l-dopa

I’ve tried a couple different ways to skin Mac OS X, but I’ve never been happy with running “haxies” on my PowerBook; aside from the moronic, infantile name, the idea of injecting code into every running app is something I thought we’d left behind with Mac OS 9’s Extensions. However, until we get the new look + Core Animation desktop coming with Mac OS X 10.5, it’s nice to freshen up the look of things a bit. To this end I’ve been running the “Uno” and “Uno” Firefox theme lately. Both combine to provide a unified interface — no more brushed metal here, Aqua there — and most importantly, both are instantly undo-able if you don’t like the new look.

In Windows XP theming news, I’ve been using the “Zune” XP theme, and once you get rid of the teenagers raving on the desktop, it’s a nice take on Apple’s “glossy black” aesthetic. But don’t even get me started about Vista’s “Aero Glass“; like an idiot, I bought a new cheap video card for my PC just to see it, and it. is. a. mess. The whole thing feels like the mess Apple had around the Mac OS X 10.1 timeframe; the only difference being that Microsoft won’t refine and correct the interface over the next several years like Apple did. We’re stuck with Aero Glass’ transparent title bars and confusing Explorer windows for the next five years at least. So that’s disappointing, but on the bright side, the new video card will support the new linux compositing engine Beryl. Check out the video; now there’s some weird (but exciting) user interface ideas on display there.

~jeff