Emerge Desktop, alternative windows desktop shell
Had enough of the boring Windows Explorer shell and require some elegance on your desktop? Look no further.
I finally got round to replacing windows explorer as the default desktop application. Given that my computer is supposed to be ‘personal’, there is nothing creative, inspiring or personal about the Windows default desktop application. This is where Apple has won hands down in the ‘beautifying a computer’ stakes.
I digress. I want to share my attempt at making my computer desktop more ‘personal’. After looking around, I settled on ‘EmergeDesktop’, an open source Windows Desktop alternative hosted on Sourceforge.
See Ref0
Install
It consists of a number of ‘applets’ - Tasks (current running tasks), Tray (System tray), Desktop, Command(runs custom scripts), Hotkeys, Launcher (like Windows Quick Launch menu) and Virtual Screens. It took a few minutes to install. I selected ‘Emerge Desktop’ as my default Windows shell and once my machine rebooted, I was on my way.
Configure Desktop
Next, I configured the desktop and applets for my own personal taste. I find the Tasks, Tray, Desktop and Virtual Screens applets indespensible. To configure an applet, position your mouse over the item and select the ‘CTRL’ key. A popup menu displays with all the options for the applet.
Configure Applets
I configered all the core applets. I also installed and configured the RK Launcher task bar. See Ref1
Enjoy :
I’m in business. To use the standard Windows user menus, you right-click the mouse button on the desktop.
It is a stable piece of software that has increased my overall enjoyment and productivity whilst using my ‘personal’ computer. I have not had any issues using ‘Emerge Desktop’ since May 2006 for my daily tasks including code development, running webservers and application servers, using other commercial and open source software.
References :
Ref0:Emerge Desktop project
Ref1:RK Launcher
Technorati Tags: OpenSource Alternative Desktop