This is a list of software that provides an alternative graphical user interface for Microsoft Windows operating systems. The technical term for this interface is a shell. Windows' standard user interface is the Windows shell; Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1x have a different shell, called Program Manager. The programs in this list do not restyle the Windows shell, but replace it; therefore, they look and function differently, and have different configuration options.
| Shell | Software license | Windows versions | Development status | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1x | 9x | 2000 | XP | Vista | 7 | 8 | 10 | 11 | |||
| Blackbox | GPL | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Active |
| BumpTop | Apache License | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Discontinued |
| Cairo Shell | Apache License | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Active |
| Calmira | GPL | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Discontinued |
| Central Point Desktop | Proprietary | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Discontinued |
| Classic Shell | Proprietary | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Discontinued |
| Emerge Desktop | GPL | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Discontinued |
| LDE(X) | GPL | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Discontinued |
| LiteStep | GPL | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Stalled |
| Norton Desktop | Proprietary | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Discontinued |
| Open-Shell | MIT License | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Active |
| Packard Bell Navigator | Proprietary | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Discontinued |
| NewWave | Proprietary | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Discontinued |
| Program Manager II | MIT License | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Alpha |
| ReactOS Explorer | GPL | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Active |
| SharpEnviro | GPL | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Discontinued |
| TabWorks | Proprietary | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Discontinued |
| Talisman Desktop | Trialware | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Stalled |
| Xerox Rooms | Proprietary | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Discontinued |
See also
- Comparison of Start menu replacements for Windows 8
- Comparison of X Window System desktop environments
- Desktop environment
- History of the graphical user interface
- Microsoft Bob
- Removal of Internet Explorer
External links
- Liming, Sean (August 2003). "Windows XP Embedded – Different Shells for Different Users". Microsoft Developer Network. Microsoft. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
References
"Cairo Shell Homepage". Cairo Development Team. 30 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2024. https://cairoshell.com/ ↩
"Classic Shell no longer in development. Source code released". Retrieved 3 January 2024. http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8147 ↩
"emergedesktop.org has shutdown". Emerge. Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20150511035450/http://www.emergedesktop.org/ ↩
phil (18 April 2007). "The road ahead is a cliff face". LDE(x) Forums. Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20071026200020/http://ldex.terica.net/community/comments.php?DiscussionID=19&page=1 ↩
Donelle (11 January 2017). "Re: Added .NET Framework interoperability to the core and started a c# binding library". GitHub. Retrieved 25 March 2017. https://github.com/lsdev/LiteStep/pull/1#issuecomment-271501364 ↩
"ReactOS Explorer". ReactOS Project. Retrieved 16 May 2014. http://www.reactos.org/ ↩
"ReactOS Explorer source code". ReactOS Project. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170708041730/https://svn.reactos.org/svn/reactos/trunk/reactos/base/shell/explorer/ ↩
Fuchs, Martin. "ReactOS Explorer (original author, details)". Retrieved 16 May 2014. http://www.foxplanet.de/explorer/ ↩
"Download SharpEnviro". Retrieved 3 January 2024. https://sharpe.sourceforge.net/Download.html ↩
"Talisman Desktop". LightTek Software. Retrieved 15 July 2016. http://www.lighttek.com/talisman.htm ↩
"Talisman Desktop News, no updates since Aug 15, 2011". LightTek Software. Retrieved 15 July 2016. http://www.lighttek.com/talismannew.htm ↩