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DemoLinux 1.1 for Mandrake 6.1, 1999
(fedia.io)
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Jesus, UI design was terrible back then. I'm not talking about technical limitations, I don't need fancy transparency effects or something like that, but I'm sure that you could come up with something much better using the old UI libraries as long as you follow modern design principles.
That's probably why they're modern design principles, UI's were relatively new in 1999, and most people who used computers still knew how to work with the command line.
Take that back
It's probably just familiarity bias, but I really like the classic 3D design elements of the '90s desktops. I was a big fan of the Windows classic shell, NeXTSTEP and Openbox UIs. And even though I think both GNOME and KDE look fantastic today, I would still happily use a CDE-style UI if I could do so consistently.