@ironchef: Maybe this is his boring computer - you know the on which is used for "work" and not "fun"

(well thats what the mac ads imply)

SowndOfDeth

I'm rather confused by the commenter telling the user to by a Mac whilst they're reading a website titled "Lifehacker."

Part of the fun w/ Windows is how customizable it is. Great job!

kirbypuckett

@ironchef: Perhaps because it's fun? Anyhow, if all one is interested in is the aesthetic, this is more economical.

galatea2.2

@wantafanta: Agreed, I used to go for the Mac look. I've moved on, but it's not too hard.

detection

geez. just get a fricking mac. Why work so hard to roll your own?

ironchef

@steelew: Damn steele, you beat me to the punch. My mac looks that good by default.

What I have yet to see is someone try to get a mac look like windows, but I guess the motivation would be pretty low on that one.

Rob Kohr

Why not just buy a Mac in the 1st place?

steelew

Not really that big of a deal. My desktop is pretty similar.

Deskspace, NetSet & Launchy.

They boot up with AVG and Syncplicity. You don't need much to have a nice looking desktop, only need to search around on DeviantArt for some nice icons and a wallpaper.

wantafanta

Looks great, but I can't imagine getting any real work done with this setup. All that eyecandy plus CS3, Firefox 2 and 3, Outlook, fiddler... No thanks. Maybe for a media box, but excellent job on the design.

ColinHero

Well he IS a designer! He has probably gone through LOTS of spftware to get this look!

Saad_Baig

nice desktop....very creative. I really hope this is reversible and all the core Windows shell files are backed-up somewhere ...otw, you know what time it is when you want to go back to default XP.

the_gank

@ironchef: "Why work so hard to roll your own? "

Why buy a Mac just to make your desktop look and work the way the want it to? Now THAT would be overkill.

C'mon guys, like kirbypuckett says, this is Lifehacker. People who want their machine to work one way are working out how to do it. That doesn't mean they actually desire a Mac/Linux/other machine as I'm sure they're also very aware they could actually go buy one.

I too would like some features of the Mac OS on my PC, just like I would like some features of the Linux OS on it too. That doesn't mean I want a Mac or Linux machine, because I don't. And not because I have something against either because I don't, I simply prefer to use what I have and tinker with it to my liking.

If you like your Mac, great. Wanna tell everyone about it? Go right ahead. But please leave your "Mac is the greatest ever and everything else sucks so get a Mac instead" mentality out of LH, please.

(My £0.02, YMMV)

mcv2

I did this before once. I could never revert back to XP look. Had to reinstall. But it looked pretty nice.

nintendude

What are all of these "Just buy a Mac" posts doing here on Lifehacker...

Kyang

I'd rather just boot into OSX on my Windows box. But thats a whole other post..

Al Iguana

Macs look cool.

That's it, I'd rather have a maclike windows. In any case, yummy desktop, there.

Phoshi

@ironchef: I'd love to buy a mac instead! You can paypal me the money at...

n4klavier

@ironchef: Sometimes you just HAVE to use windows, be it for work or something else. But what do you do when you grow tired of the same old look?

inc13

That's a very pretty desktop,where did you get the background?

I want it on my mac lol

ConorB

The Apple logo ruins it; that's just a sad fanboy touch.

Other than that, it does look good.

taodude

What my experience has been with all these so called "cool" gadgets is that you get amazed when you see them for the first time... but after a couple of days you install them they kinda start irritating and troubling you and it feels like you are using a kindergarten play computer. so goodluck with that ppl

utkarshseth

now if we had a tony stark inspired desktop, then we'd be getting somewhere...

Parapraxis

@mcv2: Thank You!

fatalbush

If you have to ask 'why not just buy a Mac' then the idea of Lifehacker has just gone 30,000 feet over your head.

I think it's awesome. I'd love to try it out.

OX4

My Ubuntu setup is better :-P

superbryant

@nightbirdsf: try Altdesk
[www.astonshell.com] while skinable, there's a few very workman like skins that sit out of the way nicely.. costs a little bit tho - ($15 - I got my copy in with Aston Desktop)

KhaiJB

i think his theme isn't complete yet because there are still some ugly winxp icons, i think my desktop is comparable (without deskspace and some other stuff i just don't need).

[skrollan-one.deviantart.com]

skrollan

@ Parapraxis: Yeah! Especially as I'm getting into 3D Design.

@ taodude: Good point, I hadn't noticed that. Couldn't the writer of the menubar software put in a Windows logo in a matching style? (Or maybe it's there, but not selected for the screen shots?)

Help: I'm looking for multiple desktops on Windows Vista, no need for the Deskspace eye candy, just switch between desktops. Any suggestions?

nightbirdsf

meh... looks like crap. ubuntu looks years better.

Gmanpawned

Deskspace is $19.95, not free. [www.otakusoftware.com]

joelena

i have cubedesktop and rocketdock, etc. but the novelty wore off. they look cool but the only use i found was to impress people who didn't know any better. kind of like saying "i can dual boot". it just doesn't have a real purpose.

0zSpitt

@nightbirdsf
Dexpot is another multiple desktop manager that I use and really like the options on.

xryx

Agreed, just get a mac if you love 'em so much.

jkrell

hmmm... Vijay uses StylerXP for the Mac theme, anyone know where/how to locate StylerXP? Its rather elusive for a "popular" desktop skinning program :)

GringatchoDemento

the point is to show the extensibility not compare between mac and windows

redace

The point of customizing (IMO) is more to find something that's more intuitive. This does entail that you be open minded to try new things. I like a Dock because the Windows Taskbar takes up too much space. A Dock also gets rid of all those Desktop Shortcuts. I like Skinning FF to look more Mac-ish because it's more simplified/usable. Etc, etc. for StylerTB,Windowblinds, etc. I say be open minded try new things and more often than not, you'd be surprised, you'll find something you could no longer do without.

EnzoFX

I Already customize my desktop. Nothing I haven't seen before. But to those weary of trying it out, of course it's all reversible. Most of these programs are pretty light weight and don't change any system files. Some don't even need installation.

EnzoFX

WOW! This is exactly the type of article i suggested in the suggestion thread.

Great stuff guys!

math0ne

Not sure why this made it on here... Quite easy to do all this, and better.
Why not just get a Mac? - Maybe he wants a real computer and not a Fisher Price toy?!

ThaMofo

great desktop, looks awesome ... but isn't it just another way to load up ram with unnecessary stuff. no , don't get me wrong.. i have a state of the art pc.. and i'm definitely going to try this. but what about the others?
no ben, jack shephard is not talkin' about you!

Sunitkaul

Hey Guys, Vijay here. First up, thanks to Gina for starting the desktop Show-and-tell initiative. I've been following lifehacker for about 2 years now and it's really cool to see my desktop on here.

Almost all programs you see on my desktop are from lifehacker posts, so you can rummage around the site for the actual posts where you can get a wide range of alternatives in the comments on those posts.

If you need more info about anything on that desktop, google and youtube are your friends. The programs I have used here are low on lightweight and don't muck around with your system files. You can always get back to the default XP state anytime.

Also, I just made an iPhone wallpaper for lifehacker. If you like lifehacker and don't mind a little retro on your iPhone, you can get it here: [www.flickr.com]

vijay-dffrnt

Nice desktop. I really like the look. I still don't get the "why he doesn't get a Mac" comments. Lifehacker is about getting things done, tech tips and tricks. This article clearly belongs here.

arungupta

I hope to god that my feed reader is not going to become cluttered with useless posts like this.

"hi i spent 15 minutes installing all the apps covered in previous lifehacker posts FRONT PAGE PLZ"

Urza

my custom desktop looks way cooler then that, all three of them (mac, xp, ubuntu)

time to have another show us your BOO... I mean desktop

Costermonger

@nightbirdsf: VirtuaWin ([virtuawin.sourceforge.net]) is a lightweight, useful multiple desktop prog. So is Virtual Dimension ([virt-dimension.sourceforge.net]) - but it's been inactive for several years now, so I dunno about Vista compatability. Been using it on XP for over a year now; don't know how I managed without it.

Every now and then I'll toy with desktop cubes or slick 3D alt-tab switchers or some such, but they pretty quickly get relegated to the toy box. Once the novelty wears off, they can actually become irritating.

taodude

lol @ the "why not get a mac" comments. my trip to a mac store was well worth the time. i bought an xps :P
the one thing about the desktops is it does use a huge amount of resources. i'm 100% into visuals so i loaded up on ram. also, i don't have anything against macs. they have awesome graphics, maybe i'll get it next time...

0zSpitt

I tried to customize my system much like this, but I run Vista on the laptop, plus I haven't been able to find something that really works good and doesn't kill my productivity.

My basic setup on the laptop is Windows Search (updated to version 4) + quick launch + trillian (pidgin doesnt have notifications for people logging on and off that works in vista...and digsby just takes too much memory and such) + FF3 + Prism for things like RTM and the such.... I'll have to post up a flickr picture one of these days....

tohanry

IMO: Ubuntu>XP>Vista>OSX
Waiting for the day I can run Adobe, MS Office and games in Ubuntu without the "pain in the ***" factor.

CompizFusion FTW!!

@ 0zSpitt
What makes you think a Mac PC has awesome graphics?
A Mac Pro only comes with an 8800GT 512MB at best, or up to 4x HD2600XT.
Both these cards are quite old in the Windows PC world.

Unless you simply mean their GUI...

ThaMofo

Can I be a real noob for a second?

How do I get that flippy cube effect to happen on my macbook?

MrCurious

@GringatchoDemento: HERE for Styler and HERE for the theme.

da5id_nz

Not sure if Mac OS can do it ATM.
You could install Windows on your Macbook and use DeskSpace.
Or install Ubuntu and use CompizFusion.

ThaMofo

@steelew: You can build a PC with the same or better specs for cheaper.

OmegaRed59

@OmegaRed59: That's what I just did actually. Built myself a monster of a machine for (literally) 1/3 the cost of the equivalent mac. Quad Core 2.8's, 2 gigs ram, 1tb drive, 1 8800gt + Ubuntu(compiz) + XP(Games) = Deus Ex Machina (In the literal translation)
As a benchmark, I ran Crysis... at the highest quality, and no lags whatsoever, so I'm happy. :)

-emory-

Geez... the Mac people never ceased to amaze me.

"Why work so hard when you can get a Mac?"

Why ask why? That's like asking people why make lemonade and ice tea when you can buy it together! :P

Nu Digi

@Nu Digi: Exactly.

Or "why bother cooking when you can go to a restaurant?"

Hmm, struggling to find a suitable analogy but money-wise, this is close.

mcv2

When I used Windows I tried out the Mac conversion and it didn't work out to well because you could only pull of some aspects of the OS X GUI (such as the "minimize, maximize, exit" buttons being on the improper side of the titlebar).

Olivaise

What a waste of time. Get a mac and 2 monitors..voila you have 2 'desktops'. I personally think that the OSX interface is s**t, and trying to make XP look like OSX is retarded. But then again, I love XP and (to an extent) Vista, so maybe I am biased :P

Neel_Relaxation

Cool! A pox on all the "just get a Mac" people. Others have already covered what my responses would be to that.

I think this will finally convince me to give RocketDock a try, and probably some of the others listed. Question about the multidesktop tool, though -- apparently it's the non-free DeskSpace [www.otakusoftware.com] so the question is, beyond the 3D eye-candy (whose novelty may wear off) what does this offer that the free alternatives (I use Dexpot) do not?

rlee

I guess the point of all the "why don't you get a Mac" comments is more: "why do you go through all that trouble to make your Windows look like a Mac?" You could go for whatever look you want. There's a faint whiff of Mac-envy here.

That said, it looks very, very cool.

str88f

As far as "why don't you just get a mac", practicality reasons aside (required Windows software, costs), some people find it fun to customize their desktop, and theme it to look like a different OS, or completely different altogether. That can make things more exciting if you're tired of looking at the same OS shell for 13 years, especially if your otherwise satisfied with the OS. Look at Linux, there's at least 33522293 different GUI shell configurations between the different distros.

While I do think Apple's styling is intriguing, I do not find it better, and some parts I detest: out of the box is it impossible to disable many of the "fancy" animations and effects that make it harder to use, slows performance, and hogs bandwidth if VNCing in. I also don't find the Dock is a superior way of launching / switching applications.

I'm also a prude still using Explorer as a shell (supplemented with Launchy) using Classic theme (I also think Luna in blue is particularly ugly. Silver theme with normal sized title bar is decent looking). I disable themes in applications whenever possible. Part of it is my minimalist approach to computing and I always disable all unnecessary features. On my P150 laptop I also run Liteshell (NOT litestep) as a shell to cuts things right down to the bone. I look at this and can't help but think of the performance / resource overhead.

That said I will give it some credit for being "pretty"

@EnzoFX: I organized my start menu, have my desktop disabled, and mainly use launchy to start programs. I find the taskbar is still a better way of switching programs.

@ThaMofo: I was laughing when iMacs and Macbooks were shipping with Intel GMA 950s which are one of the worst GPUs mankind has ever made. Yet Apple still somehow maintains a mystique of being "better AT graphics", especially since most, if not all major graphics applications are availible for Windows. The GMA950 is so bad that ATI and Nvidia integrated graphics solutions exceed it when they're turned off. Now at least they are putting out the less shitty X3100 in the Macbooks.

@taodude: I use VirtuaWin at work as a simple boss key. It's small and works well. Only downside is it changes the order of the taskbar icons when you switch. At home I just use two monitors.

johnsmith1234

@joelena:
That's what I was about to say. Luckily I still have yodm

netMASA

Not to detract from this guys setup, it looks good, but I fail to see why it merits its own article. Heck, looking at the desktop show and tell feed on Flickr, most of the submissions look something similar to this, mine included. As far as getting something to look like a Mac, well maybe we are, but its the simplicity and the minimalism that I think attracts like-minded individuals such as ourselves (Lifehacker readers) to that style of design.

I don't think that looks alone though should really incite such a war between the fanboys though. It's like every article is someone trying to convince everyone else why this or that is so much better. Fine, maybe you feel that way, heck, maybe, in some small setting there is a definite benefit of one over the other, but I am too old to go OS hopping just for someones idea of a better thing. My pc looks pretty damn good from my standpoint, I like the way my computer works, and I know where to go when something goes wrong, which, as of writing this, hasn't happened in quite some time.

derekhaltom

@ derekhaltom
Ahmen!

ThaMofo

That is gorgeous.

Internet-TV

Nice, also tried to customize my pc, but most of the time it slows the whole thing down..., but not with the "right" probably not ;)
mb i'm going to check it out this weekend :)

ArtooBE

I must know how he managed to have only two desktops instead of 4 or 6 deskspace does NOT allow you to do that and 4-6 is just too many. Anyone want to help me with that?

Instance

yeh that's hilarious!! I used to customize my WinXP Machine with Flyakite to make it look like a mac. Believe it or not i even added an Apple sicker at the back!
So dumb

But now I got a Macbook Pro and get over this customizable freakness which ats up all your RAM

So yeh: just get Mac and get over it

Guillaumeb

Why buy a Mac when you can buy a non-Mac PC for half the price and put OSX on it?

Urza

Jeepers... I almost thought I was surfing Gizmodo with all those post telling me to 'just buy a mac'.

Dadu

hmmm looks interesting but bottom line for me is if its not mac os i don't think it has the same effect...

teo.boev