Stardock Forums
http://www.glass8.eu/
If this guy can implement Aero Glass on Windows 8.1, I think Stardock should be able to achieve the same result, if not, they can license the software for WindowBlinds.
DO NOT use this. I tried it once and nearly borked my system beyond recovery.
If there was a way to do it and not affect your system adversely I think Stardock would have done it already. Stardock is very good about things like that. 
Aero glass support on Windows 8.1 running Aero Midnight skin with WindowBlinds.
Well lookie there. Why to go Jim.
On W7, that skin has aero blur, which I believe is what the OP actually is looking for.
Yes, that's what I mean. I know that WindowBlinds can already use skins with transparency, what I'm looking for is the complete Aero Glass effect emulation, including transparency, blur, reflections, shadows... just like the program posted above does, and by the way, barely consumes any resources because it works natively inside the DWM.
How did that ever happen? Are you sure you installed the correct version for your system? You shouldn't use the Windows 8 version in Windows 8.1 and viceversa, they're different for each system. Do you used it with WindowBlinds installed? I haven't tried that but I'm sure the wouldn't go well togheter. Also, did you install the leaked Update 1 on your Windows 8.1? The update broke the compatibility with the program so it would crash DWM rendering the system unusable, but that problem was because the leaked update was officially unsupported until it released officially. Now works perfectly on Windows 8.1 Update 1.
Yes, I installed the correct version.
No
No
There is no way in hell I'm trying it on my production system. I had to start in safe mode and do some heavy repair to get back.
Maybe on a VM I will try it, but I remain skeptical at best.
I'm running Windowblinds with some of Butch123's skins and they provide all I desire for the transparent look.
Well, it may look to some that I'm shamelessly advertising other people's software but that's not my intention. I'm just providing the link as an example that Aero Glass emulation can be done without hindering the system resources at all.
The issue I have is when someone signs up specifically the same day as posting a promotion of a third party product. This thread is the sum total of interaction with this site.
If it weren't so buggy and inept it might even be construed as some form of 'competition' for Stardock's products.
If an OS 'modification' is systematically broken by subsequent OS revisions/updates it is fair to assume it entails reverse-engineering of proprietary MS libraries, as other 'enhancements' have done in the past.
At best they are NOT endorsed by MS and at worst are violations of the MS TOU.
The reason we do not ship a similar feature is we will not ship something we know will break each time certain files in the OS get updates and then have to wait on fixing it until Microsoft release debugging symbols. I.e. we will not ship anything which assumes hardcoded memory addresses.
With free apps people accept that if it doesn't work then well you didn't pay anything, but if you paid money people expect it to work all the time and issues like that result in increased support costs for us and potentially requests for refunds when an update comes out and we have not yet implemented support.
Personally, I'd be thrilled if WindowBlinds simply provided translucency (blurred transparency) as it was in the Windows 8 Release Preview. Presumably, the underlying WDDM technology needed for translucency is still there, even though Microsoft pulled the use of it out of the UI.
You have been informed doing that would alter the system files which Stardock is reluctantly to do since it would incur tons of unpleasant experiences just for a tiny satisfaction.
There is no way in hell I'm trying it on my production system. I had to start in safe mode and do some heavy repair to get back.
If you had to do heavy repair than the problem wasn't surely caused by my Aero Glass. This software does not do any system modification except creating scheduled task to inject DLL on startup. This DLL injection can be easily skipped by holding CTRL key or scheduled task can be removed in safe mode.
In fact, it is not problem at all, because the utility does not modify any system file and it is able to find where to inject the specific code (memory addresses are not hardcoded). This locations almost don't change at all. Currently, it changed only between W8 --> W8.1 --> W8.1 Update1, thus the WindowBlinds suffer from the same problem, because they need update very often between several Windows versions.
And at the end, from my observation, WindowBlinds also injects its DLL by using undocumented API function which can be changed in any OS update and WindowFX hooks DWM's Direct3D device, the same technique as used in my Aero Glass 
If you had to do heavy repair than the problem wasn't surely caused by my Aero Glass. This software does not do any system modification except creating scheduled task to inject DLL on startup. This DLL injection can be easily skipped by holding CTRL key or scheduled task can be removed in safe mode.
In fact, it is not problem at all, because the utility does not modify any system file and it is able to find where to inject the specific code (memory addresses are not hardcoded). This locations almost don't change at all. Currently, it changed only between W8 --> W8.1 --> W8.1 Update1, thus the WindowBlinds suffer from the same problem, because they need update very often between several Windows versions.
And at the end, from my observation, WindowBlinds also injects its DLL by using undocumented API function which can be changed in any OS update and WindowFX hooks DWM's Direct3D device, the same technique as used in my Aero Glass
I have not reverse engineered Aero Glass, but have a good idea of how it would function and I seem to recall seeing discussion of at least the beta using fixed offsets into dlls in order to patch internal functions. If that isn't the case I apologise.
For our purposes we cannot realistically ship anything which is guaranteed to break with the next service pack (you suggest it changes every single major update so far), that's the key difference between paid for and free software. If we take someones money we need to be reasonably sure that if it were to break for any reason that we could fix it even if the OS PDB symbols are not available at the time. Based on the comment that there are two versions, one for 8 and one for 8.1, it suggests each version of the OS is having to have a custom version, but perhaps this is inaccurate.
I ought to stress I have nothing against the product and you should be happy we are currently uncomfortable with shipping something like that. I have to confess other than loading it up to see if I could make Start8 detect it and so enable blurred backgrounds on the Start8 menu, I have not used it and unfortunately in that case there was no easy way to detect it. If this has changed please do let me know so I can make Start8 aware.
Other than the issue with the 64 bit version of Windows a few months ago where a previously unnoticed bug got exposed in WindowBlinds, you should not require an update of WindowBlinds in order to work on a new update of an OS. You do need new versions for each major version (so Win7->Win8), but that's expected and reasonable to customers. On occasion there are some minor visual issues that come in due to new OS enhancements which need skinning, but there should not stop the OS working correctly with the older version and we aim to update the product quickly and again well before any debug symbols would be released.
We think carefully about every technique we use to determine if we feel it may cause us support problems down the line. If it is considered too risky we simply do not use it. That's not to say we are perfect, but the things you mention are proven to be reliable and sometimes we may be aware of things that are not public knowledge.
Yes, fixed offsets where used in the first phase of the software just to make sure that the hooking is possible. Currently, it uses specific technique to find a correct memory location where to inject my code to. It has been shown that it works correctly in most cases, but I agree that it may fail some time. Thus I implemented PDB symbols use for such cases. I also have experience that these PDB symbols have always been released several days before the OS update came to public, so their unavailability is not the problem. Of course, if someone uses unofficially leaked update then I cannot ensure the functionality. But I believe that even WB team does not test their product on leaked and cracked builds of OS.
But I agree that commercial product will rather rely on long-time verified and 100% reliable technique than on something that was found by observations. I also see the target audience as the difference. While WB is targeted to all Windows versions, it's expected that update is needed between each OS version but it stays compatible between service packs. But my AG is targeted to Win8.x only so it should stay compatible between minor updates only. I just wanted to point out that even WB techniques are unofficial/undocumented so they may break between OS updates, but it probably won't be so often.
As for Start8 blurring, no special technique is needed. The old Win7 DWM API is still supported and it can be used to enable blurring behind any window (some software call this option as "Disable transparency" on Win8). I also wanted to implement special support for WB but I gave it up when I found out that WB completely disables DWM rendering on windows frames.
Unfortunately we need to detect the existence of Aero Glass as without it the blur apis would make the menu solid. Start8 would only use glass in the transparent case so has to flip its logic if the user has Aero Glass. The solid mode in Start8 does not use the blur apis. You could consider adding a GlobalAtom to be detected. Like when you are on call GlobalAddAtom ("AEROGLASSON") and then use GlobalDeleteAtom when turned off.
Regarding leaked builds, we do not officially support them, but our products should work just fine. The 32 bit version of WindowBlinds 8.0 from well over a year ago should continue to work on Windows 8.1 Update 1 right now. There will be a small visual issue with the alt tab window on some themes and a small jumplist rendering issue again with some themes, but that's it.
On the PDB point, I think the 8.1 Update 1 symbols shipped later than normal with builds being on MSDN sometime before the symbols showed up.
I see the problem in Win8 DWM API glitch. If you look at the function http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa969508%28v=vs.85%29.aspx to enable blur behind window, it does not say anything that it does not enable blur on Win8.x. So to be API-correct, simply add option "Enable blur" and call this function. Yes, it won't work when my Aero Glass is not installed (but API doc does not mention this) but it will behave the same way as on Win7 when transparency effect is disabled. I just don't recommend to call it on layered windows or windows with applied accent effect (which is possible only via undocumented API used e.g. for taskbar) else its colorization will be doubled.
Providing a possibility to detect Aero Glass seems to be a good idea, I will think about it.
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