12th April 2001
When Microsoft released the Plus! pack for Windows 95, the world was introduced to Desktop themes; an entirely new community was born. Plus 95 was so cool that they decided to do a Plus 98; it was more of a minus. Except for one particular feature: an updated THEMES.EXE. Windows 98 SE still carries the old version; Windows 2000 doesn't have Theme support at all. Or does it? Hey, look inside your system32 folder; you'll find the latest version of THEMES.EXE in there! Okay, so what's new in this version? I've only noticed a few changes: the ability for one to rotate themes monthly, use title bars with crossfaded colors, and change the My Documents icon. I can only imagine that other minor tweaks were included as well. And remember the old Microsoft DVD player that nobody knew about? It's just as hidden in W2k, too. Run DVDPLAY.EXE and see what pops up. Oh, and Windows 2000 also comes with the OLD Media Player (ya know, the original). MPLAY32.EXE will take you down memory lane. So, after hearing all this, should you run out and upgrade? If you're a Theme maniac, Plus may be worth the price. If not, hang on for XP. Of course, I've been encouraging people to check into Windows 2000 Professional for some time now...