WindowBlinds 4 release date set to March 25th
Wednesday, March 12, 2003 by Stardock Central | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Stardock has set the release date for WindowBlinds version 4. Tuesday, March 25th. WindowBlinds 4 will initially only be available for Windows XP. Version 4 for Windows 98, ME, and 2000 users is expected out not too long after.The main new features of WindowBlinds 4 include:
1) Vastly increased performance. WB 4 makes heavy use of new internal Windows XP technologies that allow much faster GUI drawing. One particular new technology is called "Smart Painting" which greatly decreases the number of excess redraws programs perform. The result is that on some skins, WindowBlinds 4 will seem about as fast as "classic" Windows.
2) Full skinning of virtually every part of the Windows XP GUI. WindowBlinds 3 skins most elements of the Windows GUI, version 4, skins essentially all of them. This includes "shell styles" (the task panel on the left of explorer folders).
3) Skinning of new elements of the Windows GUI such as the logon/logoff dialogs, the "please wait dialogs", Control panel backgrounds, and more.
4) Command prompt skinning. If you want Windows XP to really be truly "native", WindowBlinds 4 is the first and only way to skin the Windows command prompt.
5) A new, easier to use, and more functional config dialog. WindowBlinds will continue to allow users to change their settings via the Windows display properties. But power users will now be able to make use of a new, greatly enhanced config dialog.
6) A rewrite of the underlying skinning engine for vastly greater compatibility. Even non-standard programs that add their own buttons to the title bar will work fine.
7) Tons of other tweaks and enhancements.
WindowBlinds 4 beta is currently available on Object Desktop. You can learn more about Object Desktop at www.objectdesktop.com. It is a suite of desktop enhancements that allows users to turbo-charge their Windows systems.
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Pak-Dawg
Reply #22 Friday, March 14, 2003 12:24 AM
Reply #22 Friday, March 14, 2003 12:24 AM
Reiterating and refining Jark's concern regarding Windows 2000 support (and other versions of Windows, I suppose): The wording of the feature descriptions (item #1) seems to imply that "Smart Painting" is a feature exclusive to Windows XP. Is this true? If so, isn't the bulk of the raw performance increase over WindowBlinds 3 exclusive to Windows XP (understanding, of course, that every supported Windows platform will gain other additional features)?
What I'd really like stuck in the WindowBlinds web-site is a comparison chart letting us know what features are supported by which versions of Windows...
What I'd really like stuck in the WindowBlinds web-site is a comparison chart letting us know what features are supported by which versions of Windows...
Neil Banfield
Reply #23 Friday, March 14, 2003 4:44 AM
Reply #23 Friday, March 14, 2003 4:44 AM
Frugus: Can you post screenshots of the corrupted buttons in the stardock newsgroups so we can look into it.
The crash of ObjectBar may have been unrelated to WB.
The crash of ObjectBar may have been unrelated to WB.
mr.bo
Reply #24 Friday, March 14, 2003 7:28 AM
Reply #24 Friday, March 14, 2003 7:28 AM
Maybe I'll try reinstalling it again, and I'll get some screenshots when I have some extra time. As for the ObjectBar crash, it wasn't a coincidence. I've had ObjectBar running since it was just a baby on this machine, and not had problems, once I uninstalled WindowBlinds I haven't had a problem with it again. The crash happened just after I applied a theme for the first time with the new WB build. after that, it was fine.
Chuckf1
Reply #25 Friday, March 14, 2003 12:07 PM
Reply #25 Friday, March 14, 2003 12:07 PM
Thank you Developer Green Ripper for the info on the upgrade price!
da_zman20
Reply #27 Friday, March 14, 2003 2:22 PM
Reply #27 Friday, March 14, 2003 2:22 PM
I just wanted to ask, in the Screenshots sent out for WindowsBlinds 4 from stardock, before the beta release, they showed the Tool Bar Icons in the explorer skinned, is not going to be done in version 4.0??? it hasn't been in any of the betas... it's a feature I was looking forward to... 
that's ok I still think WB4 is Awesome 
John Alberts
Reply #30 Sunday, March 16, 2003 5:05 PM
Reply #30 Sunday, March 16, 2003 5:05 PM
I have WB 3.97a and I still can't skin my command window like it says it can. It won't skin command.com or cmd.exe. Anyone had any luck with it skinning the command window?
GreenReaper
Reply #31 Monday, March 17, 2003 4:03 AM
Reply #31 Monday, March 17, 2003 4:03 AM
It should work fine, but at the moment you do have to turn it on specifically. (Display Properties/Advanced/Skin Console Windows)
scratch_pentagon
Reply #32 Monday, March 17, 2003 8:46 AM
Reply #32 Monday, March 17, 2003 8:46 AM
just a thought, the wording on point number 4 seems to be awkward and i don't think it actually says waht it's trying to say. you might want to re-word it before using it on any official press releases or anything.
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Reply #21 Thursday, March 13, 2003 11:05 PM