Making Windows how you want it

So I was reading a post by Jeff Sandquist, linked from Scoble, about the forthcoming Konfabulator for Windows, a port of the rather neat Mac OS X app that lets you run widgets on your desktop (details about Konfabulator here).

Of course, Mac users have had access to such cool tools for ages. But so have Windows users, actually.

Check out DesktopX that lets you 'turbo charge' your Windows desktop by adding widgets, themes and animated icons to it, and even build entire desktops. This is from Stardock, one of my favourite developers who create such great software. (Read about Stardock's history by it's founder, Brad Wardell. And, read Brad's point-by-point comparison of Konfabulator with DesktopX.)

I'm a big fan of Stardock's range of Windows customization apps which enable you to transform your Windows environment and experience, and change the look and feel of Windows to almost anything you want it to be.

DesktopX is a part of Object Desktop, a collection of applications to personalize your Windows. I've posted about a lot of these apps a few times already:

• WindowBlinds, which gives Windows a fully-skinnable user interface so you can change the style of title bars, buttons, the Start bar, toolbars and much more, giving you total control over your graphical user interface.
• Windows FX, with alpha-blended shadows under windows, transition special effects and lots of other cool tricks.
• ObjectDock, a neat toolbar application launcher that reacts when you move your mouse over it, much like the similar feature on the Mac.

And I've not even mentioned excellent developer tools like SkinStudio and IconPackager. Nor the great communities Stardock have developed like Wincustomize, with its collections of themes, skins, widgets, icons and whatnot that you can download as well as discuss with the creators; and JoeUser.com: "blogs from the average Joe."

I've got my Windows my way. Current desktop theme: the superbly-designed DogmaX v2a by James Brubaker, aka Brewman.

So why stick with the standardized out-of-the-box Windows when you can already easily design your own?