Cairo Windows shell replacement coming soon

Filed under: Windows

Cairo Windows shell replacement coming soon

by Brad Linder Feb 4th 2008

Cairo is an upcoming Windows shell replacement. What exactly does that mean? There are plenty of programs that change the way you launch programs or perform other basic functions in Windows. And Cairo started out as little more than a Windows taskbar replacement. But it's since evolved into a complete replacement for the Windows shell, with a custom file explorer, favorites manager, and live file previews.

In other words, Cairo will be a lot more than a simple Windows skinning program. The shell also changes the way you interact with your data. Cairo is still in pre-alpha, and while you can download a bunch of concept artwork, there's no working version of Cairo available for download yet. But the team plans to release milestone 1 to alpha testers soon.

[via WinBeta]

Tags: cairo, desktop, shell

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Mark said 5:07PM on 2-04-2008

Of course they have to rip off the Vista theme too. Why can't people think for themselves and make something new instead of borrowing from Apple and Microsoft?

whiskey said 9:30PM on 2-04-2008

Seems to me that you are not understanding this...

A shell is a program that replaces "explorer.exe" for task handling, start menu and system tray features.... It shows the original vista theme because it might be running on vista (this is not a, say, Windowblinds clone)...

Think of it more like a Litestep for vista.

Now, what would be interesting is to port this looks to say kde (4 might allow it) or gnome, giving it all an overall look aside from Leopard (what they are really ripping off with their explorer concept imho) and going more where buzzword, adobe lightroom and such are now... Developers... make this happen please?

Jonathan Harford said 5:12PM on 2-04-2008

Cairo, eh?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_(operating_system)

Cheeky buggers.

ariboarder said 5:15PM on 2-04-2008

Coolest thing since Microsoft Bob.

SuperGeek said 5:43PM on 2-04-2008

Mark, the point of the theme is to highlight equivalence. Just stick to your VB 'programs'

Mark said 5:47PM on 2-04-2008

"the point of the theme is to highlight equivalence."

Uh huh, call it whatever you like it's still copycating. If people would come up with a nice looking and functional original theme they wouldn't need to "highlight equivalence".

"Just stick to your VB 'programs'"

Well, that made zero sense.

Andrew Delaney said 7:01PM on 2-04-2008

Get a grip Mark. The importance of something like Cairo is most obvious to those who actually use Vista daily like me. Meaning, Windows Explorer crashes A LOT so Cairo offers me a way to fix the issue altogether without having to reinstall a whole other OS.

In other words if they ripped off the Vista-look it was on purpose. Hell if they said it was a Vista knock-off you'd be complaining that it looks nothing like Vista.

Jack said 7:16PM on 2-04-2008

No matter what UI they used or how 'revolutionary' their interface is, some people are always going to find something to complain about or compare it to, whether positive or negative in nature.

I think it's got some interesting features that separate it from OS X and Vista, but definitely shares qualities of both.

ziraga said 11:26PM on 2-04-2008

i think it has the best of both worlds. i just hope they change those vista icons.

Mark....

"If people would come up with a nice looking and functional original theme they wouldn't need to highlight equivalence."

Hey it seems like u have some good ideas, why dont you come up with a new taskbar, Explorer, Icons, color palette, file display, animations, and while you are at it do some coding so that it works with the original stuff?? ehh???

im sure they will appreciate it.

kojo87 said 11:26PM on 2-04-2008

very interesting. im definately gonna play around with it once it is released. same compatibility as windows with less crashing and general suckyness would be great.

its not that i dont like Vista but im always up for a change.

Steve said 11:28PM on 2-04-2008

This runs on Windows XP.

Tired_ said 8:59AM on 2-05-2008

Hmm. Cairo is coming soon. Cairo will be really cool. Cairo's not quite ready yet, but it will be, any day now.

Haven't I heard this before?

Drom Kapult said 9:02AM on 2-05-2008

It's nice to see Windows making their UI look more like Gnome, if they can make it function as well that would be a bonus.

Mel said 5:38PM on 3-18-2008

Mac OS X Leopard is the god of all OS's. You will bow to it. But, thank you for working on this. I can't wait for the beta version to release! Looks promising!

Metacity said 11:26PM on 3-18-2008

HI!!

how so?

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