I can understand that. Win2k was the last Windows I used. Great OS. MS lost me to Linux with their "Please sir, may I have permission to use my purchase?" product activation. Haven't looked back since.
I'd be surprised if the inability to turn off the XP and Vista eye candy is permanently removed, as opposed to just for this initial alpha-release. I mean, they're reportely making Windows 7 with the intent of it being able to scale to these resource-poor netbooks. I imagine Win2k's GUI would fly on the this current generation of netbooks.
I resisted XP until 2006, at which point I upgraded two of my Win2K machines (one at work, one at home) to XP, and immediately beat the GUI into W2K look/feel. I can't stand the XP default "Fisher-Price" theme. I tolerate the activation, but hate the hassles it causes.
> I'd be surprised if the inability to turn off the XP and Vista eye candy is permanently removed, as opposed to just for this initial alpha-release. I mean, they're reportely making Windows 7 with the intent of it being able to scale to these resource-poor netbooks. I imagine Win2k's GUI would fly on the this current generation of netbooks.
You could be right -- perhaps it'll be an install option. The footprint of Win7 is substantially smaller than Vista's. But it's nowhere near as small as Win2K's.
Win2K does indeed fly on small/slower machines. I still have a number of W2K installs in use, and prefer it for single-app VMs because it doesn't require the activation.