This is a bit late because I was at my girlfriends yesterday, but anyway here goes! Thanks Brad for the heads up on this: Stardock has updated the beta of WinStyles to 0.96. This version is a release candidate. WinStyles is a program that allows users to apply entire skin suites in a single click. A skin suite is a collection of skins, icons, and themes that when put together allow users to completely change their desktop.
An example would be a WinAmp skin, a WindowBlinds skin, an Iconpackager icon set, a wallpaper, a new set of cursors, a screensaver, a Trillian skin, and a DesktopX theme put together into a single file. When the user downloads it, they can apply that entire suite as a single entity.
Most users use WInStyles to take a "snapshot" of their desktop where they can then easily switch between different overall desktop themes (example: user has created a Macintosh-like desktop theme using icons and cursors and skins for their various programs).
WinStyles supports two different suite formats - .XPThemes and .SUITE files. A .XPTheme contains the actual themes and skins and icon files. A .SUITE, by contrast, is less than 1K and is a distributed format in which contains links to the skins and themes and icons. WinStyles then finds those skins on the Internet and installs thems for the user.
.XPThemes were designed so that users who create suites could provide a convenient way for users to apply them as well as for users to save desktop snapshots of their system. .SUITES were created so that users who have set up their system in a particular way can email or post their .SUITE file to let others have the same desktop. Both file formats incorporate skin author information to discourage ripping and credit taking.
Download: Winstyles 0.96 at the Winstyles site
An example would be a WinAmp skin, a WindowBlinds skin, an Iconpackager icon set, a wallpaper, a new set of cursors, a screensaver, a Trillian skin, and a DesktopX theme put together into a single file. When the user downloads it, they can apply that entire suite as a single entity.
Most users use WInStyles to take a "snapshot" of their desktop where they can then easily switch between different overall desktop themes (example: user has created a Macintosh-like desktop theme using icons and cursors and skins for their various programs).
WinStyles supports two different suite formats - .XPThemes and .SUITE files. A .XPTheme contains the actual themes and skins and icon files. A .SUITE, by contrast, is less than 1K and is a distributed format in which contains links to the skins and themes and icons. WinStyles then finds those skins on the Internet and installs thems for the user.
.XPThemes were designed so that users who create suites could provide a convenient way for users to apply them as well as for users to save desktop snapshots of their system. .SUITES were created so that users who have set up their system in a particular way can email or post their .SUITE file to let others have the same desktop. Both file formats incorporate skin author information to discourage ripping and credit taking.
Download: Winstyles 0.96 at the Winstyles site
"The federal administration expects that the interoperability standard ISIS-MTT will quickly establish itself on the market, and that appropriate products for each application, based on ISIS-MTT, will be available," the Cabinet decision said.
Some IT professionals were critical of the government for not being more specific about which technology it intends to use.
The industry association Bitkom (Bundesverband Informationswirtschaft, Telekommunikation und neue Medien e.V.), while welcoming the decision, complained that it makes only suggestions and no concrete directions for implementation.
"After the many rounds of voting not much more remained than a description of the status quo," the group said in a statement. "The government thus unfortunately waters down its clear and praiseworthy aim of quickly and comprehensively outfitting the administration with security technology."
Bitkom called instead for a "citizens' card," with chip and electronic signature, for all Germans.
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