Trans-scription
Roughly ME era Windows is open to an install wizard labeled “Gender 2.0 - InstallShield Wizard”.
On the right side, the text “Thank you for reinstalling your gender!” appears bolded followed by two options: “Reinstall using default settings (recommended)” and “Custom install (advanced)”. The latter option has the subtext “Choose your gender expression, pronouns, and other features.”
To the left in the wizard is a trans flag.
At the very bottom of the image is a TikTok user handle @ellienotsmellie
A bit off topic, but I love this era of interface design so much. If there was a desktop environment for Linux that replicated Windows 95/98/ME faithfully I'd install it in a heartbeat. ReactOS has a dark theme that also goes hard.
Thank you for coming to my little talk
closest i can get you is this theme and collection of scripts for the XFCE desktop https://github.com/grassmunk/Chicago95
ive used it in the past for my own nostalgia purposes and it does re-create the effect pretty damn good, though it does get funny sometimes when you throw in non-GTK apps (or if they have the extra thick title bar, GNOME style, (god i hate GNOME))
another option in a similar vein is nsCDE https://github.com/NsCDE/NsCDE which attempts to re-create the CDE desktop look-and-feel from 90s and early 2000s UNIX workstations
ive used this one too and the paradigm shift in how to use a desktop can definitely be felt if you've only ever used windows-style environments. it takes some getting used to but the aesthetics are very nice
Chicago95 is actually pretty damn close, time to mess around with it in a VM and maybe I'll throw it on my laptop for giggles and nostalgia. Also haven't seen CDE in a long time, really brought back the Linux for PlayStation 2 memories, lol.
That ReactOS pic is definitely a neat design, seems to be pretty similar to what you wanted
The best DE is Trinity, which is a somewhat obscure DE. In the simplest terms, Trinity is to KDE Plasma what MATE is to Gnome. The flagship distro that uses Trinity is Q4OS, a Debian-based distro.
Here's some samples:
https://youtu.be/6WIHjEzHLDo?si=BcT8Y9PpSlGXFrjZ&t=137
https://youtu.be/p3LZYkFt_mg?si=2E-jiQ5j8yiETQhG&t=911
I would say that Q4OS could replicate 95/98/2000 pretty well, but it really shines in replicating XP.
I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Link 1:
Link 2: