Love OS X but Need to Use Windows? FlyakiteOSX May Help
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- 2006.08.09 - Tip Jar
If you're reading this on Low End Mac, I can probably assume that you'd rather be using a Mac than a Windows computer. You don't need a lot of convincing that it's a better way to be working with a personal computer.
The theme of this series of articles has been ways that Macs can work in a world dominated by Windows computers; this article, however, is for the would-be Mac-user who has to work on a Windows computer at work, school, or home.
Despite some reports of installing Mac OS X onto a standard PC,
and despite Apple's Boot Camp and Parallels
Workstation allowing Intel Mac owners to run
Windows, there's no easy way that I'm aware of turning a PC into a
Mac.
There are, however, ways to make a Windows PC look and feel more like a Mac. My favourite is a free download that goes by the name FlyakiteOSX, which promises to allow users to "Modify. Simplify. Aquafy" their Windows PCs. Their website takes visitors to a bogus OS X boot sequence, complete with a bogus log-in screen. (You don't really have to type anything to get to the next page).
Once into the
website, they explain that FlyakiteOSX is a software package designed
to let a computer running Windows XP look like one running Mac
OS X. The website includes a description of the software,
tutorials, downloads for the FlyakiteOSX software, and links to other
Mac-on-Windows resources.
The website
describes FlyakiteOSX as a "transformation pack", something more than
just a skin or a theme changing Windows wallpaper, screensaver,
standard icons, and cursors. It does all that, but it also installs
replaces a variety of system files, tweaks the registry, and installs a
variety of third party software such as two different Docks, a program
to roll-up (windowshade) open windows, an application to add
user-configurable shadows, and one to provide alternatives for folder
icons.
You get an OS
X-style System Preferences alternative to the Windows Control Panel.
There's even a program to add a Spotlight-like desktop search option.
(If this makes you nervous, it's all completely uninstallable.)
Nicely, it's not all or nothing: Users can choose whether they want the full meal deal, or they can pick and choose which pieces of the system to modify - and they can alter their choices at any time.
There's a
great attention to detail: A wide variety of icons and other resources
are replaced with more Mac-like equivalents. I really like the
aquafied-look of the Apple Menu/Start Menu, for instance. And the
mapping of the various Control Panel items into the pseudo-System
Preferences panel is nicely done.
The end result isn't quite a Mac, however. It's moved the Windows task bar to the top of the screen and replaced the default Start Button with a blue Apple icon, but it's not a menu bar. (The program's tutorial includes links for downloading several Finder wannabe programs, but none really worked to my satisfaction.)
The Docks are
kind of nice, but neither of the two included seems to indicate running
programs, at least in my tests, though minimized applications end up on
the right, beside the Trash (er Recycle Bin) icon.
Some of the visual effects don't quite work 100% either; in some (but not all) programs, the vertical scroll bar seems to resemble a series of white and blue sausage links in some software, for instance.
And look at the
side-bar in the Open With dialogue box: The Aqua-style icons are too
large, and there's no way to scroll down to the items pushed out of the
way.
The default mini-icons to minimize, maximize, and shut down a window are replaced with nice OS X-style glowing yellow, green, and red bubbles - but in most cases they remain on the Windows-default right corner of the window rather than the Mac-style left corner. (The online FAQ suggests purchasing Stardock's WindowBlinds in order to get this feature.)
Of course, underneath the pretty face, it's still Windows. Internet Explorer, for instance, gains the About dialogue from the Mac version of IE, but it still has all the vulnerabilities of the Windows version, including making it too easy to inadvertently download and install spyware.
Still, if you're stuck on a Windows XP system, FlyakiteOSX makes it
easier to at least pretend you're using a Mac.
- Link: FlyakiteOSX
- Link: WindowBlinds
Alan Zisman is Mac-using teacher and technology writer based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Many of his articles are available on his website, www.zisman.ca. If you find Alan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
Recent Columns by Alan Zisman
- Free VirtualBox for Mac now a virtual contender, 07.21. A year ago, the Mac version of VirtualBox lacked some essential features. Over the past year, it's grown into a very useful tool.
- Time Machine can now backup to a shared hard drive, 07.08. Earlier versions of Leopard didn't seem to allow backup to a shared drive on another Mac, but the 10.5.4 update allows it.
- SanDisk Sansa Clip a low cost alternative to iPods for Mac users, 07.01. There's no video or photo support, but the Sansa Clip works with MP3 files and includes an FM radio and a microphone.
- Leopard makes it easy to share your Mac's screen locally and over the Internet, 06.30. Mac OS X 10.5 makes it easier to remotely access a Mac's screen on a network or over the Internet with more options than ever before.
- More in the Mac 2 Windows index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: iMac Core2, Sep. 2006 - Apple introduced the biggest screen ever in an iMac with a 24" Core2 Duo model at 2.16 GHz.
- List of the Day: Old Mac MP covers 604-based multiprocessor Macs and clones.
- September 6 in LEM history: 99: G4 vs. Pentium III - 00: Setting up a server - 02: Norton Utilities warning - 10 greatest computer annoyances - 06: iMac Core2 Duo - Mac mini Core Duo - The iMac Core2 value equation - 07: Apple seduction - Why I really want an iPod touch - iPod history, 2005 to present - Upgrading a Power Mac G - Apple intros iPod touch, classic, and video nano
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- Save Internet Radio, USB and Hard Drives, Hardware Manufacturers vs. Linux, and More, Dan Knight, Low End Mac Mailbag, 09.03. Also Mac won't book after cleaning, newer versions of OS X improve wake from sleep, downgrading to OS 8.6, unreadable pages on Low End Mac, and more.
- Another Free POP3 Provider, Recharging a Dead PRAM Battery, Current Kanga Value, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 09.03. GMX email now available in US, Panasonic UJ-841S drive won't burn discs, restoring a dead PRAM battery in a Pismo, and thoughts on Kanga value today.
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- Psystar Strikes Back, Countersues Apple, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 09.03. Psystar is trying to paint Apple as a monopoly and force it to license the Mac OS.
- More links in our archive.
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