Emerge Desktop is a replacement windows "shell" (the desktop environment normally provided by Windows Explorer) for Windows 2000 and above.

In order to replace Windows Explorer as a shell, it provides a system tray (the area that collects the icons collected at the lower right corner in Explorer), called emergeTray.

It will also provide access to the users programs (normally accessed with the windows "start" button) via a right-click on the desktop, via emergeCore.

Emerge Desktop has an open API, which allows for applets to be coded with compilers other than MinGW if someone wishes to do so. In fact Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 project and workspace files are available in CVS in case someone wants to use them.

Furthermore, you will be able to run Emerge Desktop applets either as standalone or integrated within other objects.

In order for Emerge Desktop applets to communicate with each other, emergeCore must be running. Without emergeCore, each applet will run independently (if, for example, you wish to use them in conjunction with another desktop shell).

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

New:
· Support for Aero styled menus in emergeWorkspace

Fixed:
· icon flashing in emergeTray
· crash in emergeWorkspace when trying to copy a non-existant style file