SkyyySi

@NoelC Excuse me, but is is possible you replied to the wrong thread? I don't see why changing this tool from closed to open source would change ANYTHING for Microsoft. If this tool has been developed by clean room reverse engineering, which bigmuscle states he did, there's nothing Microsoft could do about it. And why should they? It's not like this tool becoming open source would suddenly hurt Microsoft. Like, at all. If anything, big muscle currently sells an app based on Microsoft's design. > but because a change in look and feel are important to marketers It was actually done simply because a gaussian blur effect and other 3D effects are very resource hungry. If you look closer, you'll see that Windows 8's design is just a (in a few places made boxier) small variation from Windows 7, at least in terms of traditional Windows apps. The desicion to remove the aero was made pretty much at the end of development, *probably* because that's when they began optimizing it for tablets in terms of performance. See:

@cdoublejj Technically, you are correct. However, if he has the full copyright, which he states in his license, it means that he can do whatever the f he wants with it. So this would only apply if he'd be commiting a crime with this software :p

(Note: this text is written for and directed at Big Muscle. Just pointing it out in case that the "you"s looks a bit wierd to you (the person reading this text)) Let me first get the most important thing out of the way: You CAN make money with open source software. In many ways actually: You can charge for the convenicance of auto updates You can charge for direct support (for example, via email or via a private discord chat) You can charge for the convenicance of having an already compiled binary version (which is especially true on windows; on linux for example, you usually git clone the repo, cd into it and type `make && sudo make install` and that's it. On Windows though...) You can make (optional) donations Speaking of donations: what you offer on your website, those are NOT donations. Those are payments. It is NOT freeware. You just get a free demo version. A donation is something optional. The point of a donation is not to get something back from it (besides maybe the knowladge of having helped someone/-thing or maybe getting a "Thank you" mail from them), but purely to support someone/-thing. And I want to mention that that is the only reason why I actually paid 5 bucks for it: not because I care about the watermark (if that would be my only reason, I could have just used a cracked version, and yes, I DID have a working one back then, but I didn't use it), but because I want this project to stay alive. In other words: I am pretty shure that a lot of peole donated just for support, or at least partially. Anyways, I of course know that there are not only positive things about open sourceing this software, namely: You may not make the exact same amount of money from "donations"* You may unveal your secrets* However, both of these arguments are very weak. The first one I already talked about above. For the second one: opening this app would mean that a lot more developers could integrate it (as in making their app compatible with it, not as in stealing your code; the only app I know of that supports aero glass is Winstep Nexus, and that one only works when it really wants to, which, as a dev explained to me, is not their fault). It would allow other people to learn about windows from (because, as described on glass8.eu, it uses undocumented windows features). TL;DR both arguments are... bad. Now let's finally get to why I think it should be open sourced: You (Big Muscle) are not able to maintain this on your own, or at least not in a way that I would concider acceptable for a paid app. Often times, this app gets a fix about 1-2 months before the next major update comes out, which will break it again. And again. And again. This app would be accessable to a lot more people. It would improve the user experiance since it will allow updates to be completed much, much faster. You would not have to stem this project all on your own anymore, which, again, you're not able to. Almost the entire forum is just "It doesn't work" posts. As described previosly, third party compatibility could also be improved massively. A concern you may have is others missusing your code to make money on. This is actually not a problem. You can either use the GNU GPL (or similar), which will technically not prevent your code from being commericallized, but since every modification that is being made availably has to also be opensourced under the same license (or a newer version), it is very unrealistic to think that someone would actually do it, exept maybe in those ***** bundles. While some apps (like OpenOffice or 7-zip, see here ) do suffer from this problem, I, again, don't think that such a tool like AeroGlass would really suffer from this. Alternatively, you can also write your own license, for example like this (this is not legal advaise): Of course, the above mentiond "license" is only one of many ways it could be done (and, again, it is not legal advise). I hope that you will change your mind about this program and it's licensing and distribution, as it would gain both you and even more so it's community. Cheers.

AeroGlass refueses to work even though it should. My log file: [2019-09-14 16:10:23][0xDD8:0x2360] Donation key not loaded (2 - Das System kann die angegebene Datei nicht finden.) [2019-09-14 16:10:23][0xDD8:0x2360] Machine ID: IASWCEL7CJDR2L3GBZ64L6FTGKULDFYRABLE35FIGLAARYKQ [2019-09-14 16:10:23][0xDD8:0x2360] Installing DWM hook... [2019-09-14 16:10:23][0xDD8:0x2360] User: SYSTEM [2019-09-14 16:10:23][0xDD8:0x2360] Module: C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:23][0xDD8:0x2360] C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll has been injected into dwm.exe. [2019-09-14 16:10:28][0x1A30:0x31E8] Loading settings (flags = 0x6) from HKEY 0x0000000000000280 for session #1 [2019-09-14 16:10:28][0x1A30:0x31E8] Settings reloaded [2019-09-14 16:10:45][0x1EF4:0x3180] Donation key not loaded (2 - Das System kann die angegebene Datei nicht finden.) [2019-09-14 16:10:45][0x1EF4:0x3180] Machine ID: IASWCEL7CJDR2L3GBZ64L6FTGKULDFYRABLE35FIGLAARYKQ [2019-09-14 16:10:45][0x1EF4:0x3180] Hook (USER32.dll!DrawTextW from udwm.dll) installed [2019-09-14 16:10:45][0x1EF4:0x3180] Hook (GDI32.dll!CreateBitmap from udwm.dll) installed [2019-09-14 16:10:45][0x1EF4:0x3180] Hook (GDI32.dll!CreateRoundRectRgn from udwm.dll) installed [2019-09-14 16:10:45][0x1EF4:0x3180] Aero Glass for Win8.1+ 1.5.11.1611 x64 correctly loaded (C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll). [2019-09-14 16:10:46][0xDD8:0x2360] C:\AeroGlass\DWMGlass.dll has been injected into dwm.exe. [2019-09-14 16:10:46][0x1EF4:0x3484] DBGHELP: Symbol Search Path: .;C:\AeroGlass\symbols [2019-09-14 16:10:46][0x1EF4:0x3484] Loading settings (flags = 0x3) from HKEY 0x0000000000000000 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] dwmcore.dll version 10.0.18362.329 [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 4 for module dwmcore.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] udwm.dll version 10.0.18362.267 [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 0 for module udwm.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 0 for module udwm.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 0 for module udwm.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 4 for module dwmcore.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 4 for module dwmcore.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 4 for module dwmcore.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 4 for module dwmcore.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 4 for module dwmcore.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 4 for module dwmcore.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 0 for module udwm.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 4 for module dwmcore.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] Invalid symbol type 4 for module dwmcore.dll [2019-09-14 16:10:47][0x1EF4:0x3484] DWM incompatibility error 0x2000 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Settings reloaded [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x15, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x320, wparam = 3808428032, lparam = 1 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Loading settings (flags = 0x2) from HKEY 0x0000000000000B74 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Settings reloaded [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x31B, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x15, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x31A, wparam = 4784130, lparam = 1 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Loading settings (flags = 0x4) from HKEY 0x0000000000000B74 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Settings reloaded [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Delayed hook (UxTheme.dll!GetThemeStream from udwm.dll) installed [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Delayed hook (UxTheme.dll!GetThemeRect from udwm.dll) installed [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Delayed hook (ext-ms-win-uxtheme-themes-l1-1-0.dll!GetThemeMargins from udwm.dll) installed [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Hook (USER32.dll!SystemParametersInfoW from udwm.dll) installed [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Hook (GDI32.dll!ExtCreateRegion from udwm.dll) installed [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Atlas resource loaded (custom: C:\AeroGlass\win8rp.png) [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x46C] GetThemeStream 0,0,213 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x46C] GetThemeStream 0,0,213 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x46C] GetThemeStream 0,0,213 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x320, wparam = 3808428032, lparam = 1 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Loading settings (flags = 0x2) from HKEY 0x0000000000000B74 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Settings reloaded [2019-09-14 16:11:36][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x15, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:37][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x2B1, wparam = 7, lparam = 2 [2019-09-14 16:11:37][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x1A, wparam = 0, lparam = 218750253784 [2019-09-14 16:11:37][0x1EF4:0x3598] Loading settings (flags = 0x2) from HKEY 0x0000000000000B74 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:11:37][0x1EF4:0x3598] Settings reloaded [2019-09-14 16:11:37][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x15, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:37][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x1A, wparam = 0, lparam = 218750253784 [2019-09-14 16:11:37][0x1EF4:0x3598] Loading settings (flags = 0x2) from HKEY 0x0000000000000B74 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:11:37][0x1EF4:0x3598] Settings reloaded [2019-09-14 16:11:37][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x15, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:38][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x46, wparam = 0, lparam = 218750253744 [2019-09-14 16:11:38][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x83, wparam = 1, lparam = 218750253696 [2019-09-14 16:11:38][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x47, wparam = 0, lparam = 218750253744 [2019-09-14 16:11:38][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x3, wparam = 0, lparam = 2197848832 [2019-09-14 16:11:38][0x3338:0x3014] Donation key not loaded (2 - Das System kann die angegebene Datei nicht finden.) [2019-09-14 16:11:38][0x3338:0x3014] Machine ID: IASWCEL7CJDR2L3GBZ64L6FTGKULDFYRABLE35FIGLAARYKQ [2019-09-14 16:11:38][0x3338:0x3014] DllGetClassObject CLSID {DDC05A5A-351A-4E06-8EAF-54EC1BC2DCEA}, IID {00000001-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} [2019-09-14 16:11:38][0x3338:0x3014] Hook (USER32.dll!CreateWindowInBandEx from ApplicationFrame.dll) installed [2019-09-14 16:11:38][0x3338:0x3014] Delayed hook (ext-ms-win-ntuser-window-l1-1-0.dll!CreateWindowExW from ApplicationFrame.dll) installed [2019-09-14 16:11:38][0x3338:0x3014] Hook (dwmapi.dll!DwmExtendFrameIntoClientArea from ApplicationFrame.dll) installed [2019-09-14 16:11:38][0x3338:0x3014] DllGetClassObject CLSID {DDC05A5A-351A-4E06-8EAF-54EC1BC2DCEA}, IID {00000001-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} [2019-09-14 16:11:43][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x2B1, wparam = 8, lparam = 2 [2019-09-14 16:11:49][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:49][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:50][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:50][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:50][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:50][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:52][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:52][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:11:53][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:12:16][0x3338:0x2EB0] Loading settings (flags = 0x3) from HKEY 0x0000000000002198 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:12:16][0x3338:0x2EB0] Settings reloaded [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] Loading settings (flags = 0x4) from HKEY 0x0000000000002198 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] Settings reloaded [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] Message window 0x0000000000020282: 0 [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] Atlas resource loaded (custom: C:\AeroGlass\win8rp.png) [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] DBGHELP: Symbol Search Path: .;C:\AeroGlass\symbols [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] ApplicationFrame.dll version 10.0.18362.329 [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] DBGHELP: .\ApplicationFrame.pdb - file not found [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] DBGHELP: .\dll\ApplicationFrame.pdb - file not found [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] DBGHELP: .\symbols\dll\ApplicationFrame.pdb - file not found [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] DBGHELP: C:\AeroGlass\symbols\ApplicationFrame.pdb - file not found [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] DBGHELP: C:\AeroGlass\symbols\dll\ApplicationFrame.pdb - file not found [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] DBGHELP: C:\AeroGlass\symbols\symbols\dll\ApplicationFrame.pdb - file not found [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] DBGHELP: ApplicationFrame.pdb - file not found [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] DBGHELP: ApplicationFrame - export symbols [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] Invalid symbol type 4 for module ApplicationFrame.dll [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] Symbols loaded from patterns: 0x8 [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x3338:0x2EB0] Loading settings (flags = 0x6) from HKEY 0x0000000000002198 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:12:17][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x15, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:12:20][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:12:45][0x1EF4:0x3484] Symbols loaded from patterns: 0x5FFF [2019-09-14 16:12:45][0x3338:0x2EB0] Loading settings (flags = 0x6) from HKEY 0x0000000000002198 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:12:45][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x15, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:12:46][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x1D, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:12:46][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x1D, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:12:59][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x1D, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:13:01][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x31A, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:13:01][0x1EF4:0x3598] Loading settings (flags = 0x4) from HKEY 0x0000000000000B74 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:13:01][0x1EF4:0x3598] Settings reloaded [2019-09-14 16:13:01][0x1EF4:0x3598] Atlas resource loaded (custom: C:\AeroGlass\win8rp.png) [2019-09-14 16:13:01][0x1EF4:0x46C] GetThemeStream 0,0,213 [2019-09-14 16:13:01][0x1EF4:0x46C] GetThemeStream 0,0,213 [2019-09-14 16:13:01][0x1EF4:0x46C] GetThemeStream 0,0,213 [2019-09-14 16:13:01][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x320, wparam = 3808428032, lparam = 1 [2019-09-14 16:13:01][0x1EF4:0x3598] Loading settings (flags = 0x2) from HKEY 0x0000000000000B74 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:13:01][0x3338:0x2EB0] Loading settings (flags = 0x6) from HKEY 0x0000000000002198 for session #2 [2019-09-14 16:13:01][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x15, wparam = 0, lparam = 0 [2019-09-14 16:13:11][0x1EF4:0x3598] Message 0x219, wparam = 7, lparam = 0 It also returns an error window saying "Aero Glass does not know how to hook your version of DWM (0x2000)."

To say it shortly: there's an app called "Winsetp Nexus" (a free dock software) that originally used Aero Glass to blur the backgund, however it doesn't work anymore. Before you think "Hey, why don't you ask the developer of Nexus insted of the dev of Aero Glass?"... well, I did. And he told me that I should contact you (Big Muscle) instead. So it would be nice if you could help me out. Oh and PS: If it motivates you to solve this issue, i made a 5€ donation