but this theme is UGLY. The minimize/maximize/close buttons are way too far apart, so that looks weird, and the textures are all wrong. I'd rather stick with the default Vista look than this horrible attempt at looking like Leopard.

DoubleFelix

@DoubleFelix: When you're running as an admin, true, you don't need to type in an admin password; since you're already logged in as an admin, so you must have typed one it at the login prompt in the first place! The reason you still get as the dialogue is so that you can confirm that *you* -- rather than a background virus or malware process -- initiated the request for elevation.

Note that in this situation (logged in as admin/root), in Linux & OSX tasks which need admin privileges obviously silently succeed; the result of which is that it very bad from a security perspective to use Linux or OSX for prolonged periods of time whilst root. This is not, of course, a bad thing or slight on OSX or Linux, since the obvious solution is *not* to log in as root, but just use sudo / Authenticate from a normal user account. This is an excellent and usable compromise -- and is the exact same behavior that Vista exhibits when you're logged in as a standard user.

In other words, all three OSes have the same behaviour when running as a standard user; the only difference being that whilst Linux and OS X are dangerous to operate for long periods as root, Vista is merely irritating. The answer in all three cases is: don't log in as root.

SEMW

Why can I not get this to work for me??

Ashley927

Even windows defender found a trojan on this download. Is there another location to download that is not infected?

ranger_cole

I need a Mac! Any Donators? :)

g0n3xt

I've had some major issues with this one. Couldn't start up my CPU, had to run start recovery, tried to uninstall, but didn't restore my original windows vista look. My advice is to stay away.

celldrifter

I scanned this(rapidshare version) with both NOD32 and BitDefender and there is NO Trojan or other malware.

Dook_In_The_Urinal