For those of us who may like the eye candy look of Windows Vista, but who are unwilling to upgrade to Windows Vista, there is an alternative. Stardock Window Blinds. Window Blinds is one of the most popular applications to “skin” or “mod” the Windows Desktop. Window Blinds at it’s simplest provides more Desktop themes for Windows XP and Windows Vista, but goes beyond that.

I’m running the trial version on my main Desktop PC and Windows XP could easily be mistaken for Windows Vista. The Start Button has been replaced by the Windows Logo, and the look of every application has been changed. Window Blinds was around when Windows XP was released, and you could use it to make Windows 98 look like Windows XP. It doesn’t stop there. In “Muchhala’s World” blog, there as a blog entry “Desktop Modding Explained” which covers the different types of Desktop Modding that can be done, with an example in “My Desktop - May 2007“.

Stardock has a number of other programs, including ObjectDock, which adds Mac OS X Dock Bar functionality to Windows.

Stardock’s programs are also mentioned in the book “Career Building Through Skinning and Modding” by Jeri Freedman.