Why my daily Linux desktop looks like Windows 9x

[IMG:Nostalgia is a hell of a drug (624kB)] [SHOW ALL]

Note: for even more nostalgia, read this post on tilde.club!

Once, as an April Fools' Day joke¹ I set a Windows 95 theme on my Linux desktop for a screen-sharing session. Like, look at me, calling in from a vintage computer, ha-ha! Haven't changed the theme back since then.

Turns out, the Classic Windows interface is actually a pretty good choice from a practical point of view. In terms of productivity, elements are compact and clearly distinguishable, colors are nice and not distracting, and icons are meaningful. Not that modern flat interface blur.

It also helps to draw a line between Work and Life mindsets. In the home environment, I have a bit more modern theme, so by creating clear visual associations it helps to switch the brain between concentration and relaxation modes.

And, of course, I am nostalgic for the digital aesthetic of the 90s. Not for Windows itself, it's a slow and clumsy OS, but because it was on the first computer I had access to, it brings back fond memories. In fact, some of my most formative memories were made in that clumsy, boxy world. Growing up, I didn't have access to many video games or consoles, nobody had even heard of the internet, but we did have an office computer. With the kind of patience that you only have when you are a child, I would find things to get excited about. I spent hours trying to make sense of system files, imagining what they were for, tinkering with settings, playing with themes and screensavers, breaking things, fixing things. Ultimately, it made me who I am and what I do today.

Nowadays I don't try to reproduce the Windows 95 interface 100%. It is more a mixture of 95, 98 and even 2000. It is a revised nostalgia, a reinterpretation of the brightest memories, with an enchantment of the good and a minimisation of the bad. Not going backwards in terms of usability and productivity either.

( if
 ( is ( window_class ) "Double Commander" )
  ( begin
   ( spawn_async
   ( str "xseticon -id "
   ( window_xid ) " /path/to/totalcmd.png" ) )
  )
)