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Crusty Windows: Difference between revisions
todo: document winreducer? also touch more on "formative bootlegs" and the evolution of "XP modding culture" in nlite section
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Undefishin (talk | contribs) (todo: document winreducer? also touch more on "formative bootlegs" and the evolution of "XP modding culture" in nlite section) |
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=== The Beginning ===
[[File:BedOS.jpg|thumb|200px|The BedOS 2.0 Desktop]]
The first bootleg that was created for Windows was a [[transformation pack]] called [[BedOS]], released in early 2000. This OS required an existing install of Windows 95 or Windows 98 to function, and had releases in both Russian and English. It laid the foundations for many bootleg creators, as it added a custom theme, icons, and several additional drivers and programs, as well as removing some bloat from the existing install. It was a very important OS for kicking off the Russian bootleg scene and thus the Windows bootleg scene as a whole.
The name of the OS is a pun, as when romanized, the name would be "BadOS". It is also one of the very few bootlegs distributed as shareware.
The second earliest bootleg known to exist is one based on Windows XP before it was even released, known as [[Whistler Build 2531]]. Based on a Release Candidate 2
=== nLite Era ===
nLite is a tool for customizing [[:Category:Bootlegs based on Windows 2000|Windows 2000]], [[:Category:Bootlegs based on Windows XP|Windows XP]] or [[:Category:Bootlegs based on Windows Server|Windows Server 2003]] installation media. It can do a variety of things, like integrating updates (and "addons") (like DriverPacks, Kels' All-in-One CPL Bonus, VistaDriveIcon, Windows Media Player 11/Internet Explorer 8, and many more), and even custom themes with the UXTheme patch, unattended installs (used to pre-activate the OS, and change the registration information)
The early versions of nLite were first released in October 2004, although it did not gain much traction until around 2005, when some early XP (including 2000, ''and [[Tomato Garden Server 2003|2003]] to a lesser extent'') bootlegs began to use the tool.
Examples of mods using nLite around this time are:
* [[Windows AlphaBetas]] (''Windows 2000 SP4, nLite 1.0 beta 6 on Windows 2000, September 2005'')
* [[TinyXP]] (''Windows XP SP2, nLite 1.0 RC3 on Windows XP Professional SP2, late 2005'')
* [[Wesmosis 2.5|Wesmosis]] (''nLite (unknown version), earliest releases go back to mid-late 2005, version in archive is mid-late 2007'')
* [[Windows XP Gamer Edition]] (''nLite 1.0 RC7, September 27, 2006'')
As the tool became easier to use and ISOs became easier to distribute thanks to the rise of file sharing websites like MegaUpload and Rapidshare, nLite would see an explosive spike in usage around early 2008, as dozens of authors began using it to create their own Windows mods and share it with their favorite forums or friends.
The latest version of this program is 1.4.9.3, and can still be [https://www.nliteos.com/download.html downloaded] today. It has not been updated for more than a decade, as the creator has switched to making a tool named NTLite, which has the same purpose, but supports editing Windows 7, 8.x, 10 and 11.
Despite not being updated for more than 10 years, nLite has continued to be the most popular program for making Windows XP bootlegs. Even after support for Windows XP had ended,
=== vLite Era ===
=== 7Customizer/RT 7 Lite era ===
In the early days of Windows 7 bootlegging, many tools were created to modify Windows 7 installations, the two most famous ones being 7Customizer by blue4603 and RT 7 Lite by the [[:Category:
7Customizer was first released in October 2009, and is thus far more common in bootlegs created between 2009 and 2011.
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