Aqua-Soft ForumsI think that the louder we cry for this feature, the faster it will come out 
I Have A Way To Make Windows Look Like Aero Glass
I asked ppl at Stardock newsgroup but all of them think it'll be available only with Avalon (when MS backport it to XP - 2006?).
Frogboy replied my PM here but he didn't write anything new. He didn't write when and how it'll happen 
He wrote only what i already knew:
Originally posted by FrogboyWindowBlinds supports alpha blending between its own elements (like buttons on its background). But alpha blending/semi-transparencies when compared to what's outside the window is a whole diffrent issue. Aero glass, the real one, is semi-transparent to what's behind the window and that is what people are looking for. WB could do this with some work but the question is whether it could be done with acceptable performance.
Originally posted by siwu (from expire.free.fr/board)Well, I really doubt it could be possible to achieve border transparency for borders only. or with a lot of dirty stuff
Let me explain the different rendering depths involved:
- RGB, which is 1 byte per channel: 1 * 3 * 8 = 24 bits
- ARGB, which is XRGB plus a 1 dummy byte: (1 * 8) + (1 * 3 * 8) = 32 bits
- ARGB, which is RGB plus a 1 byte alpha channel: (1 * 8) + (1 * 3 * 8) = 32 bits
So let's not confuse what you are using when you set your screen depth to 32 bits. Actually it is XRGB, NOT ARGB.
The way the win2000 graphic core handles blending is done without GDI (actually, GDI paints on a XRGB surface when set to 32 bits, looking at the true pixels with the SPrintWindow lib confirmed that). The alpha blending is done afterwards by the kernel.
But i'm not the god father of the GDI core, so if Stardock can make it, then do it !
siwu
The interviewer asked Frogboy if the image would be a 32-bit bmp or PNG, and he said yes. Though that's not specifying what it actually will be. I however kind of doubt it'd be PNG going by what they have said about why they aren't using it presently for 32-bit controls. They said that PNG is a compressed format which has to be decompressed in memory before it can be used so they use an uncompressed format (TGA) to cut out that extra step. So the new borders will probably be TGA if they manage put them in. However with skin studio you can import\export PNG's to TGA. I really think this would just be extending WB's TGA support to support more things.
BTW, MS Styles don't use PNG either for it's controls. It uses 32-bit BMP's which get exported to PNG and then back again when you use stylebuilder.
Stardock where also asking their customers if WindowFX should be finetuned to work even smoother before WindowBlinds got alphatransparent borders.
That's a good idea!