Earldridge Jazzed Pineda

https://aka.ms/AAkad6m (Insider users only) Why is this important? Microsoft does have a first-party solution for customizing the UI of Microsoft Windows: .msstyles (patent no. US7565611). Most of the .msstyles files found on the internet are created using third-party tools such as msstyleEditor by nptr. Unfortunately though, these themes are usually unsigned or not signed properly and require a third-party patcher to work. Microsoft's Theme Packager is the only software that can generate proper .msstyles files that are signed. It can even sign existing .msstyles files which is a nice relief for the .msstyles community. However, Microsoft kept this tool a secret for over 15 years, nowhere to be found on Microsoft's website. If Microsoft were to release this tool now, that would be a massive improvement for the .msstyles community.

For anyone wondering where is the .msstyles documentation, it is not on the Microsoft website. However, the documention is publicly available via a U.S. patent called "Binary cache file format for themeing the visual appearance of a computer system". It is available in the link below: https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/7565611

I am Jazzed, my technological interests are operating systems, programming, and software for old OSes.