What Windows XP Should've Been - XPize Demo

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XPize is a visual modification for Windows XP that updates a lot of the leftover graphics from previous Windows versions. Today we're going to check it out and see how good of a job it does!
XPize: www.majorgeeks...
.NET 2.0: www.microsoft....
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Some materials in this video are used under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, which allows "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, commenting, news reporting, teaching, and research.
#MichaelMJD #WindowsXP #Microsoft

[@brundle_fly_3895]

The panic of “don’t go watch it” had me rolling

[@aaronytdev]

me too

[@MagicalFlower]

Must watch it now

[@ShadowStarzYT]

This is a great "sit down, grab snacks, and relax" at the end of the day kind of video, all of yours are✨

[@itisliamhfjone22]

agreed!

[@User-v7e4e]

i'm sat i'm eatin snacks and i am relaxed i love mjd

[@azuresfd_lol]

Xpize and Vize are like the founding fathers of transformation packs

[@ChrisSpartan]

There’s a vista version?

[@azuresfd_lol]

@@ChrisSpartan yah, it's the most popular one actually

[@ChrisSpartan]

@@azuresfd_lol oh cool, and it ends there or not?

[@imtekcs]

I would agree when it comes to third party transformation packs. Keep in mind that Microsoft also released Plus! Packs for Windows 95/98 to purchase.

[@azuresfd_lol]

@@ChrisSpartan There was going to be a Sevenize targetting Windows 7, but from what i can tell it got delayed so much that it got cancelled in early 2010's

[@R3troBoi]

I love when Michael MJD makes new videos about vintage tech, i learn new stuff about vintage tech, and i try these things on my vintage computers.

[@BaileyMagikz]

bro calling windows xp vintage making me feel old an i'm only 24... 😂

[@osamaahmed-t6k]

me too bro

[@loganmitchell1382]

Then there's people calling their pc that came with widows 10 old...​@BaileyMagikz

[@osamaahmed-t6k]

@@loganmitchell1382 ؟

[@Redmage913]

Try growing up on DOS until 10 years old, friend… :)

[@Ademar440]

The royale noir theme was my thing back then, ah memories.

[@Tailslol]

same,awesome theme with longhorn blue

[@BlackTarH]

I liked and used royale noir and zune themes in XP

[@da_pawz]

@@BlackTarH Zune for me was the best lol

[@woodland586]

the screensaver at 6:00 is titled "3D Windows XP" and could be downloaded from the old Microsoft website circa 2001. I still have the installer. The screensaver does downright refuse to run on any Windows version that is not XP, no matter what.

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

I think it's been slightly modified in XPize to run on modern Windows versions.

[@DavidWonn]

I always wanted the opposite back in the day, making XP look more like 95 or NT4. Natively you could drop to 256-color mode and some icons would revert even after changing back to high or true color. Additionally some 3rd party software took it a step further, like litepc, Window Blinds, or Classic Shell, but each had its quirks.

[@c.n.crowther438]

it totally tracks that some random people on the internet care about windows xp more than microsoft actually did.

[@willfultrain6779]

I miss Windows 7 and back because 10 and 11 honestly feel kinda soulless and corporatey.

[@sonicjam717]

I know how you feel that's why I have a 98/XP and XP/7 PC lol

[@KiraSlith]

Ehh, 10 looks fine, 11 is ugly asf. The real problem is they feel like crap to use, because they're just so slimey about everything you do on your own damn PC, and the OS runs like crap even at the best of times.

[@agnel47]

I used a Vista Transformation pack on Windows XP for more than 7 years. My dad used to use the PC till last year. 😅

[@gayfemboyuwu]

i love this type of stuff man, its so cool that packs like these are still around somewhere on the internet 20 years later

[@asminqps3003]

What the fuck is that username

[@Somerandomdude592]

I honestly love these windows modifier program’s, I think it gives the particular windows version a bit of life .w.

[@asminqps3003]

@@gayfemboyuwu what the fuck is that username

[@mseDgEツ]

are u gay

[@mseDgEツ]

no srsly

[@JerryDX]

Damn, I didn't know that even back then Microsoft didn't care about Windows' UI being consistent.

[@stevethepocket]

It goes even further back than that; there are elements in 95 that are left over from the 3.x days.

[@theblah12]

@@stevethepocket XP was where it started to be noticeable since this was the first time they’d done a proper visual overhaul of the OS. Of course it got much worse with Vista and 7, as those OS’s had a drastically different style from XP and especially the 9x releases which looked ancient by that point.

[@ribbonmusha]

Windows is just Valve GoldSrc of operating system, an old software that were just patched and applied hotfix so it can run and looks better in new hardware.

[@parasatc8183]

​@@stevethepocketIn 95 it makes sense. 3.x style error messages for example served as fallbacks when memory was too low for the normal ones.

[@TommyCrosby]

Most people will learn about Xpize, me, I'm here for the nostalgia because I'm old and used this when it was still in active development...

[@UltraZelda64]

Setting up the Royale Blue theme used to be one of the first things I did back in the days of XP when setting up a new machine or reinstalling. Great theme.

[@rigues]

I remember using the Zune and Royale themes way back in the day on my XP Laptop. Ah, the memories...

[@wettuga2762]

Nothing like the clean look of Windows 2000, that's how I liked my XP.

[@p_mouse8676]

Interesting what people consider as the default WinXP look. I know that many people used the NT classic theme as default instead (and still do)

[@MetallicBlade]

Ngl, that Zune theme looks pretty slick.

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

it's a shame MS doesn't do interesting themes anymore, just flat light and flat dark.

[@MetallicBlade]

@@xXx_Regulus_xXx That minimalist-look layout BS has pretty much infected everything in the industry. From every OS to IoT devices, to even the menus in modern games. It's all flat, plain and boring. Nothing pops out anymore.

[@thatoneglitchpokemon]

Brilliant video as usual MJD!

[@MichaelMJD]

Thank you!

[@kemal.mapping]

​@@MichaelMJDI like your videos, keep it up!

[@sthfangame]

snooping as usual I see (can you see the hidden word?)

[@gengar-1997]

@@sthfangame PINGAS

[@kameko_exe]

Man, that Zune theme brings back so many memories. Spent the best parts of my life rocking that theme.

[@chaos.corner]

MS Upgrades: Slap a fresh coat of paint on some of the UI, throw in some more telemetry, remove two or three features people really like, EOL a previous version people are using and is still perfectly functional, bump the number and release.

[@Lizard_of_Linux_Lane]

Sad but true.

[@whompronnie]

And then pull support from the previous version so that people will be mercilessly hacked and robbed because they didn't want yet another layer of ugly, intrusive obfuscation and nagware.

[@CEO100able]

XPize is very cool! The Welcome screen's background in this video looks like something that would have been used in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 due to its colors identical to the Royale / Energy Blue theme's UI. Nice work!

[@AB-Prince]

I find it funny that if you click around enough, you can find graphical elements from all the way back to windows 3.1 in windows 10.

[@xan1242]

I remember XPize like it was yesterday! It was so cool at the time when it released. It really felt like an update to XP's style.

[@kepuexe1]

I thought by the look of the name "That sounds familiar". I used XPize back in my XP days in 2005 or 2006. Long time I saw this. Was a really nice modification. Later I installed some kind of "Vista Inspirat" pack.

[@dmwzr]

I always XPize my XP installations. XPize is great. It works for server 2003 too.

[@Lizard_of_Linux_Lane]

Windows XP, the best OS Microsoft has released.

[@CatCrafter7]

Fun fact, even in Windows 10, the icon for quotas in the local disk properties applet is unchanged from the 90s (it's a traffic signal)

[@lukewt1017]

It's like the Inexperience Patcher but the other way around. Instead of making it look more Windows 9x than Windows XP, it makes it feel more Windows XP than usual.

[@jovanzeng]

Haven’t heard about XPize in ages. Loved using it. I really have to install XP again soon.

[@TimothyCizadlo]

Luna Element was a series of themes the last one being Luna Element 5 by a person who went by em3 and later Tornado5. Alas, the artist's deviantArt page is no more, but the Luna Element 5.1 Black version by Jamush is still available. I think I have the Blue version five saved someplace. I would also note that for version three there were a number of different shell styles (the panels that were next to the folder you had open in explorer that listed off various common tasks) that were online (mostly on dA - Midnight-Mick was the user that made them) and are still available if you know where to look.

[@jonessperandio]

Luna Element Black was the best XP theme of all time (IMO).

[@robsquared2]

A channel that covers old hardware and software is now covering its own old videos. The snake has begun eating its tail.

[@BoKB5]

Gonna try this on my Tecra at home. Thanks Michael!

[@codezero7981]

the XP Royale style is so pretty, it should've been the default theme from the beginning.

[@DeeBhadest]

MJD you are my favorite Asain retro tech reviewer 🔥🫶🏽🫂

[@KyanoAng3l0_24]

As a big fan of XP and the Royale theme, I would've loved this back in the day, as the leftovers from prev. Windows were ticking me off for some reason (which turned out to be then-undiagnosed OCD). Only discovered XPize in 2009, when Windows 7 was just around the corner. Also, I still can't get over that floppy disk wall. I want one, too.

[@philtkaswahl2124]

I remember using a Vista transformation pack on the ol' family PC. Satisfied my younger self's "at least it _feels_ shiny and new" needs until I fell into the Linux distro rabbit hole.

[@colinstu]

You don't have to open the dropdown every time. Should be able to open and close it, and then use down/up arrows to go up and down and see option change right away.

[@FrankMcalary]

Wow, this is so fresh, I'm putting it on my XP machine

[@JimnyVR5]

WindowBlinds with the dragon on the taskbar was my choice for many years :)

[@_helmi]

I didn't have a word to describe back then (I was 10yo when XP was released) when I noticed the old icons/banners remained the same from Win9x/ME - unfinished and unpolished. Now that I'm fully transitioned to Mac (I left just before Windows 11), I noticed Mac OS didn't bother to have these fancy banners, animations (yet Mac still have the superior ones) and sub-icons etc. on dialog boxes, alerts etc. which I think makes it one less thing for the developers to worry about when releasing major OS updates.

[@LabCat]

I consider Windows XP MCE to be the ultimate version of XP, graphically. I always ran my XP machines in Classic mode but I could deal with the Royale theme. Oddly enough, though, I loved Aero Glass and missed it when Windows 7 came along.

[@StrangelyIronic]

Eh, I used Win2K until SP2 came out for XP and loved Win2k. When I "upgraded" I expected a massive upgrade according to everyone around... but it was kind of whatever? Not bad, still probably my favorite version of Windows after the final unofficial SP installed and classic theme enabled, but it really just felt like Win2k with a theme. I know it wasn't, there were compatibility issues (I never ran into, even with games, but I know they exist(ed)) with Win2k that were solved with XP. That's probably more because it was the home OS that everybody used, so everything was written with it in mind while Win2K was NT, or the business version. I got Win2K off my uncle for free, whereas I spent my 6th grade graduation money to buy XP SP2 (yeah, I was a nerd, my "people I look up to" were Leo Laporte and Patrick Norton that were doing The Screen Savers on TechTV at the time, the channel I had my TV set to 24/7 before G4 took over and ruined it).

[@chaos.corner]

Win2K was the peak of MS OSs. I'd still be using it if I could. 7 was an upward blip on the downward slide but slide it has been.

[@KatJustice97]

The new alt-tab/task switch UI 😍

[@Guilherme36594]

XP is supreme, i don´t use today because of the lack of compatibility with modern emulators

[@apatsa_basiteni]

That almost dark theme /mode looks amazing

[@RoverFlushed]

the black theme is so badass

[@ebridgewater]

I remember using XPize in the mid-2000s before upgrading to Vista in 2006. Nostalgia.

[@HilltopGaming]

Zune theme will always be top tier but I would've loved this for a true black theme back in the day

[@TomBudin]

I remember the vize pack back in the day wow thats a throwback the orange 3d theme with the sick wallpapers Daym brow

[@TomBudin]

luna royale bruh throwbackssss

[@TomBudin]

in fact i remember now it was the ZUNE theme

[@Macsneese2345]

Well I’m Still Using Windows XP 🤯👍

[@SkiNet201]

I still remember when you uploaded the original XPize video like it was yesterday.

[@wileysneak]

i think its quite interesting how the old win2k bitmaps work with all the visual styles pretty well by default, maybe that's why ms didn't change them

[@GeorgeArthurJr]

I used to use Windows XP MCE simply because I LOVED the Royale and Royal Noir themes.

[@MenkoDany]

daaamn, I wish I knew of this back in the xp days :(

[@DiabolikalRA]

I loved XP Last windows I used intensively.

[@nimlouth]

This looks super cool. I hope someon makes a KDE plasma or XFCE theme for Linux based on it.

[@mix3k818]

Imagine if Windows XP launched like this. PS. For those with Linux Mint - what's the closest (downloadable) theme to Vista/Longhorn?

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

I'm not sure Cinnamon has good XP themes but I know KDE does

[@FlintG]

I also love the zune orange theme too that you can get on Windows XP.

[@readybear64]

The zune video is gonna be one of Michael’s finest, can’t wait.

[@janetno1fan]

Hey, Michael! You should try Windows XP Aero, which is a modification of Windows XP that makes the operating system look kinda like Windows Vista.

[@HardbassTV.]

1:44 how does the wayback machine work, it is down

[@M084MM3D]

i think the video was recorded before it was taken down

[@AngelCastillo029]

That's a good question

[@zeddwulfen7737]

Yep they got DDosed and hacked to hell if I remember right.

[@jhop-pd4qu]

Videos are usually recorded weeks to months before I believe so with the Wayback machine happening just this past week or so kinda makes sense to me as to why it's in this video but not available right now.

[@HardbassTV.]

@@jhop-pd4qu ah ok thx

[@DanielClear2]

This just goes to show that Windows was always fragmented. We just see more of it now.

[@sburton015]

I know Windows Vista was a big update in the visuals comimg from XP. I remember the first time using Windows XP was in the Summer of 2002 on the first gaming PC that I built in early 2001 that in it, I originally had Windows ME on it, then upgraded it to XP in 2002.

[@darkerm76]

Still Remember Good Old Transformation Packs. Used to make my XP Looks like Win 7. How Nostalgic

[@gluttonousmaximus9048]

Making outdated looking UI look futuristic and shiny is now nostalgic. And somehow I want the current shiny and futuristic looking UI look nostalgic, and that power seems to still remain in the future.

[@NuchiAsaki]

Wow, a whole wall of 3D printed save buttons. That's crazy.

[@StickusMaximus]

Cool software, but I think, it would have been a bit more insightful, if you did a side-by-side comparison of the normal XP luna theme and the XPize theme, to see the difference!

[@KanokYT]

Zune Theme was my jam back in the day. I miss it.

[@bdnetplayer]

The Luna Theme was actually originally from Windows XP Media Center Edition.

[@hopelessdecoy]

Man I remember making my own Windows theme, it used to be such a good OS. Now we have 11................ And I have Linux Mint! Thanks for the video though, very cool software!

[@markusTegelane]

The C in Windows stands for consistent

[@amr4211]

I loved XP specifically because it added usability without updating the look or the “how” of functionality too much. This is sort of disturbing honestly. I actually made XP look more like 98, back in the day…something I’m still doing today with my (almost) modern os.

[@gmt-yt]

Personally I always felt and still do that if we take visual consistency along with UX latency and pleasantness factors together, Windows 2000 late service packs and fully patched Windows Me had the best UI. To me with it's slower draw speed and wasted screen space the XP look/feel always seemed worse even if it had more "pizzaz" or whatever. What was worse, if you go to XP options and choose the Windows 2000 visual theme, it's is even slower than the XP theme. So there's simply no way to claw that performance back. Perhaps it relied on too much cooperative multitasking? idk but you can feel the difference, it's not all that subtle.

[@Aranimda]

I prefer the watercolor theme in XP. And then with the Windows 2000 icon set.

[@phoenixfireclusterbomb]

You should make pixel artwork with the floppy disk on your wall.

[@CubeAtlantic]

Windows xP was the nice experience & vibe those graphics/design.

[@seshpenguin]

That floppy disk wall is sick

[@halami2149]

9:45 Can’t believe you didn’t hit apply first, smh. Jk, I know that you don’t have to. I’ve always known that, I remember that one part of that one video where you called everyone out saying that pressing apply before pressing Ok is no different than just Ok

[@workdesu]

This is what Longhorn should've look like. I mean they were supposed to make an incremental refresh for XP but as history would have it ended up being a bloated mess and scrapped altogether.

[@BaileyMagikz]

Michael heres how i read XPize before you said it "x-peazee" so now you have three ways of saying it

[@FubarMike]

I'm about to install this on my windows 10 computer. Wish me luck!

[@ahmadzahid266]

why i didn't know about program since late 2000s? this makes Win XP looks so nicer and better than original theme, the original is cool but due long life of XP and Vista was terrible it was nice to refresh windows XP's theme in instead using the original luna over 10 years and getting bored seeing the same interface

[@FS-pj7fx]

Even to this day you have Windows 98 ui elements (mostly credentials UIs when adding password protected printers)

[@edwin3928ohd]

was there ever a face reveal here? im just wanting to see due to extreme curiosity at this point. i feel like i need a victory in my life, and that would be it.

[@radornkeldam]

wow... XPize... Whenever I had to do a fresh XP install (which I didn't take up until SP3 anyway), I would promptly change the theme to "classic" which is basically windows 2000, and do a few other modifications. This thing is literally the opposite of what I would want. xD

[@SmilyTheMare]

i never saw that video im glad ur doing it again tho cuz im gonna try this now

[@l3alamiya]

I was looking for this xpize theme for a while

[@User96jmn1d]

great video :D ❤

[@ryanguy426]

I just now noticed you have background music in your videos, how long has that been going on for? It threw me off for a second lol

[@4zims]

I remember using this mod, but I can't recall the name. I also remember it slowing down my computer a little bit.

[@SockyNoob]

I'm surprised Microsoft didn't just make this an official part of a service pack or something. Ironically it's aged nicely compared to regular XP. XP has always looked ugly imo. Skeuomorphism is something a lot of people wish came back and this is definitely a good form of it.

[@AlexaFlores-csx6060]

W video. Keep it up mjd!

[@nredextreme8240]

Nice! Your bliss video inspired me to go to the real place.

[@frstwhsprs]

XPize hosts when they see MJD's video: "SOMEONE'S SNITCHING ON US!"

[@danieljm1234]

I used a theme called black noir every time I installed XP :) (might have been blanc noir - its been a while)

[@KohaAlbert]

Want use modern OS but with these nostalgy themes, I think there pretty good "make believe" for Mint Linux (third-party project).

[@blakegriplingph]

Funny how even Microsoft themselves tell users to patch uxtheme in case updates break it e.g. a new service pack or security update.

[@rahithahsan188]

3:51 The boot screen is a static image, kind of looks like from previous version of Window.

[@zeliminator666]

Oh the windows XP memories on my alienware m9700!!!!!!

[@ikategame]

it wasnt like this originally cuz the PCs back then would have trouble handling this extra updated stuff and bitmaps