Microsoft was developing an Apple-inspired secret theme for Windows XP

Windows XP had a secret theme which made the operating system more like a Mac. This was revealed recently loss of source code of Windows XP from which the first works of Microsoft on the operating system have leaked and some unpublished themes created by the company during its first XP development in 2000.

One of them is labeled “Candy” and includes a design that closely resembles Apple’s Aqua interface which was first introduced at the Macworld Conference & Expo in 2000. Although the theme is incomplete, the Windows XP Start button, various buttons and user interface elements clearly reminiscent of Apple’s Aqua theme.

Microsoft and Apple, a mutual influence

Microsoft never released his Aqua theme for Windows XP and we know it was used in the initial source code for the operating system. Windows developers seem to have used the theme as a placeholder for create the theme engine for Windows XP. The theme refers to Whistlerthe code name by which Windows XP was known, and is marked as “internal use only”.

Microsoft has notoriously moved on to a blue and green moon theme for the final version of XP, which many dubbed Fisher Price-esque when the OS was originally released in 2001. The theme engine in Windows XP was a major OS upgrade, allowing for party themes and many customization options.

Microsoft was developing Windows XP at a time when there was stiff competition with Apple on desktop operating systems. During the 90s and 00s, Windows was heavily influenced by the classic Mac OS and from what later became OS X. Apple also borrowed some Windows features, in particular with regard to the window, navigation, control panels and file and folder navigation. The leaked source code is a rare insight into early development of an operating system that has been used by millions of people.