Alright, so I got bored over the weekend and decided to replicate the (photoshopped) interface shown above as a real thing using my Kronos platform. This is a real interface, running on Linux on a spare ThinkPad T60, and it really does work alongside normal Linux applications running in windows (though it's toolchest is full of placeholder menu items right now). IRIX 7 w/ FoxBSD anyone

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Kronos is essentially a python program using Webkit and GTK connected to a local Apache2 server with PHP. The goal is to write desktop applications (or, in this case, the desktop itself!) using web languages. If anyone has seen the video about the Pegasus X on my channel, it uses an early version of Kronos with no window manager (and therefore practically no usability for normal, local software running in windows other than the main Kronos one). I often refer to it as "pure Kronos". Somewhere I have a version of pure Kronos that does windowing using iframes and JavaScript in the main window, but again only Kronos applications and it's slow. The newer version, which I often call "Kronos 2" or "Openbox Kronos" uses a window manager (I tend to use Openbox) to place Kronos applications in regular XWindows windows, which the window manager allows you to move around as normal. On Kronos 2, the Kronos desktop (which, in this case, contains the toolchest, desktop background, and so on) is a large window configured to stay behind everything else, not allow movement or resizing, and never show borders. JavaScript + PHP allows Kronos applications to access the underlying system (performing file operations or running shell commands for example).
Anyway, basically what it means is that I can throw together something like this "modern IRIX" UI very quickly, have it interface with the system through PHP, and have it look good thanks to CSS3.
Running on my desk with a uxterm open. Openbox windows still have the default window decoration theme.
Closeup of screen.
Stunning 1024x768 resolution, courtesy of Lenovo.
Toolchest is functional and translucent, just like the original design.
I've named it Project IRENKA, which stands for "IRIX-like ENvironment with Kronos Applications". Any thoughts? I quite like it, and hope to do a bit more work on it soon.