Talisman Desktop
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Talisman Desktop is a configurable Windows desktop shell replacement introduced in 1997 by Lighttek Software. It is available in a number of languages including English, French, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese, Russian and Italian. Talisman Desktop is shareware, available as a free trial download that expires in 30 days. The registration fee for continued use is 25 USD.
The Talisman interface is freeform skinnable, and uses downloadable themes. Several themes are included with the download and more are available from the manufacturer's website and various other websites. Users can also create and edit their own themes. Customizing the Talisman interface is somewhat easier than most other shell replacements, as it uses a paged configuration dialog rather than forcing the user to edit hidden scripts. Talisman is unique in that it can also be configured as a shell extension within Windows Explorer (much like a highly configurable launcher) or as a GUI replacement within Explorer (similar to Winstep or Hoverdesk), although it is much more powerful as a shell replacement.
Lighttek's flagship application has always remained out of the limelight occupied by better known rivals like the freeware shells LiteStep and Blackbox. However, the freeware status of those products will always promote greater distribution over commercial shells like Talisman and rival Aston Shell. Despite this obstacle, Talisman has maintained a userbase adequate to support continuous development since the software's introduction. Its limitation to the Windows OS is sometimes seen as another obstacle, but it is the only Windows shell replacement that is fully compatible with all versions of Windows from Windows 95 onward. The current version, 2.99 (build 2990) was released in March 2007.
[edit] Popularity
As of 1-23-2006, Download.com had 425,306[1] unique downloads and had the software listed as 'Popular'. Numerous positive reviews have also been written about the software.[2][3][4][5]
