MakeUseOf » transformation pack

Sample Metro On Your Windows PC Before Upgrading To Windows 8

Christian Cawley — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:31:21 +0000

Microsoft is delivering a whole new feel to their operating system with Windows 8 in the shape of the Metro UI. Tile-based, with an elegant typeface, the very future of Windows could ride on the success or failure of this next release.

Naturally there is some resistance to swapping the traditional desktop with this new user interface. After all, things just work as they are with the point and click of a mouse. Yet Microsoft is trying something different and attempting to pioneer a new direction for desktop operating systems. For that at least they should be applauded.

Ignoring questions about exactly how anyone without a touchscreen monitor is going to get the most out of Metro, there are ways in which the interface can be sampled without installing Windows 8 on your computer.

View Internet Explorer With MetroIE

One of the main uses for any computer is to browse the web and Windows 8 features a new version of Internet Explorer. While this isn’t yet available for Windows 7 you can sample its likely user interface by visiting this link and downloading the astonishingly small 64KB file.

After unzipping and running MetroIE.exe you will find that the file is a very convincing overlay for the Internet Explorer browser, which means that it behaves just as any browser should. Note however that it takes a little time to open webpages.

MetroTwit

Like Windows Phone, Windows 8 features an integrated Twitter app. While MetroTwit doesn’t deliver quite the same feel, it is still worth trying if you’re interested in seeing how the Metro UI stands up to repeated or consistent use. After all, it’s all very well looking good, but would you want to look at the Segoe font all day long? This is the way to find out.

You can download MetroTwit from here. Installation requires an Internet connection, but be aware that this app isn’t suitable for accessing multiple Twitter accounts.

Zune

Less experimental and a whole lot easier to use is the Zune media player and sync client, available from this link. This is essentially the Microsoft version of iTunes, used for buying MP3s, syncing with a Windows Phone and managing updates, but it is also an excellent media player, far better than the surely-end-of-life Windows Media Player.

If you already have Zune on your PC you have already sampled the beauty and versatility of Metro.

Transform Your Full Desktop

The tile-based interface is arguably the least imaginative use for Metro when it comes to powerful desktop and laptop computers. It is very similar to the design seen on a Windows Phone (where it is of course more appropriate) and far less striking than on Xbox 360 or even in the Zune media player.

To try it out for yourself you can download the beta version from Microsoft and install it to your hard drive or into a virtual machine.

Alternatively you can try the Windows 8 Transformation Pack, a 58MB download from this page. After downloading, simply unzip and run the Windows 8 Transformation Pack 2.0.exe file, set the options that you want and install it. You’ll then need to apply it as a theme (right-click desktop > Personalize) before rebooting, whereupon you will find that your current version of Windows has suddenly turned square, elegant and colourful.

Windows Phone Metro Demo

If you’re using an Android or iPhone device you might also like to get an idea of how Windows Phone works or at least sample Metro in mobile form. This can be done by visiting this page on your phone’s browser, where you will find a virtualised mobile phone version of the Metro UI as found on various devices from Samsung, LG, HTC and Nokia.

All you need to do to interact is tap the tiles with your thumb or fingers, swiping left and right to explore what’s on offer.

Conclusion

As we move ever closer to the launch of Metro as a desktop user interface, more and more tools and apps are being made available for users to get an idea of how easy it is to use.

People want to know that they can use an operating system long-term, rather than just for a few moments at a time as with a mobile phone. As such, before spending money on Windows 8 or even downloading the developer preview or beta, try a few of these apps and see what you think. Meanwhile if you have any of your own suggestions, let us know.

Transform Windows 7 Into Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal with Ubuntu Skin Pack

Danny Stieben — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:31:05 +0000

There are a lot of advantages and disadvantages that each operating system has. One has the most compatibility with current software, one has the most polish, and one has both but isn’t as supported. OK, maybe Linux doesn’t always have both, but recently it does carry its own class of design and polish. This is especially true for systems like Ubuntu where the developers are going out of their way to create the “next desktop”.

Let’s say that you are a Windows user because all of your programs work with it, but you like how the new release of Ubuntu, 11.04 “Natty Narwhal” looks. What can you do about that?

The Solution To Your Problem

May I introduce to you the Ubuntu Skin Pack. This handy program will install (and even download other necessary components) in order to make your desktop look and operate more like Ubuntu. Although it is not perfect (show me some kind of transformation pack that is!), it does do a great job of recreating the experience and theme. The best way for you to enjoy it is to install the pack! Please note that this works only in Windows 7.

Installation

First off, you should download the setup file to a place where you can easily find it. Once the download completes, head on over to that folder and double-click the setup file to launch it. The setup itself is easy and doesn’t really have any hidden items with it. Just click through it, making sure that everything is selected in order to get the full experience. While the setup is doing its thing, it’ll eventually poke you about installing a component that it needs for smooth operation. Go ahead and click yes so that it’ll automatically install and download that component for you as well. When the entire setup completes, go ahead and restart your machine.

Features

In case you use a password on your account, or have multiple accounts on your machine, you may notice some changes. At the bottom, “Windows 7″ is now replaced with “Ubuntu 11.04″. The background should have also changed, but in my installation that did not happen. Not sure what went wrong, but there’s enough hacks out on the Internet to be able to change the login background if you want to.

Once you get to your desktop, you’ll see that it looks very similar to the Ubuntu desktop. The Ubuntu icon is in the top-left corner, which is now your new place to launch the re-themed start menu. The dock on the left side (created by a program called Rainmeter) also recreates a nice visual theme of the actual Unity dock. Don’t try to do a lot of things with it that are featured in Unity, because there isn’t very much you can do to mess around with it, aside from poking around in the configuration file. Speaking of which, Rainmeter may bug you about a misplaced configuration file. Just follow its instructions and it should go away.

There’s not a whole lot else to it. You can have virtual desktops thanks to VirtualWin. Many windows should fit right in with the theme, as long as they’re not those notoriously famous programs that decide to create their own complete theme that stick out from the rest. For everything else, I’ll let the screenshots do the talking.

Even Firefox plays nice!

Conclusion

Overall, the Ubuntu Skin Pack is a great way to get that Ubuntu feel when using Windows. Although it’s not completely free of kinks, I hope that the developer can continue working on it so that it’ll feel like an A+ solid product. That being said, it’s already a great product as it is. Most themes or transformation packs rarely come close to this.

What do you think about the idea of the Ubuntu Skin Pack? If you’re an Ubuntu-loving Windows user, will you be installing this on your machine? What other packs could you suggest?

Let us know in the comments below!

5 Packs to Transform Windows to other OS

Shankar Ganesh — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 07:29:09 +0000

It’s a new year, why not give your years old XP operating system a new look? If you’re bored of having to look at the same kind of icons and eyecandy everytime, you can download and install these free transformation packs, and transform XP to look like any other OS.

(Note: Some of the listed transformation packs are quite extensive so please read installation guidelines carefully)

Vista Transformation Pack [Download]

Vista Transformation Pack does all kinds of appearance tweaks, and makes Windows XP look like Vista. From icons, transparency to new sounds, this pack does it all to make your XP look like Windows Vista.

Mac OS Transformation Pack [Download]

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Transforms XP to look like Mac OS X 10.5. Some important components like Windows Explorer and other shell files are patched to mimic Mac OS X appearance. Work only with Windows XP SP2 (English version).

FlyakiteOSX [Download]

Again, make your windows look like Mac OS X. However, it’s much more comprehensive than the above one. This enhancement utility does everything from registry tweaks, visual styles, sounds, icons to imitate the appearance of Mac OS X. See other screenshots here. If you’re using iTunes then make sure to deselect “˜iTunes Multi-Pugin’ option (under “˜Software’) in the installation wizard.

Fedora Transformation Pack [Download]

This tool is intended for making XP resemble the Fedora Linux Distro. Though the utility just packs a simple visual style, it does include icons, screensavers and wallpapers, and other Fedora-like skins for programs.

Ubuntu Transformation Pack [Download]

This pack contains visual styles, icons and other patches that can give the brownish Ubuntu look to Windows XP. If you just can’t get Ubuntu working on your PC, but still love its looks, you can download this pack. [via]

(By) Shankar Ganesh

5 Tools to Make Windows XP Look Like Vista

TechDune — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:32:16 +0000

Do you like Windows Vista only because of its newly revamped Graphical User Interface? It surely does have an attractive interface but many are still hesitant to upgrade. Some because of it’s massive system requirements, and some because of all the negative buzz around it. Whatever your reasons are, you still can get a Vista like look even on your Win XP system. Below are some of the better free tools that can help you to make your Windows XP look like Vista. Just make sure you got a bit of spare RAM on your system.

Vista Start Menu

Vista Start Menu turns XP’s Start menu into one like on Vista. Not only do you get a better look but also many new features that are normally not there. These include: resizable start menu, zoom in/out, program launcher, desktop search, power buttons, tabs, and more. Another noteworthy aspect, Vista Start Menu does not change your system settings, thus making it easy to install, as well as simple to remove.

Vista Transformation Pack 7

VTP changes XP’s interface, including the Start menu, the Control Panel, system dialogs, icons, and more, to Vista style. Also includes a transparency function to mimic Vista’s Aero Glass functionality. It’s probably the most comprehensive package out of all, so be very careful with it. While I haven’t experienced any problems some folks reported difficulties in uninstalling it (see comments here). Here are some of the notable changes that will be made to your system.

[Update: Version 8 was released yesterday (Nov 28). It's seems to be better and much more stable. Read more here]

Boot screen / Welcome Screen / Logon Screen.
New desktop, file and toolbar icons.
Progress Dialogs.
New System Tray icons.
New Sounds scheme.
New interface visual styles.
Windows Media Player Skins.

RocketDock

RocketDock is a portable, memory-friendly, smoothly animated, alpha blended application launcher that sits on your screen. It provides a nice clean interface to drop shortcuts on for easy access and organization. Some features that are worth looking at include: Minimize active windows to the dock, drag-n-drop interface, Dual-monitor support, Auto-hide and Popup on mouse over, and Running application indicators. Check it out in action in the video below

VistaMizer

VistaMizer modifies about 400 of your system files, and when you reboot your system after installation you won’t remember how your old desktop looked like. It’s highly customizable and changes lots of stuff. What’s really good about is that it will keep backup of all the changes (so that you can easily revert it) and won’t replace/overwrite anything that would risk destabilizing your system.

WindowBlinds

WindowsBlinds is not a program specifically designed to Vistalize your system. It’s more a tool for applying different visual theme on your entire current Windows environment: changing overall look and feel, title bars, push buttons, start bar, start menu and more. Similar to the above RocketDock, it claims to be memory-friendly, so it shouldn’t slow down your system. Once installed, you can either apply one of the default visual themes or download one from the WindowsBlinds gallery (over 1000 themes). WindowsBlinds comes both in a free and paid version. Although the free version lacks some of the additional features it still does the job.

Share you thoughts in comments!

(By) TechDune (edited by Aibek)