Madotate: A Lite Weight 3D Windows Application!
I found this very cool program for Windows: it enables 3D effects for windows and programs, just like on some Linux distros! This program adds a new button to a window’s title bar and by pressing it, the window or program gets flattened. The only thing it doesn’t work on is custom apps like iTunes. The best part is how small its footprint is: I have only seen the program use 5 megs of memory!!
Screenshot
As you can see from the screenshot, the windows are flattened and are semi transparent! You can grab the flattened windows an move them around the screen. To restore a window, just double click it!
Download
Disclaimer
I didn’t write the program! I wrote an installer so it’s a little easier!
Instructions
Unzip onto your desktop. You should see the Madotate folder and a batch file named “Saman’s Installer”. Double click”Saman’s Installer”, it will move the Madotate folder to:
C:\Program Files\Madotate
Then, the Batch File will make a call and add an item to the Registry. Click “OK” in both dialogs. After that, it will place a shortcut into the All User’s Startup folder. Next, a Readme file will be copied to the desktop and installation will be complete! You can close the Command Prompt window.
If everything goes right, you should see two dialog boxes open and a text file on your desktop!
Troubleshooting
To install Madotate, you need to run the Registry command and place a shortcut to the program in your startup folder. All of the files you need should have been unzipped onto your Desktop, if not, you should be able to open the zip file with WinZip and move the files yourself!
Uninstall
To uninstall Madotate, exit the program (it will be in your system tray) and delete all of the files:
- The shortcut in the All User’s Startup folder:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup - The Modotate folder in:
c:\Program Files
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Wow looks cool. Vista has something like that too, though not exactly.
agreed. This is the type of development available with the new version of .NET and Vista. Will see many high definition vector application in the future.
Vector graphics will hopefully fix a lot of the issues associated with screen resolution now. I think there’s going to be big problems coming when everyone starts going to 20″ widescreens and above. Resolution independence really needs to be sorted out soon.
Wow . . i didn’t PCs could do this!
. . . . let me know when the blue screen of death comes! haha!
Jealous?
I have been using it for about three weeks and have not had a application or system crash!
Looks cool, but does it serve any real purpose othern than to look cool?
Yeah, it servers a purpose: I don’t minimize anything anymore, I just flatten windows now!
lol.. I’m doing it with Vista as well. It looks way cooler!
Hmmm…would it slow down a system that doesn’t have a dedicated graphics card?
I’m using this app on two machines: A desktop and a laptop (with onboard graphics), both are new computer and neither have a problem!
The Readme that comes with the the app says it will run on Window 2000…
Pretty soon laptop graphics will be up to or at least fairly close to the discrete graphics standard. They’re already bringing out some fairly grunty gaming laptops. And AERO in Vista will need it anyway.
I think they need to move away from onboard and use dedicated graphics cards - like Alienware.
Although, I know that’s easier said then done…
At a minimum, they need to update drivers more often!!!
How many windows can you make flat?
As many as you want!
Looks weird…
I’ll let this one go
I wonder if someone here that runs Linux will mention 3D desktops and ‘The Rotating Cube’?
My crappy laptop is a Windows 2000 machine with a 12-year-old graphics card and 330 Mhz processor,
Madotate is running with no problems and no BSODs.