you'd have thought Microsoft would be glad someone - anyone - would want to use something that looks like pissta.

what's even more surprising is they're getting snotty about an Apple disciple doing so, when what they need right now is to keep market share away from the Cupertino rebels !

You know, if MS decided to co-opt this theme, it would probably be good for them as far as user-base goes. Although, knowingly supporting a theme which requires the "illegal" jail-breaking of a competitor's device might not be so good.

They should have just quietly let it stand. Plausible deniability, and such. Really, if some iPhone fanboi wants his iPhone to look like Vista, why not?

In all seriousness, I'd be interested in the iPhone myself if it could match the capabilities of my SE K790a and my soon-to-be-owned K850i or C905a. Sure, it has more features, but my SE has a better camera with a flash, synchronizes easily with my Outlook, has a removable memory stick, great Bluetooth device support, PictBridge for printing photos directly to a printer, and it runs any Java application I want. To get even a portion of that functionality I would have to "illegally" break my iPhone and do so again with every firmware update, sign up for a friggen iTunes account, and it would still have a crappy camera and not run Java applications.

Paris, plausibly deniable.

"We are currently looking into this issue and can't confirm at this time whether Microsoft sent this letter."

This is just utter crap. Someone made a "look-a-like" for the HesusPhone from the Vista Desktop, and is catching supposed legal hell for it?

I think Apple sent the letter personally. Don't want people to think you can run Microsoft software on an HesusPhone.

Making Ubuntu looking like OSx? Not too surprising since Apple uses a Unix Core for their OS, so converting the desktop probably isn't much of a surprise.

Paris 'cause she can't confirm sending the letter either.

How is making your iPhone look like Vista an improvement? I'm not an iPhone fan, but even I can tell when things get worse.

Lots of little things fixed or made easier than other platforms will make ubuntu more attractive. Get the devs and managers at Intuit and Adobe drooling for the ubuntu desktop experience and they'll port :-P

the only problem is that if apps makers make linux apps, they'll probably still be proprietary and thus not available in the repository and thus not really safe to install.

You'd have thought that with the poor take-up of Vista (despite Microsoft's "claim" to the opposite), they'd have grabbed any bit of free advertising they could get.

Here is a great example of how bad Microsoft are. Microsoft Vista is a steaming pile of crap - Absolutely every person in the world thinks this apart from Microsoft Gold Partners, etc. It's about time Microsoft woke up and realised it's living on borrowed time.

If you're going to go through the trouble of jailbreaking and skinning an iPhone, why on earth would you want to have it look like Vista? Very odd.

MS need all the help they can get in selling Vista. If they can get people to like the feel on the Jesus phone, then they may sell an extra copy of Vista.....

"on/off experience"

Is this where, when you want to shut down, you go to the Start menu?

Ahhhhh, logic!

They must issue a "take down" or else they will be seen to be not enforcing copy and deign right, which would then open the flood gates to anyone who would wish to use their themes. But for the life of me I can't understand why anyone would want to see Vista on their phone, never mind their desktop?

I've been pretty much solely a Microsoft user forever, but I've just bought a new iphone. Sure, there are flaws such as how locked down it is etc, but jesus, it's so far ahead of my Windows smartphone I think I would cry if I had to go back. Methinks MS needs all the exposure it can get.

"Is this where, when you want to shut down, you go to the Start menu?"

It says volumes about the desperation and patheticness of the Linux zealots that they are intent on beating this dead horse into the ground, despite living in a proverbial UI glass house. The only thing you forgot was a hilarious chair throwing joke. It's starting to look like Slashdot around here.

You would have thought a slightly stabler OS like XP Pro???

Did Microsoft intervene cause it had driver problems??

I'll get my coat!

allow me to oblige!

'I bet chairs were flying when Monkey Boy Ballmer found out!'

OK are we done now? Good, in other news the flexibility and customisability of the GNU/Linux desktop is far superior to both Windows and Mac.

Here's Tom with the weather.

This.

Lots of kids posting on El Reg lately during the summer holidays but this Anon has got it spot on. These mods or skins don't just aim to look like Vista. They use icons and artwork that have been taken form the Vista software. Apple does the same thing to people who create iPhone skins for Windows Mobile devices.

F**k you! Two of my friends died trying to skin their iphones to look like Vista!

er No us.. erm..

Bloody lawyers! cant even make a mockery of our competitors, because 'ours on theres' is not flattery (read free advertising), legally its theft!...

I think its time that the MS marketing department signed a contract which allowed said developer to use MS property within the framework of promoting MS's Themes into other platforms.

First screw your own lawyers before they screw your customers...

Flames as there is no barbecued lawyer icon.

A dual Iphone / Vista story, is a haters wet dream really isn't it.

I only read articles on either subject for comedy value, but love the fact that the anti-fanboys can't help but read the stories and comment, just to fuel their mainly ill informed opinions. I buy the Daily Mail for the same reasons.

I use both Vista and Iphone, Vista is underated, it really aint that bad, iphone is overated, but it does what it says on the tin and looks considerably better than most smart phone carbuncles currently on the market.

@NB to say "flexibility and customisability of the GNU/Linux desktop is far superior to both Windows and Mac" is like implying that my neighbours Chav's sons, Vauxhall Nova is somehow superior to a BMW as he is able to customise it by putting a wing on boot and neon lights underneath. Tin of turd pollish for the gentleman with the penguin on his annorak please.

I use Linux in work, I get it, sure it's more flexible, but so's the barmaid in my local boozer, but I'm hardly going to marry her now am I?

Anyone tried bellowing into a silk purse recently?

"Chav's sons, Vauxhall Nova is somehow superior to a BMW as he is able to customise it by putting a wing on boot and neon lights underneath"

inspite of your daily mail comment - I've seen a mini (loaded with a very nice cosworth engine) destroy a several hundred thousand pound lamborghini over 1/4 mile. So what costs more money doesn't mean its better/faster/stronger/etc . OK?

"...in other news the flexibility and customisability of the GNU/Linux desktop is far superior to both Windows and Mac."

Why is it the "GNU/Linux desktop" all of a sudden? There is no such thing!!

There is X-Windows (which has sod-all to do with GNU or Linux). On top of this, you can run (say) gnome which, granted is GNU, but has nothing to do with Linux, or KDE, which, again, has sod-all to do with GNU or Linux. There are a few other bits & pieces too, but nothing of much significance.

MS Windows is and always has been complete pants, and Apple are just too far up their own arse to see daylight. I'm a great fan of OSS, but (especially in the Linux camp), their idea of "innovation" is copying what MS and Apple do; much rather add a new "skin" to some existing crappy code that barely stands up than actually make the base code more reliable and usable.

As for flexibility etc, have you ever tried to code for X-Windows? I'm guessing not. It's a bugger to write for, and has many deficiencies. The basic problem with X is that it was developed as a kitchen-sink approach to providing a GUI. As a result, it's too big, its API is inconsistent, it's got some serious performance issues, etc etc.

I'm not saying the Windows GUI or the Mac GUI are any better (although I dislike Windows intensely, I would put the basic WIndows GUI API in the "not bad" category. Not good (god NO!), but it could be worse - it could be X!).

I don't know about coding for it, but I use a Mac regularly, and I HATE the GUI. It's awful, and I can't understand why so many people hold it up as a lesson on how a GUI should be. Stuff bounces about to grab your attention (I KNOW I have a new email - you don't need to keep telling me!), the mouse movement is shockingly bad, pop-up windows (like spell checks) appear over the top of the thing you are trying to read so you can't actually see what you were writing any more, icons appear from nowhere on the desktop like a bloody plague, it leaves ".Desktop" (or whatever they are called) files and directories scattered all over the place (a REAL pain in the arse, especially when using memory cards).... shall I go on?....

Considering the basic PC GUI has been around for some 40 years now, it's still basically awful. Absolutely none of the basic ideas have changed in all that time, and it's still frustrating, inefficient and time consuming to use, memory hungry, slow, and generally pretty poor. After all this time, we SHOULD have something a hell of a lot better than we have.

My comment was an observation that being able to customise something does not inherantly make it better (or worse clearly), i'm sure for every uber-pimp as the one you mentioned, there's 1000 Burberry trimmed twat chariots reving stock engines in KFC car parks, kidding themselves both that their baseball caps and sovereigns make them attractive to the opposite sex, and because they added a new bumper and a decal their vehicle is somehow superior.

I'm currently driving a 1998 Vauxhall Astra (Central Locking and Electric Windows, straight pimpin' baby) , so to be fair am somewhat jealous of said Chav-Mobile. Whilst this Mini sounds awesome (any pics?) I know what I'd drive given the choice of that or a Lambo, who knows, maybe if I had one my wife wouldn't have left me.

"Absolutely every person in the world thinks this apart from Microsoft Gold Partners, etc."

Actually, even we think it's a steaming pile of poo, too.

And we hate it as well...

We recently for no other reason than cost bought the ebuyer 150 quid PC with ubuntu... and do you know we all agreed that putting ubuntu on our works pc's was a good idea. Given speed and "just works" factor.

Still having Vista theme on an iphone is a little tick in the good marketing ploy surely. Only M$ could get that wrong.

Mines the one with the book titled "Download MAC OS X theme here..." in the pocket.

...but only for a week or two before it got too annoying.

The problem is that you have to make certain icons invisible to create the blank area dividing the screen, install an app or two and they are jiggled about and ruined.

You then spend hours playing with wiggling icons, the Poof and Categories applications trying to sort it out again.

Then you get sick of it, and go back to the regular Summerboard.

No great loss, it was only ever a toy, though a lovely looking one.

Actually, I liked the Chav Nova/BMW comparison, and indeed chuckled loudly at the 'steam coming from ears' linux fanboi post straight after.

Vista's pretty good these days you know. Had to reinstall Vista 64 as my Raptor failed the other day and reinstall took about 20 mins, lots of unrecognised drivers in device manager. Hmmm, i thought, not good. Right clicked on each one to search Windows update and guess what, it found every damned one.

It's fast and stable and I enjoy using Vista just as much as my Macbook.

To all the fanbois it is possible to have middle ground you know. Because you own a Mac/Vista PC/Linux PC doesn't mean that everything else 'is a steaming pile of crap'. Also, I own an iPhone and love it, and plenty commentors go on about 2 million handsets sold etc. but did you know that Nokia sells 1 million handsets per day?

Back on topic, nice skin!

AC pissed and moaned about X-windows: "It's a bugger to write for, and has many deficiencies"

I'll defer to the lady's superior knowledge, but this touches on on issue that, imho, makes Linux (including the Sacred Ubuntu Distribution) and Windows both, and perhaps even OS X, unfit for purpose. Namely, the failure to follow through on the concept of a GUI and remove the need to ever use the command line or edit a config file.

_Ever_ tried to set up a keyboard layout for X-windows? Something that should be a drag-and-drop from Character Map to a composition window involves tons of complex config scripting. Or try to get Samba working? Hey, I used to "do computers" for a living, I'm retired, I'm lazy and indolent, and I refuse to fuck around with stuff that requires reading the entrails of shitty documentation.

Figuring out *what* you want to do is work enough; having to figure out *how* to do it is just smearing rat shit on the biscuit.

Microsoft and the Linux community (I'm again thinking esp. of Ubuntu, where there is some semblance of central control) would both be ahead of the game if they sat down and figured out suitably GUIfied abstractions of all aspects of system control and configuration -- and then implemented it. I give the Linux folks more chance of succeeding because Microsoft has an unenviable track record for poor usability design (notwithstanding their "usability labs") and can't seem to keep themselves from arbitrarily altering the UI from release to release of Windows.

BTW, note that I say abstractions: for all I care, X-windows and Samba can still have horrible config files under the hood, just don't let me see them . . . ever.

<grumble>

Well to "love em or hate em were still obsessed", fanboys and antifanboys always bash eachother, its always gonna happen.

From my own personal point of view, I got vista ultimate and it has graced my computer around 5 times... everytime I think right ill try it again maybe theyve fixed it with some patches. It usually lasts a few weeks before I just cant stand it anymore, from a usability point of view yea everythings moved all over the place but im sure id get used to that. Its the constant sluggishness and loading and hard disk thrashing. All I can think of is that stupid little blue loading circle and me saying to myself "omfg what the hell is it doing now".

On a note in relation to the story Id have to say that If i was gonna take the time and patience to get an iphone and jailbreak it anything vista would be a no no. But yea its another case of microshaft shooting themselves in the foot in any case.

(and no my pc is a very fast dual core system with an 8800gtx card)

that I junked win98 for Suse 6.2 or something, learned to use YaST and later found that every other distro didn't have a graphical installer, much less a non-console X-window setup?

I tried to re-incarnate an old pc with MythDora the other day and temporarily cabbaged it because I have no clue how to get a generic Nvidia 5200 type gfx card going without YaST or Sax. What happened in ten years FFS??

If you look closely, there is a silly wavy windows logo on the screen. My bet is that the lawyers are irked about that. Trademarks and all that you know!!

It's like putting/wanting a beaded seat cover and fluffy pink steering wheel cover in a Merc S Class. Saxo Perfection.

Yeah ? but I bet the said mini will look pretty stupid when put against the Monster - a Rolls Royce with a Spitfire's Rolls Merlin engine !!

Please compare apples with apples; not apples with oranges !!

I've been using Vista for a few months now - Ultimate 64bit - and I find that it is a heck of a lot more stable than XP SP2 (or 3). It's also highly usable.

I also have an iPhone that is a seriously good piece of kit.

I pay my bills by supporting Solaris servers and writing open source software, so I don't exactly qualify as an MS fanboi (or a fanboi of any description for that matter)

Paris cause I don't think she's a fanboi of anything - well except making dirty movies.