madotate

Madotate
 

That’s how my desktop looked on 09 September 2001. Note how I went for lengths to achieve a custom look—all the icons made by myself (of course drawing on source material found on the Web), and their resolution pushed to the maximum possible.

At least in respect to the flood of television commercials, the Wii craze seems to have ebbed away—only to be replaced by the Vista craze. Judging from the clips, what Microsoft is most proud of is the “3D-desktop”, namely the ability of the graphical user interface (GUI) to perspectively tilt opened windows. Years ago, when I still was into “desktop modding”, an application called Madotate
[↑English, ↑Japanese] struck my fancy, as it did for Win2k exactly the 3D-effect now used as a cart horse to sell Windows Vista. In Japan there is a distinct scene of Windows modders which pulls of truly amazing stunts. The Y’z Dock is similar fun. The application generates within Windows a dock as known from the Apple operating systems (OS). Boiled down that is all cosmetics, of course, but in a way I sense something deeper: the appropriation of the personal computer in the sense of making it a more personal artefact, which stands into another relation to its owner than the out-of-the-box machine. Plus, I confess, it is fun to see people wonder at your screen and ask: “What kind of OS is that?”
 

Edit: I just added the screenshot of my old desktop. Note to myself: Regular and meticulous backups are all fine, but keep in mind how you did the backup, and where you’ve put it. Just ten minutes ago I discovered two identical DVDs chokeful of material I deemed to be doomed and lost. Yes, two identical DVDs, because redundancy is the key to success—not to be applied in every circumstances!
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