Aqua-Soft Forumsas a relative latecomer to a-s, i never got a chance to see or hear anything about them. what were they? why'd they go away? were they cool? should i care?
just what were the 'aqua apps'?
The aqua apps were a set of apps whose purpose was to fully replicate the mac applications.
There were an aqua browser, an aqua finder, an aqua mail, iTalk (perfect clone of iChat with the bubbles) and iPhoto.
These apps were really perfect clones, they were 1:1.
They have been developped by Jef.
Unfortunately, Apple sent a cease and desist order to Jeff because his apps were better than the original Apple ones, and they were probably afraid...I can't understand their choice because I think that these apps made some advertising for apple and make people want to switch to Apple...
Now, it's impossible to get them, and some of them are not working at all, like iTalk. MSN chnaged the protocole to prevent people from using this beautiful piece of software...that's sad coz these apps were really awesome...
There's an article at AquaXP about it: http://aquaxp.com/index.php?p=10
The aqua apps were a set of apps whose purpose was to fully replicate the mac applications.There were an aqua browser, an aqua finder, an aqua mail, iTalk (perfect clone of iChat with the bubbles) and iPhoto.
These apps were really perfect clones, they were 1:1.
They have been developped by Jef.
Unfortunately, Apple sent a cease and desist order to Jeff because his apps were better than the original Apple ones, and they were probably afraid...I can't understand their choice because I think that these apps made some advertising for apple and make people want to switch to Apple...
Now, it's impossible to get them, and some of them are not working at all, like iTalk. MSN chnaged the protocole to prevent people from using this beautiful piece of software...that's sad coz these apps were really awesome...
Note: Much as they were brilliant. They were *not* better than the original Apple ones. They were not afraid, they were protecting their copyright. Finally, much as I can't prove it, I doubt MSN changed the protocol specifically because of iTalk.
too bad i missed getting a chance to check them out. maybe i'll pm someone... 
Ludge is right. They were not better, if anything, they were the complete opposite of that to what we have today. But it did give us hope that there would be better things to come in aqua emulation. Although, I don't remember an iPhoto clone. And they were not perfect. The Aqua Apps were a huge jump in advancement to Aqua Emulation, and much credit is given to jef for that. Also, Aqua Controls were released for programmers to use. They were close representation, but not perfect. Remember, AquaApps lived only for the initial version of OSX. So, the pinstripes were a pain to get right, thus, at least to me, became an annoyance because sometimes they would not line up correctly.
Finally, much as I can't prove it, I doubt MSN changed the protocol specifically because of iTalk.
I was joking, I don't think Bill Gates even know what iTalk is. However, it's a pity Microsoft changed the protocole without any reason for that.
And i know the original apps are working better, at least from a functional point of view. You really thought I was serious?
However, Apple didn't really give Jef a chance to make apps that could compete with Apple ones, since they prohibited him from making them more functional.
For those of you who may feel furious against me, i was joking, the original Apple apps are great, much more pretty than the windows one and certainly more functional.
I am just sad of Apple's decisions, coz everytime the aqua community produces a good replica (like YZ dock or Italk), they come to kill these projects...
And I think they should be happy because these clones serve their interests. I would be curious to see how many people swithced to Apple because of this site and these aqua replica.
The number of switchers is probably huge!!
Peace
Well, all you have to do is look at our own staff and/or previous staff. Duckie, Godpunk, Seph (with Dualie) and Timmeh all got Macs. Not to mention, most of the all-star emulators left A-S because they got a Mac so they didn't emulate anymore.I would be curious to see how many people swithced to Apple because of this site and these aqua replica.The number of switchers is probably huge!!
Although, I don't remember an iPhoto clone.
Yes there was an iPhoto clone.
Although it was not very functional, it was really nice looking, the interface was 1:1.
Once more, a damned cease and desist order arrived and stopped the development of this very promising project.
However, let's respect Apple's decision!!
Yes there was an iPhoto clone.Although it was not very functional, it was really nice looking, the interface was 1:1.
Once more, a damned cease and desist order arrived and stopped the development of this very promising project.
However, let's respect Apple's decision!!
there a fairly decent iphoto clone: google's picasa with an available osx mod.
Yes Picasa OSX is a great application with a lot of features.
The 1:1 iPhoto clone is cute, however it is not very functional.
just so you know, before you spend the time looking, I searched google for hours for it. You can not find it anywhere. (Yeah don't ask. I don't honor the cease and desist stuff. What was up with stopping Yz Dock? That wasn't started just to emulate OS X was it? It was just very good at it. Look & Feel copyrights to me don't have all that much substance IMO, which is why I think it was stopped) As far as I know you can't find them anywhere. Or at least I might not know the right places to look then. And on another note, anyone that cares. I gave up., and shall keep it legal.)
Why did you give up?
I think it's illegal to distribute them but there is nothing which says that it's illegal to hunt for them...
Maybe on emule? Even tough I don't think so
I checked Kaazaa and Bittorrent and didn't find much. I thought about checking emule or something. I went throught over 100 google pages looking that night and never found it. Although, I'm pretty sure some folks around here more than likely still have it installed. Off to emule it seems. Wish me luck!
Nope. doesn't seem to be on e-mule.
DC++, maybe?
But seriously, why would you want to have
a couple of apps that are old by now and thus out-dated?
Why did you give up?I think it's illegal to distribute them but there is nothing which says that it's illegal to hunt for them...
yeah, like it's legal to have a bong but illegal to use it! 
What I want to know is why are we discussing these on the very same website which does not want them distributed? I wouldn't mind seeing the Apps in action again, but should we be discussing this topic here?
What I want to know is why are we discussing these on the very same website which does not want them distributed? I wouldn't mind seeing the Apps in action again, but should we be discussing this topic here?
Yes the moderators asked not to distribute them...
But I think if we just talk about it, how it was, how sad we are that it is not distributed any more, that should be ok, right?
Maybe we should not say where to get them that's true...
However, the point i've never understood is that there are plenty of apps which emulate OSX perfectly and that have never been "ceased and desisted"...
Like ObjectDock just to give one app...
apple may have changed their politics. At the beginning, they wanted to defend their copyright but then, they realized that that was good for them, since that promoted their products.
They seem not to send any cease and desist order any more. For instance for Panther XP, they know the project is under construction but they decided to just let it live.
Maybe if the developpers asked Apple to allow them to restart the development of these apps, like yzdock or iTalk, they would just say yes
Jef never released an iPhoto clone. Some other developer created one, which was only a test release (didn't really do anything, just looked pretty).Yes there was an iPhoto clone.Although it was not very functional, it was really nice looking, the interface was 1:1.
Once more, a damned cease and desist order arrived and stopped the development of this very promising project.
The Aqua Apps were extremely unstable and didn't have as many features. But they looked very nice, and I'm sure would have improved a great deal had Jef continued development.
Object Dock and others never got C&D'd because they're not 100% clones. Jeff (different guy) has not added many features to OD because of this. Apple did send some nasty letters to Stardock though, but they didn't back down.
You're making many uneducated guesses. Apple is still enforcing their IP.
There is a reason the aqua apps forum is closed. We can't discuss them on the board. We especially can't discuss distributing them.