GNOME can look like Windows – and Flashback can do it without extensions

Summary

A new GNOME extension called Simple-taskbar does a pretty good job of giving GNOME 50 a taskbar and start menu very much like the ones from Windows 11. It's so new that it's still not listed on the GNOME Extensions website – at the time of writing, it's still under review.We built it and installed it, and it works. This single extension merges GNOME's built-in panel (across the top of the primary screen) and what it calls the "dash" – the icon bar down the left side – into a single taskbar, styled like Windows 11: icons centered, a Start menu with columns, a search box, and so on. The handy feature here is to have all this in a single, integrated extension. There are already other extensions to do some of this, such as Dash to Panel, whose development is now sponsored by Zorin OS. It doesn't provide a Start menu replacement, though. For that, you need another extension, such as Arc Menu. Simple Taskbar on Ubuntu Resolute: a single extension turns GNOME into a something much more Microsofty Liam Proven Like many things in Linux, this sort of tool needs the user to do a little manual config. There is also a risk with this kind of DIY GNOME customization using lots of extensions. Extensions are tied to specific versions of the GNOME desktop – so, for instance, the new Simple-taskbar only supports GNOME 50. If you add lots of extensions and then upgrade the underlying OS to a new version, meaning a new version of GNOME, there's a significant chance that the extensions won't work any more – you may even be unable to log in. Zorin OS takes Ubuntu and does this for you, and the result sells – that's how the company can afford to sponsor extension developers. We rather like Zorin OS as a distro, especially its handy Zorin Appearance accessory, which it showcases on its homepage. If you don't need the customization and just want a Windows 11-like look, last year we looked at AnduinOS, which does this to a stripped-down Ubuntu. At the end of last month, the project released v...