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Longhorn Skinning A Reality
AlphaAlien writes "AlphaAlien of HardwareGeeks.com has figured out how to skin all of Microsoft's upcoming Windows release codenamed Longhorn. We can now skin Longhorn in the same manner we can skin Windows XP. Here's a picture of a very early copy of the first ever non-Microsoft skin for Longhorn. The only possible issue at this point is that Microsoft appears to be planning to move away from BMP based skinning altogethor and move to PNG based skins in which case any skins made for Longhorn at this point in time will not work far into the future. Also the patch to allow the skins to be loaded may not work many builds from the present as well. But for now we'll be able to hack away at the skinning engine at our leisure. in co-operation with BetasIRC.net we will be releasing the first few longhorn skins and a guide on how to get started on creating your own Longhorn skins."
I'm not sure if you're trolling or trying to be funny, but never mind.
However, you can actually change the colour of the BSOD to make it more PSOD (pink screen of death) or maybe YSOD (yellow screen of death).
Details are here although many Slashdotters probably won't like to admit that on W2K/XP they might never actually see the fruits of their labour.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
While this is all very nice and pretty, if this is based on the PDC build of Longhorn (which is painfully slow on any of my systems, but that's besides the point...) then it doesn't have the new fangled hardware accelerated bits that are going to be part of Longhorn (Indigo? or is that something else). The GUI that comes with the Longhorn betas is just a testing one that won't be useful in the final release, so I can't really see what use skinning the gui in the beta that'll never actually be used is....
well... maybe... juuuuuust maybe. Those new resource files will replace the standard ones, having them cached, and all will be well. If you think the default XP themes are hard-coded into the source... I have a bridge I'd like to sell you...
Viva La Revolucion! Buy a Mac!
Yes.. it WILL be vector... so this is a complete waste of time...
The two rules for success are:
1) Never tell them everything you know.
Your problems solved! Sort of, anyway - there's some caveats, and it's only for IE5.5 and above.
I think modern versions of Opera support PNG with alpha - it's really just Internet Explorer that's 'special'.
Windows XP uses a .DLL file (.so) for handling "visual styles" (skins). These skins are signed by microsoft, so you can only use their skins (to stop people from making virii or something, or to line their pockets). Since XP came out, people have been hacking this .dll file (uxtheme.dll) to allow custom, non-microsoft visual styles to be used. This is quite a coup as they've removed the need for signing before the OS is even released. It's not about the technology present in skinning, but the fact that they've circumvented MS's encryption/signing thingy 2 years prior to release.
Actually, they give you 3 color schemes to choose from. Default (blue), Silver and Olive Green.
But of course you change the entire color scheme yourself, fairly easily. Just go to the desktop properties.
No reason to lie.
<obvious>
Well, this might come as a shock to you, but I'll cite some examples:
Simply because you like your speakers in black, doesn't mean everyone does. I, for once, prefer mahogny.
And as computers become a common thing, you might expect people to want to alter their looks and maybe even behaviour to suit whatever needs they may have.
</obvious>
If you really needed this answer, I think you spend way too much time alone in your room, boy. (Perhaps <obvious> as well...)
Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
Microsoft does make it possible to create new themes. People do create them, in fact there are thousands and thousands of them out there.
No reason to lie.
Windows Services for Unix
bash, from Unix Tools for Windows
It's been established previously in this thread: the supposed Longhorn skinning is ugly. Artistically speaking, it has some commendable points. That said, we who use and understand computers are generally rooted in logic and efficiency, and this set of schemes disregards that.
I'm a firm believer in F/OSS and use Linux always. I still maintain a Windows partiton on the lappy for Uni-related projects &c. I'm very much partial to the Windows 2000 desktop. It's barren enough to be effecient, and complex enough to be useful.
All stability issues aside, Microsoft has a strong advantage against Linux DE's largely because they implement functionality with the 'newly acquired user' in mind. KDE is a magnificent testiment to modern programming, and that team has accomplished UI capabilities I never thought I'd see in a UNIX environment. IT IS STILL MISSING that edge, that edge that beginners can grab a-hold of and incorporate into their daily lives.
I'm off on a tangent, which is inherent when a textbox maintains only some ~24 lines of previous text. Many appologies. Long and the short: if you are a power user, fuck the themes. Gnome and KDE have truly done programming wonders. But, like the currently efficient battery-gas driven cars, I'd rather move quickly, than be hampered by an ugly designed monstrosity (EV1?).
A forward thanks to you who have the forsight to buy an environmentally efficient car.
-pararox-
And it has no effect on NT-based OSes. Did you notice it went into 386enh? 386 Enhanced? That's Windows 3.0 (and deriatives). Actually, the blue screen was introduced in 3.1, and this hack will work on 3.1 and up. To test on 3.1, hit [CTRL]-[ALT]-[DELETE], and to test on the other OSes, write to a floppy, and midway through writing, pop it out.
> People do create them, in fact there are thousands and thousands [themexp.org] of them out there.
Just a friendly warning, but themexp.org is filled with all kinds of lousy spyware. Their frontpage links to a javascript on http://webpdp.gator.com/4/placement/475/, which presumably tries to install GAIN under IE. They also have the audacity to wrap (!) all the themes that they offer in spyware. That's not nice.
Stay clear of this worthless site and get your themes on good sites like Neowin or DeviantART instead.
My technial knowledge of this is limitied, but IIRC Styles XP feigns the system into thinking these 3rd party themes are part of the original msstyles set shipped with Windows XP.
From a forum post on the web:
It's not about the technology present in skinning, but the fact that they've circumvented MS's encryption/signing thingy 2 years prior to release.
The current Longhorn releases feature the same UI system as XP, using static images for everything.
The final release will have an Avalon-powered UI. Because it uses DirectX, its a safe bet they will use scalable vector graphics (more flash-like, no BMP/PNG/JPG) for everything possible. The ability to resize windows has already been demonstrated, and keeping the UI clean and un-pixely is probably a big priority for them.
I would be *very* surprised if the Avalon UI uses the same theming system. All they've done is apply an old crack to old code. Nothing amazing there...
You do know that green isn't a primary color, right?
RGB is the three additive primary colors (and monitors use additive primary colors since they emit light, not subtractive).
XP uses by default in G and B in its color scheme.
Wikipedia article about primary colors
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
And the whole point of a server is to provide....services to other computers, not to provide pretty eye candy for some newbie admin.
And the OS release commonly reffered to in media as "Longhorn" is a client OS release, where eye-candy is appropriate and in some sense needed to catch-up/differentiate from OS X.
Longhorn server is a different story. I've heard rumors of Microsoft moving towards a componentized approach to OS install. Something similar to building Windows Embedded images, where you've got about 10,000 various modules which comprise the OS and a package manager making sure dependencies are satisfied. If that's true, system builders will have far greater flexibility in purposing their servers. Monad shell seems to be the solution Microsoft is banking on to provide robusts CLI. That being said, GUI still has its place on the server for newbie admins. Even Linux distributions are putting more and more work into adding GUI tools to configure various services. Like it or not, newbie admins make up a large population of small business place and these people will buy/use whatever makes their lives easier. GUI is a crutch very much needed in that space and there's too much money at stake to not provide that crutch.
It's direct3D-9 hardware accelerated, so it'll be one of the fastest GUIs out there, much faster than anything in the UNIX world, simply through co-operation with the card manufacturers.
Hmm, you do realize that OS X (arguably a Unix) has been OpenGL hardware accelerated for nearly two years already (May 2002) and by the time Longhorn ships it will be even more hardware accelerated, and approaching four years of OpenGL acceleration.
To claim it will be one of the fastest GUIs, *and* much faster than anything in the UNIX world, seems kind of baseless. What are you comparing against? A future unfinished product with a finished product hardly seems fair to the *unfinished* product.
GPL Deconstructed
Windowblinds is the most popular Windows skinning app, and Stardock has created a pretty strong skinning/customization community for Windows users.
I think they'll be ready for Longhorn.
This is one of the things Microsoft doesn't get. When I build a Sun or Linux production server, the only software on it is the software needed to provide the services the server was built for. Web servers don't neeed GUIs, browsers, or media playsers. Database servers don't need GUIs, , browsers, or media playsers. Application servers don't need GUIs, browsers, or media playsers. I might use a GUI to attach and manage them, but the servers themselves don't need one.
Me thinks you never used Windows 2003 Server. Windows 2003 Server comes locked down to begin with...So the browser cant go anywhere except trusted sites. It, last time I played with it, didnt come with media player (but even if it did you got issues if thats your problem with the server). If you're playing movies on your servers then maybe someone should talk to your boss about having too much time on your hands. Generally servers sit in a data center where its meant to be rarely used at the console. There is a GUI because its called "Windows" not "Text".
This type of thinking will continue to be Microsoft's security and performance nightmare. If there is a security hole in Mozilla, I don't need to worry about it on my production servers because it ain't there. If there is a security problem with Apache, I don't need to worry about it except on the webserver because it ain't on the app server or DB server. It doesn't take up memory, diskspace or CPU cycles either.
You do have some good points here...but what about OpenSSH? Thats on all your boxes and that has vulnerablities...or what about a Kernel vulnerablity? If you dont get what I mean, those two things are comparable to what you said to windows. Granted windows has a lot more ports open for more exploits but IIS isnt installed at all unless you install it on Windows 2003. I'll grant you that the Unix/Linux operating systems have less vulnerablities when compared to Windows. I could then make the case that Unix and Linux are both crappy software when it comes to vulnerablities when I compare it to like OS/2 or MacOS 9.
Even offloaded CPU cycles take up CPU cycles at some point, either to issue the instructions or to move on to the next ones. Something has to tell the server the mouse just oved over that pretty icon and to use a few CPU cycles to tell the graphic card to make it flutter in the breeze.
Yeah maybe for a desktop, but as its been with Microsoft's latest products, they dont use the nice eye candy for their server operating system, only the desktops.
I dont want to sound like I'm starting a war with you, but reading your post I can make a fairly educated guess that you've only used their desktop operating systems and not the Server versions (or atleast just Windows 2000) otherwise you'd know what I'm talking about.
Try this fix. It uses a CSS and some javascript to fix IE's handling of PNG images.
It sucks that one has to play these shennanigans to fix such basic functionality. It also begs the question if javascript can fix IE's mishandling... what's the hold up from Microsoft themselves?
If you need a PNG with a fully transparent color (just like GIF), IE have no problem supporting it, as long as your PNG is indexed (aka PNG8). If you need partial transparency (aka alpha channel), then yes IE is broke.
To index a PNG in The Gimp 2.x, choose "Mode" -> "Indexed" in the Image menu.
:wq
I was under the impression that Longhorn would be using vector graphical extensively in its UI. Mind you, I don't follow Microsoft hype very closely so I may well be totally wrong.
AFAIK, Gnome and KDE are both going toward SVG vector graphic for icons/UI elements (correct me if I am wrong). Building a UI on bitmap graphic in 2004 seem quite retarded to me.
:wq
They locked down the theme system for XP to prevent people from using non-standard themes in the first place. The only reason there are third-party themes out there is due to the fact s a unauthorized theme .DLL patch was created.
There's MUCH more (including adding and removing RAM without rebooting--currently, Windows Server 2003 only lets you add RAM)...but you've read up on Longhorn before bashing it, right?
Note before I get called a Microsoftie--yes, I appreciate their technology. They have some of the smartest developers in the world working there. Yes, I also run Linux--Gentoo, to be exact.
You skipped one of the handiest features of PNG, and the feature MS doesn't support: Alpha Transparency. This let's you do impressive visual effects that are difficult to do any other way.
Sig is on vacation
Sounds like you have a bad laptop. The "Designed for Microsoft Windows XP" sticker doesn't really mean much. It basically means that it has XP drivers, and comes with XP installed. My Inspiron has one too, and I ran both 2k and XP on it before I switched to Linux. I didn't notice any difference in uptimes. In both cases, they basically ran until I had to restart to install something. Over a year, each locked up maybe twice, always caused by shitty Dell video drivers.
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