5 ms·

Win XP remains my favourite OS till date. I was in college and getting hands on a pirated copy back then makes me so nostalgic. There was a cambrian explosion

Win XP remains my favourite OS till date. I was in college and getting hands on a pirated copy back then makes me so nostalgic. There was a cambrian explosion of tools to customize the look and feel. TweakXP pro is the one I remember. All pirated off-course.

dijit 1y ago
I remember being extremely envious of the "Alienware theme" that you could only get with an actual Alienware machine. That was surprisingly short-lived though, such custom experiences are uncommon these days. Seems like nobody is theming Windows- they just fill it with crapware.
- accrual 1y ago
  I remember those themes - the sleek "glowing" blue accents on shiny silver and black UI elements looked so fancy back then. There was a Windows Media Player skin too if I recall correctly.
- tracker1 1y ago
  I preferred the Media Center Edition theme myself... kept a copy of it for a long time to drop into XP and other windows flavors.
- zveyaeyv3sfye 1y ago
  > Seems like nobody is theming Windows We found more fun in ricing our linux desktops :) https://reddit.com/r/unixporn https://reddit.com/r/unixporn
  - frantathefranta 1y ago
    Specifically to look like Windows XP: https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/comments/pdd4o6/xfce_windows_xp_tc/ https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/comments/pdd4o6/xfce_windo...
- nine_k 1y ago
  Why theme it? For many people, it has three main functions: starting a game, starting Chrome, and starting MSO. All three kinds have their own custom look, or theme support. The native UI is barely visible, unless you're a heavy Explorer user.
rayiner 1y ago
How was it better than Win2K?
- AlecSchueler 1y ago
  Lots of relatively small UI improvements that all added up. I honestly never noticed them until years later when I had to use a slightly older machine and had an "oh wow" moment.
- devnull3 1y ago
  For me the look and feel of Win XP was breath of fresh air compared to Windows 98. WinXP was more user friendly and I was not a power user back then.
- carstenhag 1y ago
  It had Pinball, Solitaire and other games we never really understood.
- whobre 1y ago
  Multiple users on a same machine out of the box and way faster boot time. Didn't care for the UI, though - looked childish...
  - int_19h 1y ago
    Win2K did multiple users more or less the same, the only difference I remember from XP is the login screen that would list all accounts so you didn't have to type the username. As for UI, it was very easy to switch to classic mode.
    - whobre 1y ago
      > Win2K did multiple users more or less the same No, it didn't. You had to use some 3rd party software for that.
- int_19h 1y ago
  Better hardware support. Taskbar grouping. ClearType. Remote Desktop. More games ran on it (mostly thanks to higher DirectX version). From developer perspective, XP was the first version of Windows with registration-free COM and side-by-side assemblies, which (if used properly by app devs) fully solved the "DLL hell" problem.
floxy 1y ago
OS/2 is the nostalgic one for me.
5pl1n73r 1y ago
Did you have the devils0wn copy though?
- userbinator 1y ago
  FCKGW-RHQQ2... is the first thing that pops into my head upon seeing that name.
  - bombcar 1y ago
    There was a time I had that whole thing memorized - even when I had legitimately obtained licenses it was easier to type that in …

dijit 1y ago

I remember being extremely envious of the "Alienware theme" that you could only get with an actual Alienware machine. That was surprisingly short-lived though, such custom experiences are uncommon these days. Seems like nobody is theming Windows- they just fill it with crapware.

accrual 1y ago
I remember those themes - the sleek "glowing" blue accents on shiny silver and black UI elements looked so fancy back then. There was a Windows Media Player skin too if I recall correctly.
tracker1 1y ago
I preferred the Media Center Edition theme myself... kept a copy of it for a long time to drop into XP and other windows flavors.
zveyaeyv3sfye 1y ago
> Seems like nobody is theming Windows We found more fun in ricing our linux desktops :) https://reddit.com/r/unixporn https://reddit.com/r/unixporn
- frantathefranta 1y ago
  Specifically to look like Windows XP: https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/comments/pdd4o6/xfce_windows_xp_tc/ https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/comments/pdd4o6/xfce_windo...
nine_k 1y ago
Why theme it? For many people, it has three main functions: starting a game, starting Chrome, and starting MSO. All three kinds have their own custom look, or theme support. The native UI is barely visible, unless you're a heavy Explorer user.

rayiner 1y ago

How was it better than Win2K?

AlecSchueler 1y ago
Lots of relatively small UI improvements that all added up. I honestly never noticed them until years later when I had to use a slightly older machine and had an "oh wow" moment.
devnull3 1y ago
For me the look and feel of Win XP was breath of fresh air compared to Windows 98. WinXP was more user friendly and I was not a power user back then.
carstenhag 1y ago
It had Pinball, Solitaire and other games we never really understood.
whobre 1y ago
Multiple users on a same machine out of the box and way faster boot time. Didn't care for the UI, though - looked childish...
- int_19h 1y ago
  Win2K did multiple users more or less the same, the only difference I remember from XP is the login screen that would list all accounts so you didn't have to type the username. As for UI, it was very easy to switch to classic mode.
  - whobre 1y ago
    > Win2K did multiple users more or less the same No, it didn't. You had to use some 3rd party software for that.
int_19h 1y ago
Better hardware support. Taskbar grouping. ClearType. Remote Desktop. More games ran on it (mostly thanks to higher DirectX version). From developer perspective, XP was the first version of Windows with registration-free COM and side-by-side assemblies, which (if used properly by app devs) fully solved the "DLL hell" problem.

floxy 1y ago

OS/2 is the nostalgic one for me.

5pl1n73r 1y ago

Did you have the devils0wn copy though?

userbinator 1y ago
FCKGW-RHQQ2... is the first thing that pops into my head upon seeing that name.
- bombcar 1y ago
  There was a time I had that whole thing memorized - even when I had legitimately obtained licenses it was easier to type that in …