Revelations!

 I must put my hands up and admit... I am not a computer expert, but I do know enough about them to keep me going. That said, the one thing I do like to do with my laptop is experiment. New bits of software here and there, changing system preferences all the time, better icons, new fonts... you get the idea. I just get bored of the same old thing when it comes to computers, especially when I'm on mine every day of the week doing some form of homework or whatever else there is I've got to do. The thing I change most are the visuals. My laptop just has to be visually attractive, or else using it becomes a chore. It's just something in my nature, everything has to look right.

 Is the confusion setting in yet? Yeah, cool... but why am I telling you this? To be be honest, the main reason is pure and simple... I just want to tell you. I don't have to tell you, and you certainly don't need to read what I'm saying, but I'm saying it anyway. That's why I find blogging so amazingly cool. However, no matter how much I would love to go on and continue with this School 2.0 debate it is unfortunately not why I'm posting today. I'm posting because I thought I'd venture into the realms of blogging randomness. So I'll get on with it shall I...

 Over the past few weeks I've been feeding my habit and experimenting after finding a cool bit of software on the net. Soon after doing so I found another one with a similar purpose. Each tweaks your computers visuals, but in two very different ways. Flyakite is the name of the first bit of software I found. Actually, its full title is Flyakite OSX, and well, it's the closest thing you're ever going to get to a mac, without having to give up all those beautifully annoying aspects of Windows! (yes, I'm talking about viruses, and crashes etc) I really don't want to go into all the boring aspects of what the program really does and all that rubbish because after all, that's why they have a website, but what I will show you is a screenshot...

 Yup, it's still windows... pretty damn good I think you'll agree. Unfortunately the program couldn't change the folder image for my sharing folders... but basically thats the only fault I found. And I suppose if you think about it, thats hardly a fault. The great thing about it is everything is fully customisable, from the dock to the folder colours, you even get to choose what you want installed. For example, if you don't want the Mac OSX login screen then you don't need to have it, you even get two different docks to choose from, each with their own advantages/disadvantages. It's just so versatile... I love it. It makes me think, if this is how much fun I can have with a program that makes your pc look like a mac, how much fun could I have if I had the money to buy a real one! especially with OSX leopard coming soon.

 Any ideas what the second bit of software was? Vista is the answer, not the real beta version, but like flyakite, a good attempt at replicating it. It even had widgets! wait no! Gadgets! I don't know why I always get them mixed up, after all... they are both completely different things. Anyway, back to the point, screenshot time...

It looks very nice, I must admit... a big improvement on XP, especially the login screen etc, but although it is was still XP I found it awkward to use sometimes, and I'm still not quite sure why. The gadgets were also quite strange and complex to use. Maybe it was just the software, and maybe Vista beta is different, but although it was really really nice visually it took a lot of time getting used to, unlike flyakite. Most of the features were really cool, like the thumbnails of programs in the taskbar, and the gadgets, but it just wasn't as easy to customise and personalise as I would have liked. This is the reason I went off it pretty quickly. That said, I still must go back to the fact that in anybodys books, this looks good, and from what I've seen in the time I used this program Microsoft is making a pretty damn good attempt at making Windows more visually impacting. Which is a great thing in my opinion. However, lets remember that what I've used is just some program designed to look something like what the final version of Vista will look like... so it could easily be very different to what I've just used. So I'll keep an open mind.

 I'm back to Windows XP for now, and hey... now that looks different and interesting! I must say though, I did honestly find flyakite outstanding, especially with it being free! So, if you're like me and just want something different to look at and work with then both of these programs would be worth checking out. Bear in mind that there is always the risk that either program could mess up your computer in some way. But hey, I took that risk and had a hell of a lot of fun doing so!

 

The Bass Player