Winstep Xtreme 9.5 Released!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Winstep Xtreme's 8.11 release last December brought the Windows 7 "Superbar" to the Windows XP and Vista world. With Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) now available, the new 9.5 release also ensures that Winstep Xtreme is fully compatible with both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of what will soon become Microsoft's new flagship Operating System.
Live Icon Reflections:
New Automatic Glass Blur Effect (Vista/Win7 only):
An integrated workspace environment, Winstep Xtreme is a powerful suite of applications that merge incredible usability and performance with breathtaking eye candy:
- NeXuS is a multi-dock system, which as well as holding traditional bookmarked icons can also hold any combination of widgets, clocks, mail checkers, weather indicators and system performance meters within multiple levels of sub-docks.
- WorkShelf is a tabbed dock, better suited for complex organizational duties like organizing documents, URLs, movies, work projects, applications, etc...
- NextSTART is the menu system - and takes care of all your task management needs as well.
- Winstep Start Menu Organizer cleans and organizes your Windows Start Menu.
- FontBrowser is a bare-bones font browsing utility.
You can download Winstep Xtreme 9.5 from HERE
(16.8 MB - Includes WorkShelf/NeXuS v9.5, NextSTART v9.5, Winstep Start Menu Organizer Pro v1.1 and FontBrowser v1.0). Winstep Xtreme runs under Win9x, ME, NT4, 2000, XP 32/64 bit, 2003 Server, Vista 32/64 bit, Windows 7 32/64 bit.
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Reply #2 Tuesday, May 26, 2009 11:27 AM
Jorge really has devoted tremendous time and effort to Winstep...and it shows! The Beta of Nexus and it's new user interface is also well worthy of mention...don't know what my desktop would be without Winstep and SD. But: It wouldn't be nearly as great!
WG's "Naked Noir" based on vStyler's newest Masterskin "Naked Noir" Wall: "Lush" dA OD+ by messiah1 based on "Naked Noir":
Thanks for the News, I.D. Winstep really deserves it! 
Reply #5 Tuesday, May 26, 2009 12:52 PM
I am testing Winstep at this moment and it looks really sweet!
I just may have to buy the thing! 
Reply #6 Tuesday, May 26, 2009 1:08 PM
Reply #7 Tuesday, May 26, 2009 1:13 PM
As much as I love Stardock apps, Winstep Xtreme is the best suite of apps on the planet, for its versatilty, customisation and sheer convenience.... and because it blends with/ compliments Stardock apps perfectly, it is a MUST HAVE desktop app that far outperforms any similar app I've tried. There simply is no comparison... because the union of Winsatep Xtreme and Stardock apps isn't just a getting together, it's like a marriage made in Heaven.
The recent updates are great and Jorge has done a magnificent job at delivering a quality, functional suite of apps that works flawlessly. And the fact that it works well in the Win 7 RC (both 32 and 64 bit), as well as other Win OSes, is a testament to the thought, hard work and dedication that Jorge and his team put into this amazing piece of software.
Go to the top of the class, Jorge, and thank you to you and your team.
Reply #10 Tuesday, May 26, 2009 7:32 PM
Reply #11 Wednesday, May 27, 2009 7:29 AM
Reply #12 Wednesday, May 27, 2009 6:52 PM
Reply #13 Wednesday, May 27, 2009 8:14 PM
I should have known better than to trust you!
You forgot Jorge, Giz! Sheesh.
Reply #14 Wednesday, May 27, 2009 10:00 PM
Reply #15 Wednesday, May 27, 2009 10:00 PM
Different story altogether. Windowblinds integrates into the shell and is therefore a more difficult proposition to code for an OS that's just entered the RC stage of development and still subject to minor change.
Winstep Xtreme, on the other hand, while a shell enhancement program, does not intergrate in the same way and therefore is more a layer to the shell than a replacement. For example, when you apply NextStart, it does not replace the taskbar or start menu - those remain underneath - and the basic shell essentially isn't altered. As for Nexus and Workshelf, well they are similar to ObjectDock in application, and you will notice that OD is working in Win 7.
NextStart and Windowblinds are like chalk and cheese, with WB being the more complex to code because it integrates and is a GUI replacement. Messing with the shell and not getting it right would have disasterous consequences and would result in crashes, BSOD's and other operational anomolies, so an unstable alpha/beta is NOT what we want.... and surely not what Stardock wants, either.... given the amount of whingers who kick up a stink when they didn't have the patience to wait
Reply #16 Thursday, May 28, 2009 2:23 AM
A program like WindowBlinds hooks into the OS in such a complex way (why do you think WB's ONLY competition in all these years have been patched versions of Microsoft's own skinning engine?) that a minor change to Windows can break it, and, as Starkers said, cause BSODs and crashes. The taskbar alone in Windows 7 has gone through major changes, and you can't expect the current WB version to 'magically' work with it.
It's also not fair to ask developers to support an OS which is not final and therefore still subject to changes. The developer risks spending a long time fixing a particular nasty compatibility issue only to find out that Microsoft changed the code yet again for the final release and that all that time has been wasted.
This said, Starkers is not quite right in what relates to NextSTART. Yes, NextSTART does not 'hook' into the OS, but it does replace the systray with its 'own' version. Unfortunately (for me, of course
) Microsoft has made changes to the systray in nearly every Windows version, which NextSTART must adapt to. And the systray is a notoriously difficult 'beast' to tame (as all those running ObjectDock with an empty systray dock/tabbed dock can testify to).
In the case of Windows 7, I was already sick of 'hacking' the real Windows systray to make it appear in the NextSTART startbar or wherever I wanted, with the consequent occasional visual glitches (particularly with animated systray icons).
There were also some other minor issues, not systray related, with Winstep Xtreme and 64 bit versions of Windows that I wanted to fix.
So, what I did for WSX 9.5 was install both the 32 bit and the 64 bit versions of the RC release of Windows 7 into different hard disks, together with my development environment, and dual boot between them.
Not only did I fix all the 64 bit issues that I am aware of, as I completely re-wrote the systray management code. The new systray is no longer the actual Windows systray simply 'placed elsewhere', but an actual COPY of the real thing. It was not easy accomplishing this, as it involved implementing some complex techniques of inter-process communication plus a lot of detective work figuring out the internal data structures of the systray (which are different between 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows, by the way).
With the new systray code I put an end to all the occasional visual glitches, and I am now able to place simultaneous copies of the systray - with icons of any size - in docks, shelves, menus, etc... Unfortunately I did not have the time to implement the later for the WSX 9.5 release, but I will eventually.
So, as you can see, developing Winstep Xtreme for a new version of Windows is not exactly as easy as you thought either.
Of course, the real challenge was getting Winstep Xtreme to be 100% Vista compatible back when Vista was still in beta. Vista made so many core changes to the way things worked that I had to rewrite great chunks of code, and was even forced to write a Windows Service in VB (some people said it could not be done, hehe) to take care of all the work requiring administrative rights. Now THAT was a challenge. Windows 7, by comparison, was easy as pie (then again, Windows 7 is not much more than Vista with a new face, with the difference that people seem to 'dig' it a lot).
Reply #17 Thursday, May 28, 2009 5:15 AM
Being that I'm neither a coder or programmer, my explanation was in simple layman's terms... and of course I had not considered the systray aspect in my thinking, or the difficulties it posed. I just knew that if you rolled back the NextStart taskbar, the original was still there, unaltered unless WindowBlinds had been applied, and thus, it is more a GUI enhancement rather than a replacement that hooked into core components of the Windows shell.
Oh well, I wasn't too far off the mark.
In any event, I don't care how WSX incorporates into the Windows environment, just that it does and is quick, clean and efficient, which it most certainly is. And I love the convenience of WorkShelf. Once it's loaded with all your apps, files and folders, you never have to close/minimise an open window again... you just click on the appropriate tab, select the item and voila, it's there at your fingetips.
I can assure you, Jorge, I never thought it was easy... a different kettle of fish to WB, but never easy. And when you mention the huge step up from XP to Vista, the systray issues with each new OS, I'm thinking 'bloody hard'... but then I'm clueless when it comes to that sort of thing, so I thank my lucky stars that you and your team know what you're doing.
After a clean install of Windows and security apps these days, WSX is the first program I install cos it helps me better organise how I want things set up overall....then it's my Stardock app, browser and etc.
Reply #18 Thursday, May 28, 2009 7:09 AM
Just wanted to say that when one guy (very dedicated guy) can put out this kind of super skinning app, it makes one really sit up and applaud a major talent.
And say "Thank you" to a person who is also a really great skinner, coder and most importantly, person! 
Reply #19 Thursday, May 28, 2009 8:13 AM
Anyway, thank you. The check is in the mail.
Reply #20 Thursday, May 28, 2009 8:39 AM
Anyway, thank you. The check is in the mail.
KTEK4D, AeroSky, Atmospherica, Brisa, AeroLowRes, Winstep Aero, Aero.... dunno, Jorge...sure look like skins to me! But what do I know...I couldn't skin a grape. 
You're very welcome Check? Ain't holdin' my breath!
And why did you think I was talking about you? 
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Reply #1 Tuesday, May 26, 2009 11:27 AM
I already have this and can guarantee it is all it is cracked up to be, it is simply awesome to use on a day to day basis, and your whole computer is accessible from the desktop, its great, it really is, its a Whoooooooeeeeeeeeee Whoop Hot Diggity Dawg kinda app Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha thanks for the post on this ID, you always bring us the latest in our fields technology, thanks a lot my good friend
