Man, Windows XP has been around for a long time, or at least that is how seems sometimes, and still even with the impending release of Windows 7 some folks don’t want to let go of XP. Now as rock solid as XP might be given the number of service packs for it the UI; which had some irritations when release, is really starting to look long in the tooth.
Well thanks to Long Zheng over at istartedsomething.com I stumbled across a rather interesting project called Xpize lead by David Rees (who has some interesting cred’s when it comes to Windows) that will let you create and install a resource-replacement package on any version of Windows, including 64-bit versions. The idea is to safely swap out the old antiquated design elements like icons with newer more modern ones.
xpize is a utility program for Windows XP (both 32-bit and 64-bit) and Windows Server 2003 (32-bit and 64-bit) that replaces most of the bits in Windows that didn’t match XP’s style with bits that do.
The software contains no spyware or adware, it is a purely volunteer-driven community effort; it is also easily uninstallable.
xpize does not replace any files, system or otherwise. Instead it "patches" the files by replacing the old resources inside the files.
You can also see a full range of screen shots for Xpize at the site as well.
There is also the same project but for Vista called Vize
Vize is a GUI enhancer for Windows Vista. It replaces most of the non-Vista icons, animations and bitmaps that Microsoft is still overlooking.
Vize automates the process of replacing resources in system files, applying the real fit and finish to Windows Vista.
The patching process will not disable Vista’s built-in security features. Vize will automatically restore all files and folder permissions, making your Vista experience nicer without sacrificing security
Naturally there will also be a project along the same lines for Windows 7 called Sevenize.
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