Tools for customizing Linux GUIs?

[RThurmont]

I'm currently working towards deploying Linux on my LAN, but I'm rather curious-is there any Linux equivalent of StarDock's ObjectDesktop for Windows, that would allow me to easily customize a GUI? Yes, I know that Linux is open source, so technically, if I have the patience, I can do whatever the heck I want to with it, and that there are different desktop environments such as KDE and GNOME that work with it, so essentially, what I'm asking is,

1. Are KDE and GNOME easy to completely customize in terms of visual appearance?

2. If not, is there open source software availible that will work with KDE and GNOME and allow me to customize them?

The reason that I ask is that while both KDE and GNOME do look better than the Luna interface on XP (not a hard task to accomplish), they are still, in my opinion, butt ugly, and I need to be able to create a beautiful, unique GUI to prevent any graphics designers that I hire from becoming disgruntled due to being denied the seductive OS X eye candy.

Oh, and yes, I am planning on largely ditching Adobe CS2 and Corel for The GIMP and InkScape as my firm grows, and as the feature set in the open-source alternatives improve. The reason why I'm suddenly veering to the copyleft is simple: I'm scarred that the new anti-piracy measures in Vista will be buggy, and as a result, a few years down the road, my business could get shut down for extended periods as a result. Since Adobe doesn't support Linux, and since I don't want to switch to Macs, I'll be forced to go fully open source.

[General Zod]

Largely depends on the Linux distro you're using iirc. . .for ease of customization, Mandriva One with KDE offers a huge range of templates that you can pick from and make relatively simple modifications to to get the look you're wanting. I've played with it a bit and found many of the changes rather nice and easy to implement. I couldn't say about Gnome though.

[EnsGabe]

Compiz is something you should look into if you want eye-candy system wide. It's a project to create a hardware accelerated window manager. I'm running a fork of it right now, Beryl, on my Ubuntu box. It adds drop shadows, OS X's Expose functionality, a spinning cube with all your workspaces as faces, and a whole host of other things that I'm forgetting. What it does most importantly, though, is something that I can only describe as 'taking the edge off' of GNOME. There's a certain quantity that I can't quite put my finger on that really pushed my DE into being pleasureable to use as opposed to being something I put up with so that I could get work done.

Here is a video showing it off.

[RThurmont]

Thanks everyone. I installed Mandriva One on one of my older desktops, on a new HD, and I have to say, it works perfectly. Additionally, the GUI appears to be highly customizable, and I'll bet with some practice I can tweak it even further.

My only remaining question would be, does anyone know how to install additional desktop environments and get them to work in such a way so that it is easy to move between them? I am sure this is doable, I'm just wondering if anyone knows how so I don't have to spend 6 hours+ messing with it.

[Seggybop]

Oh, and yes, I am planning on largely ditching Adobe CS2 and Corel for The GIMP and InkScape as my firm grows, and as the feature set in the open-source alternatives improve.

This is kind of OT, but do you think GIMP and Inkscape are sufficient for serious work? I'm also in graphic design, using the same software you specified. I'd really like to stop dual booting Windows, but it seems like the open source alternatives aren't going to be really acceptable for a while. But I also haven't really been following them recently. How do they currently compare?

[RThurmont]

I think they are sufficient, although personally I vastly prefer CS2 and Corel. In all probability, I'll keep some XP boxes around or maybe get a few Macs on which to run CS2 and Corel, and I'll try to do everything else with the above apps. I might also hire a developer to extend their functionality if I get large enough and have money to burn.

One thing I hate though is the "I can't use it if its not CS2 running on a Mac" attitude of some designers. It would be worth it to go through the extra effort to make open source work just to get those guys to STFU.

[EnsGabe]

In all probability, I'll keep some XP boxes around or maybe get a few Macs on which to run CS2 and Corel, and I'll try to do everything else with the above apps.

Instead of having dedicated hardware for your legacy apps, I recommend looking into virtualization solutions. VMWare is my choice, being that it fulfills my 'free' requirement with the VMWare Player. This guide has information on getting started with all free tools.

[RThurmont]

If I was a rational manager, I'd probably go with VMware. However, you have to remember, I'm a major hardware junkie, so the thought of keeping around extra computers to run legacy apps makes me think "oh goody!."

[EnsGabe]

Ah, but if you are a hardware junky, won't you then go for a Xen-enabled virtualization platform instead? Wouldn't you love to mess around with a dozen 4-way Kentsfield box? Have I tweaked the impulse buy center of your brain yet?

Even more off-topic- when did Mandriva spring up? I've poked around a little bit and people rave about it, but it doesn't share the same mindspace within me as Redhat/Fedora, Mandrake, SuSE, Slackware, Debian and the upstart Ubuntu do. I jumped the windows ship for good last spring, but I've been off again on again linux for about seven years now. What gives? Have I just gone mildly retarded?

[RThurmont]

Mandriva=Mandrake, dumbass.

Also, regarding the hardware issue, I forsee needing plenty of servers and midrange systems anyway. My ultimate goal is to buy 100 IBM mainframes and connect them into a single grid computer system for the ultimate in sheer enterprise-grade enterpriseness.