![]() However, this popularity would come at a price – the quality of the average skin submitted became substantially lower. noticeably faster) than using Windows XP without it. Version 4 was the point where WindowBlinds “won” the contest versus uxtheme.dll in that it could not only do everything it could do and more but version 4 made use of DirectX draw acceleration to make WindowBlinds substantially faster (i.e. Other times it was about reminding power users just how gimped the Windows XP “Luna” UI made Windows. Sometiems it was just a matter of making Windows XP look a bit nicer than Windows XP defaulted to. (The Microsoft XBox team here – one wonders what the Windows team felt about this at the time) Third-parties began licensing WindowBlinds for marketing purposes (Nvidia here) The quality of the skins had to really go up to compete with the bland but free uxtheme skins. WindowBlinds thus had to provide significant value-add to justify $20. The competition had stiffened as Microsoft had released uxtheme.dll that, once hacked, allowed people to create GUI skins freely. In fact, making Windows look like other, less ugly, OSes was a big deal.ĭesigned with Windows XP in mind, 3.0 was the first version that could skin every part of the Windows GUI. MacOS’s “Aqua” look for its newly launched MacOS X helped make WindowBlinds incredibly popular for Windows users who suddenly recognized how ugly Windows NT/2000 were. Remember AOL? Their client was a huge pain the skin correctly. WindowBlinds skins supported adding buttons and other objects into the frames (such as this stock ticker). We took this out because users were unhappy about their “privacy” (anonymous data being sent). WindowBlinds used to send data back to us on what skins people had. Yea, this was the config UI we had.cough.Īdds per-window skinning, semi-transparent explorer windows, skin colorizing Let’s take a look at its evolution in pictures. ![]() It was the first program to enable users to customize the look and feel of the Windows GUI. Exclude applications from WindowBlinds or choose other compatibility settings to fit your style.WindowBlinds 1.0 was released in November 1998! Since then, it’s gotten over 100 MILLION downloads! Over on CNET’s version 8 has received over 18 million downloads. Make your word processing software stand out from your design programs by giving each one a unique look with a different skin or color scheme. Choose skins for each of your application types.Love tweaking your creations? Presets can be updated and deleted. Presets enable you to access previous customizations and apply them quickly. Save changes to your skins by creating a preset.Instantly preview your selections and adjustments before you apply them. Quickly and intuitively navigate the configuration menu to easily personalize your desktop.Make your skins the center of attention, or allow them to blend into your backgrounds by increasing transparency.Add some character to your skins with unique fonts.Personalize any skin by choosing from a huge array of color options.When paired with Start11, you can theme your entire desktop to look like an alternative operating system such as Windows XP.You can also save your style combinations as presets for quick access later. Select skins have multiple sub-styles that can be applied to suit your personal tastes.Select a skin from the many included with WindowBlinds, or browse thousands of skins from right from within the app.
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