Out of curiosity I started up a LookXP installation on my break-it box. Now before you go all crazy and start calling me a heretic, I have to tell you that installation was so terrifyingly simple that it won me over on that point.
The setup script is wonderful — it senses missing packages, downloads and installs them. It can tell if they’ve been downloaded already, and will ask your permission to used cached files if they’re present.
And since there are really only about seven or eight packages it needs (in addition to x-window-system-core and icewm), it could not have been simpler.
I’ll post some screenshots tomorrow, once I get a background in place and the menus figured out. But to be honest … you already know what it looks like. 🙄
I just installed LookXP last night in Ubuntu 6.10 and so far I really like it.
However, there are a few issues that should be addressed in future releases. The Start menu is the big one here – it NEEDS the XP look, as well as a unified menu system. Nobody likes the Win98SE Start menu. LookXP also needs some options. I mean, what if I was a noob and I wanted to get the taskbar to the top of the screen? Wouldn’t happen.
Idesk is okay but I get much better results killing it and running nautilus as the desktop manager. It’s much more functional and it looks better, as well as being easier to use right out of the box. It’s also still pretty ‘lite.’
Overall it’s a great WindowsXP clone. Highly recommended for any Linux newbs who are having a tough time breaking from XP, or anyone who wants to use Linux but needs a lightweight Windows-themed solution.