Expert's Rating
Pros
- Put’s HAL’s red eye on your desktop
- Clever use of movie effects and lines for sounds
Cons
- None that I can think of
Our Verdict
This free Windows 7 theme turns your computer into HAL 9000 of “2001: A Space Odyssey”–or at least a safer simulacrum of it.
Turn your Windows 7 desktop into HAL 9000 from Stanley Kubrick’s landmark science-fiction movie 2001: A Space Odyssey with this terrific theme pack, contributed to Windows 7 Themes.net by dw-wizard. Released in 1968, the collaboration between Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke initially received mixed reviews–but the movie and its sentient computer now have a permanent place in American culture. HAL, in particular, has a special place in the subconscious of many people who, like me, watched the movie at an impressionable age.
Load up HAL 9000 and you get wallpaper that recalls the fictional computer’s interface plus appropriate icons, cursors, and sounds. I particularly like the sound effects, which include clips from the movie (empty the Recycle Bin, for example, and HAL says “I feel much better now, I really do”).
If you enjoy classic science fiction, this theme pack is definitely worth the download. (And if you like HAL 9000, you might also want to check out our Blade Runner Windows 7 theme.)
Note: To install the Windows 7 theme, just unzip the archive file and double-click the themepack within. Windows does the rest.
–Kim Saccio-Kent