DirectX 10/10.1/11? (Which in the end means realtime graphics that cannot be replicated on XP, unless you start some crazy hacking that'll probably be done when DX14 comes out. :P)

If you meant my shot of your great new skin, it was with a whole lot of tweakin with color and transparency and copying the start button to use as icons in the menu.

Thanks Zakai, there are nine rainmeters, but a bunch of them come from two rainmeter packs (Arachnid and Uixx) - it's in the screenshot gallery now with info and links, if you're interested.

Thanks Sydneysiders!

Wow, karmat....talk about sniping! GREAT setup, mate!!! 

Thanks Doc!

What's amazing is how you can see this feature being demonstrated in the screenshot.  WOW!  All I can see is a clock, weather and dock, so my x-ray vision must be broken.

For the record, I've had a Vista system for 3 years and have been running Win7 over a year and a half now.  So I know what goes on underneath the hood of an OS.  That's my job.

I just choose not to shoot with it. 

U know, u can always ask for a psd , would make it a lot easier and better quality results.

If that's what you were looking for... Then the little text input field in the start menu isn't there in XP.

Thanks for the offer, but I don't have photoshop

That's funny.  The ever-popular crappy-ass over-sized start-menu that's so literally cluttered with bull-shit, that you actually need a search-engine just to find your apps.

Who was the genius who thought that would be cool?  Because to me, it's not.  He needs to be busted right in the knee caps for that.  That wasn't even a brainfart, that was a straight out aneurysm!

It's why I hated Vista in the first place and it's why I'm in no rush to migrate right now, even though everyone else may think that Windows7 is better.  A turd cannot be polished.

Thanks anyway for this rather engaging yet converse bit of dialog, but you gotta keep it real with me.

Ditto CP, its absolutely useless and just another restriction to start menu design.

 .........er, I mean  . Cp's right, is what I mean. Right? 

Thought I'd add a new screenshot here for the end of the month.

That bee a great looking wall, Syd

Nice Shots, everyone!

@Mick: Which skin is that, Mick?

MikeB314 - Ozone

It's tweaked with a texture I made from the Propaganda Tiles collection.  Iremoved "apply to gray pixels" to just texturize the blue parts of the skin. And then a touch of recoloring.

Personally, I think this is proof that texturizing actually can add something really great to skins. The original is awesome on its own, but it gives a smoother overall impression this way.

Oh, and it's the "Dark revisited" skin on firefox.

and yeah that reworking of Ozone looks pretty good

yeah..it's amazing clarity....must have been some camera they used.....

Tinted DX and weather widget. I plan to upload this widget seperately also, for those who don't want the DX. Also, seperate weather.

My last one for the month...

and very elegant it is too karmat....