Where to find Styles XP themes ???

If you mean skins for Style XP, check their site.

Is there anyway to use the themes from here for XP without having Windowsbkinds 3 installed.

or can you convert the I think it is (.wba) file so XP will read it?

No, you need WB3. A good investment though. 20$ and worth every penny.

You can find hacked msstyle files on the various warez sites out there -- where they belong.

"You can find hacked msstyle files on the various warez sites out there -- where they belong."

What does a Windows XP theme have to do with warez?

I've create a msstyles theme, and believe I have put just has much work and effort into it as any other 'skin developer' here. Who are you to call my work 'warez'?

I'm truley interested in your response.

Hum, yes Tandis, you are pushing it a little... actually a lot.

Because of silly politics, I doubt we'll see any msstyles on this site. It's really sad because wincustomize will be left behind. What's to keep someone else from doing what TGT Soft did? Nothing! We'll see someone else do it, it's just a matter of time. I really believe Star Dock thought they had the market with the MS endorsement. I've read what WB3 does, and it's a far bigger hack than style xp.
Msstyles being warez... that's pretty lame.
Here's why WB3 will never be the success it should be. In order to use it's skin, you must purchase the product. They should only charge for the theme designer, and let the viewer be free.

So the people who use their artistic talents to do all of the work for free should have to pay, but the people who benefit from their work get it for free?

Seems a little backwards to me.

Politics is what it is exactly, and everybody seems to be jumping on the 'bash TGT bandwagon'.

What is amusing about all of this TGT debate is that one of the main arguments is that it only allows you to change colors, not actual parameters or styles. This is supposed to be a valid argument when most of the popular downloads for any category here has a XP or Luna related theme.

What TGT soft did was give us the ability to change the appearance of WindowsXP. How that is considered warez, instead of skinning, is beyond me.

You forget, the technology (the intellectual property) that makes an msstyle is owned by MicroSoft. It is the ultimate rip of a visual style. The last thing anyone needs is to have MS legal breathing down your neck. We don't support rips in any shape or fashion.

If we hear from MicroSoft that they are allowing third parties to make msstyles, then that will be different. But, they have not given the OK.

Brian Go,
please give a technical explanation of how using documented APIs is a hack? I'm really curious as to how you justify calling WB3 a hack. Please provide technical proof of your comment. All Style XP does is hack a system dll. WB doesn't hack anything. Prove your point.

There is a reason that we charge for WindowBlinds- we are a company and companies have to make money (I, personally, like to be able to pay my house payment each month... I'm funny that way). You don't need SkinStudio to make a WindowBlinds skin, so where would the company be making money? We also have to pay employees to support and continue developing the program. You get what you pay for. I think that TGT will soon see that skinners really don't like having to pay for a skinning program. (Can you imagine having to pay for and learn a seperate program for each skinnable app?) They like to use their favorite programs to skin with.

Brian,

Thanks for kindly clearing that up for me. I still believe that calling it 'warez' or a 'rip' is being a little extreme though.

We are all here to customize our windows machines. Yes, all TGT Soft did was "patch" the uxtheme.dll file, but that is all they had to do to allow us to easily make a custom visual style. The end result is the same, a fresh new look.

I do now understand the reason msstyles files are not posted here though. Thanks Brian

actally wb do lot of things but one thing wb dont do is patch windows files. also msstyles is ms's properity format and i dont see wb using it either. suppose ms updated that dll for some readson ie: explolt found for some reason and fixed, stylesxp users would be stuck out open till they get new dll from stylesxp company. how about people still using different oses like xp rc1? probily not really combiable.

There was a 3D model site whose name I forgot it's gone now. but they had a raging debate over whether to allow models made by people they knew were using a cracked version of 3D Studio. Why should WC be responsible for hosting, using its bandwidth, skins that use Microsoft's format without their permission?

OH and brain, quit spreading FUD. WB has always been a free download. and the free version has more features than what you can do with msstyles. Look at the number of people already using WB XP visual styles. They're getting thousands of downloads per day. There's only one authorized way of adding visual styles to XP and that's WindowBlinds.

I prefer WB to the msstyles format, but I like when people play fair.
Customize your own msstyle is not warez. There are hundreds of sites where you can download MS Plus themes, are these warez sites? People who customize their own Startup and Shutdown screen, are they into warez? Come on. Let's be fair.
the msstyles format is limited, granted, but making some custom styles can hardly be called pirating.

That kind of argument just disgusts me. Please argument in an intelligent way: talk about the superiority of the UIS format over MSSTYLES. That alone is an extremely good point is favor of WB without having to drag anybody or anything in the dirt.

So I should have to pay $20 just to change the color of my start button? Well there are plenty of people who've made skins for winamp using photoshop and they didn't expect anything in return.

JavaBrain-
Ok, I'll agree it's not a hack if you'll agree it's not native. It wasn't included on my Windows XP cd. It's an extension that alters how XP looks and acts.

I'm not saying WB3 isn't a great program, but it has somethings that need to be changed. The way you select a skin is one of them.

This is just my opinion, but if Star Dock wanted this thing to end up on every computer they should have:

1. Charged for the program that compiles and creates WB3 skins (make it so only WB3 would create or compile the skin, and at the same time allow the user to use other editing tools like photoshop).

2. Make free the client to display those skins.

This would turn the free WB skins into a great advertising tool for SkinStudio or Object Desktop.

But that's just my opinion.
I'm just a consumer, not a competitor.

Brain enough with the FUD for christ's sake. You don't have to pay $20 for WB to change your Start bar. You can do that with the free version.

Paxx, I write software for a living. I helped write The Corporate Machine. The free version only lets you use one map. If someone came out with a hack that applied to the game would let people make their own maps, I'd be PO'd. I wouldn't care how hard someone worked on one of the unauthorized maps. All they have to do is get Microsoft's permission and then I'd have no prob with it. Until then they're warez in my book. You don't have to agree with me but I'm entitled to my personal opinion. My intelligence isn't based on whether I agree with yours or not.

Tandis: the FREE version of your game allows to make only one map. But people have PAID for their version of Windows, they can do what they want with it. At their own risk, sure, but they can do it because they paid for it.
Windows ships with only one start screen. If I make my own that doesn't say WINDOWS XP at startup, if I make mine to say MICROCRAP, I'm sorry, but it does not make me a pirate. Even if I make it and distribute it, it still doesn't make me a pirate, and the BMP I will have made would not be warez.

And I didn't say you weren't intelligent, I said that saying that custim msstyles is warez isn't intelligent. Some very intelligent people sometimes say unintelligent things.

Tandi-

Ok, Sorry, then it's my mistake then. I just couldn't help but see the NAG screen when I went to change something.

Paxx....if msstyles' dll is a hacked version of Microsoft's dll, in order to circumvent a registration process, digital signature, call it what you will, then yes, it is an alternative way to customize your OS, but it is also a copyright infringement, at least comparable to the 'de-zoning' of DVD players.
Yes, it can be seen as a 'fun-thing' to do, just as being able to get hold of Photoshop for 50 cents....the price of a CD burn.
It is a Registration hack, which, last time I checked, is what warez is all about.

The difference would be if Microsoft did one of two things.....
1. 'hacked' the dll themselves, said 'Congrats, PPL, you all can do your own thing, now.'
Or
2. Said 'Fantastic, TGT Soft, can we incorporate your 'improvement'? We were stumped working out how to do it ourselves, and were waiting for a clever person to come along and help us.'

If it is the former, then I don't see an issue. The Intellectual copyright holder retains control of his product.
If it is the latter, then really, Microsoft must be peopled by mental dwarves, only just capable of controlling their drool....

This does not even need to be an 'Us and Them' argument about Windowblinds.
You can take WB entirely out of the equation, and you still have a question of ethics relating to the 'altering' of proprietory coding.

My real concern is that if one understands and accepts the ethical side-stepping, it is reasonable to expect a similar mind-set with its users with regards to the source of graphics, artwork, etc, with Windowblinds skins the sitting target.
Maybe I'm being alarmist, but usually, the first thing you see from someone new to the world of skinning and graphic-art design, is an ignorance of issues of copyright and plagiarism.

Now, sir, I trust I have been 'intelligent' in my argument, and not 'disgusting'....
If I have, you can do what the Grand Prix Corporation does to us when we screw up.....Dock our pay.....[sometimes they forget we are volunteers]....

OK, Jafo, two things.
First, I was talking about msstyles files, which are not hacked dlls, but styles made from scratch, just WBA files are. I was not talking about the patch supplied by TGTSoft, that hacks a Windows DLL.
Second, TGTSoft said that they complied with Microsoft's requirement by letting users know that: "This software patches the system DLL, uxtheme.dll. If you do not want to modify this DLL, please hit cancel now."
I have no reason to believe that they are lying. I am assuming that Microsoft is now okay with the patch. Therefore it's not warez.

Paxx...perhaps they are not 'lying', and only having a lend of the truth...
Maybe just being selectively inaccurate...

is it just me or does it seem like tandis has a personal hate for tgtsoft? you dont have to pay $20 for the stylebuilder. people have already been making themes for xp without it.

Tandis is responding to the person who claims you HAVE to pay $20 for WindowBlinds to change the start button.

My final comment on WB3.

After reading the white paper, I have to say I'm impressed. I also discoverd some incorrect assumptions I made in regards to the shareware version. Is the deluxe version worth $20? Yes, it's probably worth more than that. It has some pretty cool features. Will I buy it? I think I'm gonna wait a month or two and see just how many WB3 skins people make. I would like to be able to select WB3 skins from the regular list of XP themes available, maybe they'll change that.

I just have one question now. Why did MS decide to include a digital signature on there themes?
If they didn't want people making themes, why would they endorse WB3?