New WindowBlinds 5- Glass on your Tablet now

By James Kendrick | Tuesday, November 29, 2005 | 9:48 PM CT | 11 comments |

Want that cool Glass effect on your Tablet PC (or any computer for that matter) now? Don’t want to wait for Vista to ship sometime next year to get it? Stardock sent me an email today telling me that WindowBlinds 5 was released and I have been playing with it all day. WOW. They have really nailed this version down! It has been totally stable on my HP tc1100 Tablet PC and it uses no more resources than standard Windows XP. In fact, windows seem to pop up even quicker under WindowBlinds than in XP alone. Stardock has incorporated alpha blending on the windows so the glass effect is easily done, without all the graphics hardware requirements of Vista. There is already a skin for WB 5 that does a very good job duplicating the Vista Aero glass effect on all windows and the taskbar. Here are some screenshots I have taken on the tc1100. Click to get the enlarged version.

Comments (11)

  • Once again you find a gem in a world filled with crap software. THANK YOU

    Shawn B — 7:08 PM on November 29, 2005 Reply

  • I’ve installed WindowBlinds 5 and the vista theme but can’t get the Glass color to work. Do I need to buy the enhanced version of WindowBlinds? So far I like what I see though!

    J. Wagner — 4:52 AM on November 30, 2005 Reply

  • Thanks so for much for pointing this out – love your blog (and the BOOQ bag I have cause of you!). Downloaded WB5 last night and installed – looks great .

    Thanks!

    jim6:38 AM on November 30, 2005 Reply

  • I downloaded WB5, and fell in love instantly. I’ve tried previous versions of WB, but never liked them enough to purchase, but this time it’s different. I’m using Aura skin, and it’s stunningly beautiful. Thanks for the heads up.

    ignar — 7:30 PM on November 30, 2005 Reply

  • hi, i love the glass skin, i want to use it on my tecra m4, but when i follow the link, it says that the skin doesnt exist.

    can you please give me the correct link or the skin name?

    thank you

    stuffedtiger79 — 11:39 AM on December 2, 2005 Reply

  • You’re right, that skin link is no longer valid. The name of the skin is VistaXP. Another great one is “Touch of Glass 2″.

    jk1:39 PM on December 2, 2005 Reply

  • what a let-down. the “trial” version doesn’t allow per-pixel skinning for complete glass effects. the skin itself is distorted in some places, probably because i have my settings at large font (120dpi), but come on, it should account for that. i cant change anything in the skin, in the trial version. and the log off and turn off computer icons dont work… its a nice skin though…

    stuffedtiger79 — 4:43 AM on December 8, 2005 Reply

  • I’ve used earlier versions and liked them, but this version truly rocks. I found a skin called ARROW that is truly a work of art! It even comes with a strained glass like desktop graphic that is beautiful. Works great in both portrait and landscape mode too.

    Feralboy — 8:13 PM on December 10, 2005 Reply

  • i can’t get the glass effect. do i need to install any other programs. if i need which program?

    yasin — 1:36 AM on January 7, 2006 Reply

  • I need some serious help here !!!
    please help me…
    I installed WB 5 but I cant find that Vista Glass Skin anywhere…not on the stardock site….googled it…
    if anyone can help me then please please email me at shehrozazeem@hotmail.com
    Help will be highly appreciated

    Shehroz — 7:46 AM on June 4, 2006 Reply

  • i’ve been lovin’ windowbinds 5 since i’ve been using it for over six months now. it’s a hell of a better version than the previous ones.

    Graphicartist 2k512:36 PM on August 9, 2006 Reply

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