How To: Windows XP Mode In...Ubuntu Linux?

[Thomas Milne]

On Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 1:45 PM, Michael Lauzon <mlauzon-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> You guys are going to *love* this one; here's an excerpt 10 page
> article, the URL will follow:
>
> "With Windows 7 due out later this month, many of you are no doubt
> counting the days until release. I've played with both the beta and RC
> of Microsoft's latest OS, and quite honestly, I liked what I saw. If
> this had come out in 2006 when 'Longhorn' was promised, I have no
> doubt that I would not have switched to Linux (at least not yet).
>
> "However, that's not how events played out. What really happened was
> 'Longhorn' became Vista, and it didn't make it out the door until
> 2007. It arrived late, buggy, irritating (UAC), overpriced,
> underwhelming, confusing (licensing), and in some cases, incompatible.
> Now, almost three years later, and almost five since Longhorn's
> initially-planned release, Microsoft is releasing the OS they should
> have launched several years ago. Unfortunately, Windows 7 is also
> overpriced (slightly less so than Vista), and even more confusing.
>
> "But first, let's go over what Microsoft did right. Windows 7 is going
> to launch when the company said it will launch. Because of a long beta
> and RC testing phase, 7 is not going to be as buggy as Vista was when
> it debuted. Microsoft has taken the UAC down a notch. It has also come
> down on the price a little. The highest edition of 7 (Ultimate) is
> fifty percent more expensive than the highest edition of XP (Pro).
> This is opposed to 100% more expensive (Vista Ultimate versus XP Pro).
> But fair enough, the price did drop somewhat.
>
> "Underwhelming, 7 is not. In terms of its user interface, Vista was
> pretty much XP with a reorganized Start Menu and a black taskbar. Flip
> 3D was basically nothing more than a choppy gimmick (though the
> thumbnail previews of windows within the taskbar are pretty sweet;
> Windows 7 kept them, and I use them in Linux). Windows 7 actually
> succeeds in terms of a being a unified vision that pays tribute to the
> brand. Everything is made of glass in 7. Vista began this trend with
> the transparent glass window borders and the overlaid faux-reflection
> texture. But 7 really takes the use of transparent glass and
> reflections to the extreme. The window borders, menus, some
> applications, and even the taskbar and start menu are all made of
> glass. New tricks include being able to make all windows transparent
> to see the desktop. As a total package, Windows 7 has what I consider
> to be the first true Windows theme."
>
> http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/xp-mode-ubuntu,2434.html
>

Honestly, who the heck cares? Guaranteed, the underlying OS is exactly
the same as it's always been, a kludged derivative of Windows 3.1.
Perhaps they've acquired a couple of other proprietary doodads to
throw in for managing photos or something, but in the end it's all the
same story: security will be trivially compromised, anything you want
to accomplish beyond the basics will require either the purchase or
pirating of 3rd party software, and if you want support, well, good
luck with that.
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