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goMac · Feb 22, 2003, 04:15 PM

This March, Conundrum Software will be releasing a brand new, un-announced, never seen before project. We have taken themes, thrown out everything we know about them, and re-designed them from the ground up.

Theme developers will be provided with the tools they need to make modifications to system files, while preventing conflicts with new versions of Mac OS X.

We will continue to support DLTA and .theme, but we suggest developers take advantage of the new technologies soon.

Expect more news in March.

macmike42 · Feb 22, 2003, 04:49 PM

*yawn*

Macanoid · Feb 22, 2003, 05:27 PM

Originally posted by macmike42:
*yawn*

Not very funny at all!

macmike42 · Feb 22, 2003, 05:51 PM

Originally posted by Macanoid:
Not very funny at all!

It wasn't meant to be funny. I was expressing my opinion and my general state of mind.

bbxstudio · Feb 22, 2003, 10:53 PM

Originally posted by goMac:
This March, Conundrum Software will be releasing a brand new, un-announced, never seen before project. We have taken themes, thrown out everything we know about them, and re-designed them from the ground up.

Theme developers will be provided with the tools they need to make modifications to system files, while preventing conflicts with new versions of Mac OS X.

We will continue to support DLTA and .theme, but we suggest developers take advantage of the new technologies soon.

Expect more news in March.

C'mon Colin - throw us a little more detail, dude

Without the details it's just jibba-jabba... Do we need to rethink anything we might be sweating away on as we speak? Will we lose the ability to modify certain components? Can existing .dlta and .theme files be adapted to whatever this new format is? Can we expect any additional functionality and/or control? Are you bringing us one step closer to the holy grail of theming - Kaileidoscope-level control over the OSX interface? Or is it simply another theme format? What's the deal?

barry_black · Feb 22, 2003, 11:04 PM

Here is the text I found on their web site. It sounds pretty intersting and very helpful but not really exciting.

Conundrum Software Announces ThemeStep

Announcing ThemeStep, quite possibly the biggest advance in OS X themes ever.

ThemeStep is a new technology that allows any theme built for Mac OS X to work on any version of Mac OS X. Theme developers and users of themes on Mac OS X will not longer have to worry about operating system versions.

ThemeStep takes both the resources of the theme, and the resources from the current Aqua theme, and combines them together, creating a new resource file capable of running of running on that specific machine. In short, ThemeStep will automatically upgrade your theme to run on the current system seemlessly and automatically.

ThemeStep supports the following formats:

*

DLTA
*

.theme
*

.rsrc

More details will be available soon.

scaught · Feb 22, 2003, 11:25 PM

Originally posted by macmike42:
It wasn't meant to be funny. I was expressing my opinion and my general state of mind.

and it was such an interesting opinion and general state of mind. certainly worthy of sharing with the rest of us.

i feel so much better having read it.

mrtew · Feb 23, 2003, 12:02 AM

Originally posted by macmike42:
It wasn't meant to be funny. I was expressing my opinion and my general state of mind.

Yeah, you have a great mind! Please stay with the themer's forum... we need more people like you here. Just wonderful, your mind. I love it!

fireside · Feb 23, 2003, 02:13 AM

Heh, will this make theme making easier

SteevAK · Feb 23, 2003, 05:00 AM

w00t! Way to go, goMac!

TheIceMan · Feb 23, 2003, 05:17 AM

barry_black
Actually, according to their own forum, I think the name might be Catalyst.

goMac · Feb 23, 2003, 01:52 PM

To answer everyone's questions:

1) This new theme tool is mentioned nowhere on any page on our site. You won't find any mention of it.

2) This is not the holy grail theme changer. Sorry. I don't want people expecting one.

3) DLTA and .theme will still work, and they will keep most functionality.

4) It is simply a new format, and it isn't, you'll have to wait to find out.

5) You can expect massive changes in such a new format in functionality, security, and design.

Synotic · Feb 23, 2003, 02:40 PM

Originally posted by TheIceMan:
barry_black
Actually, according to their own forum, I think the name might be Catalyst.

Catalyst is just a program that creates DLTAs.

chezpaul · Feb 23, 2003, 03:06 PM

I thought "yawn" was appropriate... GoMac doesn't say much in his post. He tries and fails to hype a product. (to us none theme makers but theme users).

That's what the post did to me... I yawned and then I read on.

hehe
;-)

zazou · Feb 23, 2003, 03:09 PM

Another new project?

OK, I really dig that you are into making theming easier and better, yada yada.

But Duality 3, Duality 4, Catalyst and ThemeStep...... were any of those ever really finished? And now something NEW and NEVER heard of? Come on.

I applaud your desire to advance theming... but if slick-named, pre-hyped, ultimately flaky functionality vapor is what we get than you are not doing anyone a favor.

So, best of luck too you. I hope the promise is realized.

Resident Cynic,

Z

unlinear · Feb 23, 2003, 03:11 PM

yawn was my first thought, too.

"This March, Conundrum Software will be releasing a brand new, un-announced, never seen before project. We have taken themes, thrown out everything we know about them, and re-designed them from the ground up."

a. How is it un-announced if you just announced it?

b. 'never before seen' is correct grammar. Okay, nitpick. Otherwise, the quote above totally and utterly has NO value; it says _NOTHING_.

c. I'm slightly sceptical about the this product for the simple reason I have yet to see Conundrum release a FINAL version of anything in the last year or so.

Finish what you start. Earn respect. It's simple.

goMac · Feb 23, 2003, 03:21 PM

Originally posted by unlinear:
c. I'm slightly sceptical about the this product for the simple reason I have yet to see Conundrum release a FINAL version of anything in the last year or so.

Finish what you start. Earn respect. It's simple.

We've already started seeding it to developers, it is already close to nearing completion, I have no doubt the final version will be released on the set release date in March.

el lindo · Feb 23, 2003, 03:26 PM

What about all the other stuff then?

goMac · Feb 23, 2003, 03:47 PM

Originally posted by el lindo:
What about all the other stuff then?

You should expect to see a final version of Duality a few days after the release of this project. A Catalyst update would most likely occur within perhaps a few weeks of release.

TheIceMan · Feb 23, 2003, 04:10 PM

Originally posted by Synotic:
Catalyst is just a program that creates DLTAs.

Thanks. My mistake.

el lindo · Feb 23, 2003, 04:37 PM

Originally posted by goMac:
You should expect to see a final version of Duality a few days after the release of this project. A Catalyst update would most likely occur within perhaps a few weeks of release.

Cool, sounds good to me.