Windows Longhorn transformation pack before BETA!

I found a site that offers a partial Windows XP - Longhorn transformation pack. Its a free download that adds some features from the upcoming Windows OS code named "Longhorn" to your existing Windows XP. Personaly I like the cool upgrades so I think ill keep my computer this way till the next upgrade. Hehe the side bar is nice, so are then new wallpapers but dont get me wrong there are many more features added. Not enough to make you feel lost in windows but WILL give u a TASTE of the full OS thats due to come out in 2006-7.

Here is the download site, you can read about the new added features there. Enjoy: www.soft32.com...

WARNING: DOWNLOAD AT YOUR OWN RISK

I'm interested to hear what you guys think.

[edit on 5-2-2005 by beyondSciFi]

*yawn* Thats what I think XP Is the first and last MS OS I ever purchase, too much hassle IMO. I'm switching over to linux as it seems all my favorite games and game companies are starting to support it. Good stuff IMHO. Allthough I hear Linux can have some problems while installing I am willing to put up with some crap if it means being free of the beast that is Micro$oft. FYI I am not a Bill Gates hater, more of a MS hater. I respect Bill Gates for his generous donations but I hate his business practices. Way too cuthrough. BTW I advice no one to download the "beta" of longhorn, for all we know it could be fake or just an "alpha" or pre-alpha which is even worse.

Do you think Longhorn will have some sort of NWO type software embedded in it? lol

I got that a hour ago works fine just background and wallpaper screensaver stuff not to munch that i have seen fron it but I also have the longhorn windows blinds but it all gives a tast of wats to come

Originally posted by CmptrN3rd5
Do you think Longhorn will have some sort of NWO type software embedded in it? lol

Nope I just think it will be buggy and insecure as XP maybe even more so. Meanwhile Linux continues its steady march towards achieving the goal of an All Purpose OS.

Actually Longhorn is supposed to be much more secure and with less problems then even then best Linux now or a little later. Thats what I heard anyway because they have been working on in for over 5 years. (2001-2006 when its released) I think everyone that likes XP now will love longhorn. Hehe it comes with direct X 10 standard, a plus for games

[edit on 6-2-2005 by beyondSciFi]

Originally posted by sardion2000
*yawn* Thats what I think

XP Is the first and last MS OS I ever purchase, too much hassle IMO. I'm switching over to linux as it seems all my favorite games and game companies are starting to support it. Good stuff IMHO. Allthough I hear Linux can have some problems while installing I am willing to put up with some crap if it means being free of the beast that is Micro$oft. FYI I am not a Bill Gates hater, more of a MS hater. I respect Bill Gates for his generous donations but I hate his business practices. Way too cuthrough. BTW I advice no one to download the "beta" of longhorn, for all we know it could be fake or just an "alpha" or pre-alpha which is even worse.

Agreed but if it had not been for Gates the development in Graphical interface operating software would have taken more time.

Originally posted by beyondSciFi
Actually Longhorn is supposed to be much more secure and with less problems then even then best Linux now or a little later. Thats what I heard anyway because they have been working on in for over 5 years. (2001-2006 when its released) I think everyone that likes XP now will love longhorn. Hehe it comes with direct X 10 standard, a plus for games

[edit on 6-2-2005 by beyondSciFi]

I don't agree they may "say" that, they also say alot of things. Besides every Linux distro is different, each having different benefits. I'm still sticking to my Gentoo flavor since I can completely control everything I want, including the kernel itself.

Most major distros of Linux install easily. Some are fancier for the masses such as Mandrake and Redhat. I have Slackware and Debian installed on several machines and they run well for everday use and servers. Now as far as gaming goes, buy yourself a Nvidia based card as the drivers work well and easily install. ATI drivers require quiet a few changes to config files and may be trying for a new user. Caldega is used to run many games under linux and requires a subscription defeating the purpose of the open source linux movement. Some games such as UT2004 and Americas Army run well under Linux without the need for third party software such as "wine" or the payversion called Caldega.

Debian even has a version that is downloaded and installed over the net. You burn the basic files to a cdrw and then install the selected packages you need via ftp servers. Anyway to get to the point my first impression of the Longhorn Os was that it emulated the fancy desktops of many Linux users.

[edit on 6-2-2005 by IntelRetard]

Originally posted by beyondSciFi
Actually Longhorn is supposed to be much more secure and with less problems then even then best Linux now or a little later. Thats what I heard anyway because they have been working on in for over 5 years. (2001-2006 when its released) I think everyone that likes XP now will love longhorn. Hehe it comes with direct X 10 standard, a plus for games

[edit on 6-2-2005 by beyondSciFi]

Sounds like typical wall street PR. Call me a jaded investor but ya know what thats just what I am. The Street is starting to warm up to the idea of open-source as it has been proven that features are added and bugs are fixed about 2-3 times fast then close proprietary. I am taking Mozilla into consideration as well but if you compare Firefox to IE., Firefox has been developing at a blazing pace. Dozens of times faster then IE could hope for, why because more programmers and more debuggers = more security and a faster overall developement cycle. There is a reason why more web servers nowadays are based on some derivitive of the Linux kernel. It's a great OS and anyone who is a serous geek will know what is better. Something you can controll and maniplulate and where there is an abundance of free software(which you can do the same if you have the knowhow) vs. a Closed system where you do not know whats REALLY going on under the hood. Only way to see that is too take a look at the Source code and everyone knows M$ policy on that. Its thier property, and no one is gonna look at it, at least no one without a court order Linux continues on developement and major patches are released approx every 3 years(its on a "When its Done basis". Also Major companies like Sun and IBM have thrown thier wieght behind linux and companies have sprung up that only deal with Linux software like Redhat. The company my father works for is currently in the transisition phases towards more open standards, they are going towards Linux, Firefox, OpenOffice and XML. Allthough XML was forced by the Canadian gov't as it is now the "Standard" for tax returns(its a Payroll outsourcing company) Entire gov'ts are converting to Open Source because A: It's lower cost B: It's Open and Hackable(ie Hacking in the Good sense not Cracking which is what most people consider hacking nowadays) C: It is proven to be more secure by computer security experts, and the Security by Obscurity is a myth when dealing with Linux web servers as they make up the majority of the market

Heh Dealing with Linux fanatics is alot worse then dealing with Mac fanatics cuz WE actually know what we are talking about (no offence to the Mac addicts out there, but it is a general rule of thumb, just like the AOL crowd joke heh)

IntelRetard

Thanks for the advice I'll check out those version you mentioned, any more hackable ones? I want to try out a whole bunch of distros as I am still a newby but already a fanactic

[edit on 6-2-2005 by sardion2000]

LOL, I got nothing agains linux, im just saying I like windows because it looks more refined.

Originally posted by sardion2000
It's a great OS and anyone who is a serous geek will know what is better. Something you can controll and maniplulate and where there is an abundance of free software(which you can do the same if you have the knowhow) vs. a Closed system where you do not know whats REALLY going on under the hood.

Heh i'll take the geek part as a joke . Anyways its a very true statement, even binary install copies of Mandrake and SUSE are way better then Windows XP. I prefered to learn the kernel intimately and choose to build my own operating system from the Gentoo 1 source pack. I would highly recommend anyone who seriously wants a challenge and to learn way more then the normal Linux user, use Gentoo. It's hard, time consuming, and a real challenge but its pays off big time.

Originally posted by Linux
I prefered to learn the kernel intimately and choose to build my own operating system from the Gentoo 1 source pack. I would highly recommend anyone who seriously wants a challenge and to learn way more then the normal Linux user, use Gentoo. It's hard, time consuming, and a real challenge but its pays off big time.

Some people dont have the time to play around with the OS, and some just want something good out the box. Thats why most PC users have windows. Although I would love to build my own OS i dont have the time .

I think Avalon is supposed to be the new DirectX (directX 10 or directX-next), it will extend WGF to provide things like the 3d desktop.

Windows Graphics Foundation (WGF) is Longhorns new graphics subsystem.

Aero is the new user interface

WinFX will replace the Win32 API

i don't know much about Indigo, something to do with .Net services i think

Monad is the codename for the new command line shell (MSH or Microsoft Shell). It also combines an object oriented scripting language using .net

WinFS, the new file system has been delayed and won't appear in Longhorn. It combines the file system with a relational database based on the latest sql server (codename Yukon)

I just hope the finished version installs quicker than the betas, "detecting hardware" seems to stay on the screen for eternity. I think the new improved WinPE is supposed to install Longhorn in 15 mins

Originally posted by beyondSciFi
Some people dont have the time to play around with the OS, and some just want something good out the box. Thats why most PC users have windows. Although I would love to build my own OS i dont have the time

.

Friend, there are no excuses anymore besides compatiblity. Linux comes in preconfigured distros, infact a good chunk of them are this way.



[edit on 6-2-2005 by Linux]

Originally posted by Linux
Friend, there are no excuses anymore besides compatiblity. Linux comes in preconfigured distros, infact a good chunk of them are this way.

Sure there are, most people still like Windows over Linux.

Where can I get linux and how do IO install it is it easy?

Originally posted by cpr12r
Where can I get linux and how do IO install it is it easy?

Try www.linuxiso.org..., most of the well known ones are easy to install (graphical menus with help if you need it). I've only got Mandrake installed at the moment but i used to have a whole load more.

Man....

When will they stop? XP Is good. XP kept me on Windows. I would be using Linux right now but XP came in and kept me here. I was really getting sick of 98. I'm happy with XP and I wont be in a big hurry to get "Longhorn"

Originally posted by cpr12r
Where can I get linux and how do IO install it is it easy?

Have a look at distrowatch.com...

Ubuntu is getting fairly good reviews for ease of install, it seems to be a distro that you can setup and leave - from what I read - I'm using Gentoo myself.