Windows Embedded Visual Style for XP
October 9, 2008
In case you’re looking for something fresh (and it’s signed by Microsoft, so you won’t need to hack anything to make it work)…
Windows XP users have not really seen a lot of love theme-wise from Microsoft since the release of the operating system. A measly handful of official themes have been released by Microsoft and the trend seems to continue for Windows Vista users. There is not really a reason to not to supply customers with fresh themes for their operating systems. If you look on the Internet you find many resources that cater to the needs of users who want to change the default themes.
Official themes on the other hand have the advantage of being signed meaning that there is no need to tamper with the uxtheme.dll file that protects the operating system from unofficial themes. Vishal over at Ask VG discovered a new signed Windows XP theme that is also compatible with Windows Server 2003 that can be installed without changing system files.
He discovered the theme in the Windows Embedded Standard CTP Refresh distribution and provided download links to it. The theme is supplied as a self extracting executable that installs the theme in the right location in Windows. The theme can then be selected from the Themes tab in the Display Properties.
(via ghacks.net)
Manga guide to databases - Boing Boing
October 9, 2008
I have no idea if The Manga Guide to Databases will be any good (the publisher sez, “In The Manga Guide to Databases, Tico the fairy teaches the Princess how to simplify her data management. We follow along as they design a relational database, understand the entity-relationship model, perform basic database operations, and delve into more advanced topics. Once the Princess is familiar with transactions and basic SQL statements, she can keep her data timely and accurate for the entire kingdom. Finally, Tico explains ways to make the database more efficient and secure, and they discuss methods for concurrency and replication.”) but I sure hope it’s the start of a trend. I want a manga guide to supersymmetry, the surplus labor theory of value, tensor calculus and many other elusive concepts.
![pdx [portland]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1046/3168818707_570cff7348_t.jpg "pdx [portland]")
