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April 14, 2005

I still keep Windows around

Despite what most people think, I do keep a second hard drive in my machine that allows me to dual-boot to Windows XP when necessary. As good as Linux is, it still lacks support from the software vendors who make the Web applications and PC games that I frequent. The biggest problems that I have are with Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash. Once these applications are ported, I'll only be booting into Windows for game playing.

Too bad we'll never see Microsoft open up their DirectX API so developers can easily port their games to Linux and OS X.

But, I'm moving off track from my initial point. Part of my job requires me to keep up with Windows, so that's another good reason to keep a copy handy. Regardless of what I hope and/or think, Microsoft's OS will be with me for a while yet.

Since I have to keep Windows around, I still mess around with it. It keeps me sharp and ready to go when I have questions presented to me. I had a good one asked me by my brother yesterday evening. He wanted to know if there was a way to change the look and feel of the taskbar besides the regular blue, green and silver colors that the standard Windows installation provides.

After messing around with something called UXtheme.dll, I found a theme that I liked alot and got it installed. It's called ModBlue, and can be found here. Here's a screenshot of my current Windows desktop as well:

Notice the cool look of the taskbar and window frames, specifically the Start button which has a bit of a metallic look to it.

~out...

Posted by ed at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)