Recently Zoomba posted he had just reached 5 years with Stardock...and it got me thinking about when I started fiddling with OS Customizing [originally on sites such as Customize.org and Litestep.com ...and later skinz.org].
The first 'release' of Litestep I came across was called 'b21' or more accurately 1.0 b21 dated 25 March, 1998 ....though the first I actually messed with was b23 a little time after that....but probably just on 10 years ago.
Litestep was thought up by a guy called Francis Gastellu, aka LoneRunnr, from France.
There are snippets in the 'readme.txt' ...you know, the R.T.F.M. that is a MUST for people messing with shells....that are 'interesting' in the Firefly sense...
What is LiteSTEP ?
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LiteSTEP is a shell replacement for Windows95 (NT not fully supported) that will give
your Windows the AfterSTEP look&feel.
It consists in a Wharf toolbar, a popup menu and some modules.
The Wharf toolbar is used to organize your applications & modules.
The Popup menu will automatically gives you access to installed applications via its
start menu.
The Modules are used to their particular function: Clock, Temperature monitor,
WinAMP plugin, Virtual Window Manager...
Your reasons for using LiteSTEP :
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- If you come from the LINUX world and are used to AFTERSTEP.
- If having multiple desktops would make your work easier.
- If you dislike Microsoft's Shell or find it eats too much memory, CPU and that it is
not always stable.
- If the aspect of your desktop is important to you.
- If you like to have something different from your friends.
Or simply to try a cool & stable alternative to Microsoft's Shell.
Origins....
1.0 ß1 - 12/14/97
- First beta out (private)
- Lot of bugs
- Not fully usable
LiteSTEP is still in beta stage.
LiteSTEP is freeware. Use it at your own risks! I cannot be held responsible for
any damage (software or hardware) happened while using LiteSTEP.
You know, 10 years on and it's STILL in beta .... works a heck of a lot better...does more .... but still in beta.
I am yet to fire up a Vista OS to give it a try...but apparently it still 'works' [or can be made to work], though I have run it in every other MS OS from 95 onwards ....though it did nothing to 'help' Win ME ....that OS was a lost cause....