NO - Windows ME replaced 98SE. Then XP replaced ME.

I know that Kona. I was referring to the fact that Win98SE was the more stable and most used operating system for the home user until WinXP came along. WinXP replaced Win98SE in that regard.

Working on the toolbar icons in my last skin, I actually had 103 layers at 1200x1000, before the program said no more layers. No lag really, the program (PSP) just said that it needed more memory.

at 150ppi, 1200x1100 is like 8x7 inches. waaaaaay different than 24x36. poster size at commercial print resolutions will eat a gig of ram as an appetizer.

Even so with memory WB taking 20mb if it even ever did is ancient history. It now takes for example with a skin I have made, 1.3mb. If you can''''''''t afford that then your just hurting for a memory upgrade, seriously.

BTW, out of curiousity how much memory do typical visual styles and themes service take? Since the themes serices hasn''''t been optimized lately if at all I would imagine it has to be more than WB.

BTW, I think no matter what there will alway be people who claim that it takes more memory\resources than the themes service (which they call uxtheme.dll which is like if one would call windowblinds wblind.dll). And that the themes service takes no resources, =p
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A problem is 9x's 128k GDI limit which doesn't change even if you add a ton of ram to your system. And it would have been hard to get it stable without so many people testing it on a variety of hardware.

Except sdmcp has so far nothing to do with WB. WB doesn't install it or load it. DesktopX, Objectbar, Keylaunchpad, and I can't think of any others, do.

From what I can remember sdmcp is supposed to help by reducing the number of hooks to the system by running multiple programs that use hooks so I think WB should be updated to support it.

webgizmos....Windowblinds modifies the matrix of your hard drive platters and re-arranges the crystaline make-up of your ram chips.....apparently it also demagnetizes the PC speaker cone to eliminate the 'post' beeps on startup.

I've also heard said that it is the cyber equivalent of daylight saving....it'll fade your curtains.

To: Frogboy
Fact#1 I love Windowblinds , have no complaints,and use it all the time.
Fact#2 On my computer when I go from standard XP style that came on my computer,and load Windowblinds using a simple skin with no animation,My PF usage increases 29 Mega bites.
Question : Is this to be expected?

at least 75% of the xp wb skins submitted in the last 18 months are over the top and to large (with the exception of msstlye ports ), skinners just show off as many of their skills as possible in one skin without considering how it looks. With visual styles on sites like deviantart.com in particular (although there are only about 800 of them), where at least 60% are all much more minimal and look great.

He has a point. Less is better for me.

Minimalism in styleXP is a 'necessity', not a 'feature'.

With Windowblinds the skinner has the option to be minimalistic or not, as he so chooses, hence its popularity...

I agree with Jafo, I read and replied to a thread over at Neo, someone waiting for the skins from the GuiOlympics to be made available in msstyles format... he he he, they'll be waiting a LONG TIME....

I'd have to say that there is much validity in your statments, CygnusXII. I work as an A+ tech, and see many of these bogged down registries every single day. It's also very much an issue, these days anyhow, with tons of spy/adware programs on users systems, that they don't even realise are there. I mean, it couldn't possibly be those "tons of free cursor" programs, or "web(cough)shots" and such... right?
The simple fact is, the vast majority of home PC users simply do not know how to maintain their system for top performance. They don't understand the importance of maintaining a clean registry, sweeping their system for spyware/virii, or running cleanups on their temp files and defrag of the HDD. They see something that they think is a neat program, for "free", and blindly install it. (What? Free cursors? All I have to do is "click here"??... while CursorXP gives you any and all cursors you could want, or make, without the spyware...)
Also, many home PC users think that an install of Windows should last forever, without ever having to reinstall it. I've seen people bring in systems with Win98 first edition (we refuse to work on 95 machines these days), that have been installed since the day that they purchased it. As a general rule, a format and reinstall of Windows once a year is a good practice. No matter how good of a job you do cleaning up your registry, it's bound to get "wiggy" sooner or later. If Windows was an OS designed to be installed, and forgotten about... we'd never need to buy a new version of it.
Finally, the issue about memory, and it's availability these days. Most mass PC manufacturers are putting at least 512MB in a system these days... and that's DDR. We're talking a minimum of what USED to be the maximum, and at speeds at least double what it used to run at. Add to that the fact that the average user has 1GB or more (hardcore users, those that would be interested in running something like WB), and this is no longer even a valid topic. (Even with WB and Objectdock, NAV, and a few other programs running, I still have over 75% of my memory available... with 1GB installed.)
Granted, I just recently got into WB/Object Desktop, as I'm sick and tired of Windows being so boring... and I'm getting interested in creating my own skins... but, I can't see where this program could ever have been the "memory hog" that it's claimed to have been.