This review of Litestep blatantly stolen from Floach’s Site.
Perhaps more than any other shell replacement, LiteStep galvanized the shell scene, pushing it to where it is today. Despite its age (LiteStep is the second oldest shell replacement, the first being OpenView), it still maintains its lead as one of the most popular – and most feature-rich – shell replacements available.
LiteStep’s Wharf. LiteStep was originally coded by Francis Gastellu (LoneRunner) in an attempt to clone the look and feel of AfterStep, a window manager for the X Windowing system on Unix machines. The first (private) beta of LiteStep – then called SimpleStep – was released to testers on December 14, 1997. Over the next four months, LiteStep would evolve into a program that would capture the attention and hearts of an ever increasing number of users. Not only did LiteStep appeal to users interested in the customizablilty of Unix machines running X, it likewise appealed to Unix users who, for one reason or another, were forced to use Windows machines on a daily basis.
Like AfterStep, LiteStep consists of a few key features:
LiteStep’s Popup.
- A Wharf toolbar, useful for launching applications, as well as running modules.
- A Popup Menu, accessed by right-clicking on the desktop. Gives fast access to your most-used programs.
- Modules. Modules are miniature applications that run – in conjunction with LiteStep – to provide the features of LiteStep or perform other useful tasks: such a clock, a monitor for system resources, a remote interface for WinAmp or K-jöfol, even games.
- Desktop shortcuts that are much more configurable that Windows’s standard shortcuts.
LiteStep’s Shortcuts.
LiteStep was released to the public on March 25, 1998. Francis, though extremely busy, continued his coding efforts on LiteStep for the next three months. However, it was time for Francis to move on, so he released the source code to LiteStep under the GNU Public Licence; almost immediately, a group of coders pulled together to continue developing LiteStep as a free, stable alternative to Microsoft’s default shell, explorer.exe. Currently, the LSDEV team maintains LiteStep, and it remains in active development. For the latest LSDEV news, visit LSDEV, the site that always has the most up-to-date news with what’s going on with LiteStep.
Why should I use LiteStep?
-If you come from the Linux world and are used to AfterSTEP.
-If having multiple desktops would make your work easier.
-If you dislike Microsoft’s shell or find it eats too much memory, CPU, and that it is not always stable.
-If the look and feel of your desktop is important to you.
-If you like to have something different from your friends.
-Just to try a cool & stable alternative to Microsoft’s shell.
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