Starkers is right, except in one minor point, but I'll get to that later.

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).   

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.

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! 

At first I thought you were talking about me, but then I noticed the word 'Skinner'.  

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?

KTEK4D and Brisa weren't made by me. The NeXuS dock themes in KTEK4D were uploaded by me because Tiggz was too busy playing WOW and asked me to do it for him (lazy sod!), while Brisa was kind of 'commissioned' work.   

Atmospherica, Aero and AeroSky I already can take some credit for, although most of it was made with bits and pieces of other themes (with permission, of course). I'm no skinner, no siree.   I just do some nice 'collages' from time to time, hehe

very nice product... I purchased and have been playing with it.    Nice work!

thanks for the discussion and education folks. I realize that I was comparing apples to oranges.

I agree with starkers and would like to see the talent of the artist here at wincustommize do some skins so thre would be more to pick from

not bad not good