Can linux keep up..

[towel401]

with the new features and crap being added to windoze vista? will KDE have bigger & better animated gimmicks before the thing is finally released? is it already possible to make any given window transparent on KDE/gnome?

the little effects are not all that useful but transparent windows, and there are some other features that I might like. I wonder how vista is going to affect linux, will people switch back, will nobody switch to linux anymore or will it be such a pile of crap that nobody will want to use it?

There is also a lot to be said for a universal /Applications folder and a /Drivers folder. I'm not saying get rid of /etc but maybe have it both ways like on mac os?

[aysiu]

Yes, you can have transparent windows in Linux:

http://autistici.org/encelo/grabs/thunder8.jpg

Why would you want to? Take a look at that screenshot--can you really operate a computer like that? I make my Gnome terminal/console transparent, but that's about it.

It's not about Linux keeping up with Windows--it's the reverse. Transparency? That's old-school Linux stuff. Windows' new security? Old school.

As for file structures, check out GoboLinux:

http://www.gobolinux.org/

[borromini]

with the new features and crap being added to windoze vista? will KDE have bigger & better animated gimmicks before the thing is finally released? is it already possible to make any given window transparent on KDE/gnome?

the little effects are not all that useful but transparent windows, and there are some other features that I might like. I wonder how vista is going to affect linux, will people switch back, will nobody switch to linux anymore or will it be such a pile of crap that nobody will want to use it?

There is also a lot to be said for a universal /Applications folder and a /Drivers folder. I'm not saying get rid of /etc but maybe have it both ways like on mac os?

I don't know anything about windoze. I do remember however using a certain OS on my system that goes by the name of Windows. Is that what you're referring to?

You don't pick linux because of the graphical effects. That is one of the lousiest arguments I've heard. If you picked linux because it looks nice, stick to Windows. You can make that look nice also.

Transparency is possible. If you like the Mac OS X way, why don't you check out some BSD distro's? Mac OS X is based on them. It is another unix-derivate. You should try it out. Linux has a tree structure that has been thought about thoroughly, the /etc directory is, in my humble opinion, a very useful one. As far as my knowledge goes.

[LondoJowo]

By the time Vista is officially released (4th quarter) next year I'm sure that all the favorite distros will have made many improvements and will offer as much as Vista but more configurable.

[a thing]

http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software_2fXgl
http://plasma.bddf.ca/

[Muser]

KDE and Gnome are so far ahead of Microsoft in desktop inovations. The last time Windows really changed its desktop was Windows 95.

KDE/Gnome:
Multiple Desktops
Taskbar
Menus
Tabbing In Many Applications
Desktop Enhancements (Xgl, Cairo, Composite Extension)
Icons
Total Customization
Different Windowing Environemtnts (GTK, Qt, etc)

Windows:
Taskbar
Menus
Icons

[techieMoe]

I wonder how vista is going to affect linux, will people switch back, will nobody switch to linux anymore or will it be such a pile of crap that nobody will want to use it?

I, for one, don't care. Please direct all Vista discussion to this thread:

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/topic-50000.html