in a recent discussion on Firefox security, Sleepin’dawg made a statement that perhaps hit me with more energy then it should have. His post was simply,
“Windows Explorer is a different deal. Use regedit to turn it off.
(see it LIVE, here: http://tinyurl.com/yt853p).
And while I looked at his post, it occurred to me that I had never tried to find a replacement to Windows Explorer. At some point or another we have all tried to “Customize” Windows to suite our needs and work style, but how many of us ever replace the file manager in Windows? I never realized you could…
In Linux, the modularity of the OS becomes another facet of your work flow and process. Dislike a particular Display Manager, install a new one. Hate your Desktop? You only have 7 or so to choose from… All the parts of the OS are like the fruit, of well, fruit… and the kernel is the seed(s) of the fruit. (Okay so its not the best metaphor out there, feel free to contribute your own, Except for Palmetto, who will find a way to work Corn oil in again, I KNOW it..)
Now, If I stop and look at the Windows OS as a product, it would make sense that it is developed in much the same manner. A central kernel, and a modular layer of “stuff” that make up the rest of the OS and user experience.
Obvious stuff such as background images, sure, no problem… but what about the part of the OS responsible for displaying that image in the correct manner? Where is the window manager? sure, you can change some colors around, but you can not modify the default layout of the Windows window hardware (minimize, close, restore buttons).
So, to what extreme have people modified Windows? How much of the OS has been replaced to suite your needs? And in particular, what file managers have people had success in using instead of Windows Explorer? (years ago I played with afterstep on win98, I think it had its own file manager). And a final note: Anyone tried out the KDE4 for windows binaries yet?