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What are Replacement Shells... --a great article by tin_omen of DTO. Be sure to take a look at his other articles.
Explanation:
'Active' shells have been updated in the last two months.
'Recent' shells have been updated in the last 6 months, or appear that
they will be updated soon because of development news.
'Old' shells are, obviously, are older than six months.
'Dead' shells have been 'officially' retired by the developer, or otherwise
seem to be finished.
dates are in American format (month-day-year)
Active:
| LiteStep | Last updated: 6-21-01
developers download site community site |
Litestep is the longest living replacement shell for Windows, and offers the largest support community. It is the most awesome thing since the calculator watch. |
| WorkShelf | 7-9-01
Winstep |
Workshelf is a desktop replacement which now supports a couple of modules. Is it a shell in and of itself? don't know, but it will take on several functions considered part of a shell. Shareware |
| NextSTART | 7-9-01
Winstep |
A taskbar/menu/etc. replacement, intended go hand in hand with Workshelf, though you could use either program on top of any other shell. Shareware. |
| Openvision | 6-18-01
home page |
The successor to Codex. Of course we're interested in the shell part but it's core is a visual programming environment based on TCL. |
| cloud9ine | 7-3-01
community home page |
|
| geOShell | 6-6-01
4.x dev site Home community site 'Mantis' dev site |
This seems to be one of the most popular freeware shells along with
LS, it has enjoyed frequent updates and significant community support.
Mantis is the codename for geOshell 5, not for new users as it is still in development. |
| Serenade | 6-27-01
Home download |
|
| projectFlash | 6-12-01
Home Shellfront download |
A shell based entirely on Macromedia Flash. |
| Ghost | 5-28-01
Home |
|
| Desktop Manager | 6-14-01?
home |
|
| LiteShell | 6-16-01
home |
Just what it says, Lite :) |
| GameZ1 | 5-16-01
Tweakfiles page |
|
| Aston | 6-28-01
home |
Shareware. |
| Talisman 2 | 7-16-01
Lighttek Home product page |
Shareware.
Currently in beta. |
| Hoverdesk | 6-23-01
home |
Shareware. |
| ObjectBar | 6-12-01
Company home Community site |
The taskbar/start menu replacement which is a part of Object Desktop,
a whole suite of different enhancements. Shareware.
The community site also has sections for skinning/theming a variety of other programs. |
| Equinox | 5-31-01
Cintel Software |
Beta. The next in the DeskPro series (below). |
| PureLS | 7-15-01
home |
A shell based on Litestep 24.5 code, the aim is to write it in straight ANSI-C for those who don't have MS Visual C++. |
Recent:
| core | ????
home |
A COM based shell. |
| BeOSWin | 3-7-01
home |
A shell designed to resemble the BeOS Tracker.
Formerly BTW95. |
| neoshell | 3-6-01
home |
|
| Outsider | (in progress)
home |
The new version of The Outsider Shell will replace Outsider99, below. |
| Juice | (supposedly in progress) | This will replace Reveal, below. |
| winmac | 1-13-01
home |
I don't think this is a shell. I'm leaving it listed here until I get another page up with some stuff like this. |
| Sharp-E | ???
home Shellfront Download |
server not working, use Shellfront d/l for now |
| Deskpro 2000 | 11-11-00
Cintel home |
|
| Deskpro Studio | 2-11-01
Cintel Home |
Shareware. |
| GameOS | 1-11-01
Tweakfiles page |
from Smartalec |
| 3dTop | 3-31-01
home |
a 3d shell.
Shareware. |
| SmartOS | 4-24-01
Smartalec home home |
from smartalec.
Shareware. |
Old:
| Neon | 9-17-00
home |
A more flexible shell written by the developer of @shell. |
| Prose 2000 | ???
Mobsoft home ZDnet write-up |
Shareware. |
| WoGL | 6-6-00
home |
I think it's a shell. 3D. |
| Doorz 3000 | ????
home |
Site says it's win95+ only. |
| Europa | ?????
home |
Alpha. This is another one of those cool 3d shells. |
| Fastell | ????
developer |
This shell doesn't have it's own home page but is easy to find. |
| EVWM | 8-3-99
home |
|
| IceSphere | 3-4-00
home/community |
|
| NoE | 4-24-00
home |
Written in assembly. Will also change your titlebars. Email author for source. |
| optix | ???
home |
|
| BoS | ???
get it |
only available as source |
| MomShell | ????
MomSoft home product fact sheet |
Shareware. |
| simple | ???
product page |
A restrictive shell especially suited to admins or parents. |
| Simon | ???
product page |
Designed to introduce kids to computers. |
| SoftShell | 9-3-00
home? |
|
| Graphite | 1-13-00
Tweakfiles page FPN shells index |
The most information available for this shell can be found at DTO -->
Graphite
article
Source available here . |
| outsider99 | 4-29-00
Tweakfiles page |
Will be replaced by Outsider, see above. |
| Evolution | 6-19-00
home |
Shareware. |
Dead:
| Reveal | 12-4-98
home FPN page |
This will be replaced by Juice, supposedly.
Unfortunately it looks like the associated community sites are dead. |
| OpenView | 11-14-98
FPN page |
The first win95 shell replacement. Source available. |
| DarkStep | 5-28-00
Home |
Written by an ex-LS-dev, designed to build on some of Litestep's weaknesses. It is LS 0.24.5 compatible. |
| E-sense | 9-22-99
FPN page |
WinNT only. Source available (GPL). |
| Dimension | ???
FPN page |
The first 3D shell, by nivenh, the developer of OpenView |
| @Shell | 12-24-99
Home |
a very simple minimal VB shell which takes up only the space in the maximized titlebar |
| macvision | 5-4-00
home |
"expired"--if you want this you will have to bitch at the developer yourself. Since he now works for-profit on ObjectBar (above) I doubt that will do any good. Or just set your clock back. |
| unnamed 3D shell | ???
FPN hosted site |
a 3D shell by LS module coder Mr. Jukes |
| Codex | 8-1-00
home |
replaced by OpenVision |
| Talisman | ???
Lighttek Home product page |
to be replaced by Talisman 2.
Shareware. |
| eggshell | ??? | |
| xIOn | ??? |
Some general alternate shell community resources:
FPN shells index,
just a directory listing of a bunch of shell binaries, and source for several
of them.
Shell Family Tree,
sort of a timeline of the various shells, past and present.
Shells list
at Shell Extension City. Bunch of stuff at the top and a great links
collection at the bottom.
Sites:
Tweakfiles shell
and extension database.
Desktopian, a news and resource
site which also covers alternate operating systems.
FPN, another news and resource
site, has been on the shell scene almost since it started.
Shell Extension City, a site for
shell extension, power utilities, and all kinds of cool gizmos.