Stardock® DirectSkin™ 5 released, adds Windows Vista support
Plymouth, MI- (May 2, 2007) – Stardock, the worldwide leader Windows customization software, has announced the release of DirectSkin 5. DirectSkin is a software library used by developers to make their applications completely skinnable. DirectSkin 5 supports Windows Vista™ in addition to Windows XP and Windows 2000.
Skinning technology allows users and developers to change the look and feel of their applications quickly and easily. DirectSkin allows developers to utilize Stardock’s award-winning WindowBlinds™ technology to customize the look and feel of their applications without requiring the use of any special controls and with a minimum of development effort.
A developer can set the look of their application using one WindowBlinds skin, or use a variety of skins to brand an application as is the case with software that is resold to partners or even allow end-users to select their own skins, creating a highly-customized program interface.
"We created DirectSkin as a tool for developers looking to get their applications to market quickly, without sacrificing a great looking user interface. DirectSkin supports all the major programming languages, including Visual Basic, C# and.NET and integrates into most applications with as little as four lines of code. Applications created using DirectSkin will run on all current forms of Windows" said Phil Madis, Director of Business Development at Stardock. "Developers who face the challenge of giving their applications an attractive and modern look and feel across multiple operating systems can really benefit from DirectSkin."
DirectSkin is used by companies around the world to enhance their products appearance. PowerArchiver, for example, is a file archiver developed by ConeXware, Inc. used by millions of PC users. Using the DirectSkin engine, PowerArchiver added skinning with great success.
"By utilizing Stardock's DirectSkin technology, ConeXware is able to offer our users top-notch customization features not found in similar utilities. Customers have the freedom to choose whether to use our new task-oriented interface or create their own thanks to DirectSkin for Windows Vista," said Nathan Mook, President and CEO, ConeXware. "Throughout the development process, Stardock's support has also been quick and effective at solving any issues we've come across as we prepared to release the next-generation version of PowerArchiver for Vista and beyond."
