See, even though I'm a Linux zealot, my only connection to the internet is through Windows (my high-speed DSL provider will work with nothing else!)

So, quite often, when I click through a link to download some new widget for my Linux box, I am confronted by this strange interface which Windows balks at. It's a black screen lined in blue, with some buttons labeled "walk", "pan", "turn", etc. Some kind of library browsing interface? Anyway, I can't download anything through these kinds of pages, and Windows always displays some random error message upon loading the page.

What is this interface called, and how can I get a viewer for Windows?

You'll have to give an example link.

My first guess would be that the file type is associated with the wrong application, e.g. Real Networks have used the .rpm extension for one of their streaming media things even though it's the extension for RPM packages.