Immersive Explorer
version 0.6.1 Alpha
http://www.immersive-explorer.com
===================

Immersive Explorer is designed to be an alternative to the default file explorer included in Windows (known as Windows Explorer).
It aims to provide an "immersive" experience to the user by focusing on the content rather than hiding it behind useless icons and large window chrome and borders.
It will also avoid the user from having to open different applications and navigate between multiple windows when doing things as simple as viewing a picture.
For example, when the user want to see a photo, instead of opening Windows Photo Viewer in a new window, the photo will be displayed directly in the Immersive Explorer window.

Although it is not a Windows 8 "Metro application", it is designed around the "Metro" user interface guidelines. 
It will be optimised for touch-screens, but will offer a great experience for desktop users too (with features like scroll-to-zoom, keyboard navigation).

Immersive Explorer is based on Win32/.net/WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation).
It uses graphical hardware acceleration to display fluid animations and transitions, making it look more modern than the default GDI-based Windows file explorer.
Note that this app is not a complete replacement for the Windows Shell (it's just an alternative to Windows Explorer) and it won't even need admin rights to be installed.

As it is not based on WinRT, unfortunately it means that it won't work on Windows RT devices (but it will work on Windows 8 tablets like Surface Pro).
I expect Windows 8 (x86) tablets to be more popular than Windows RT tablets among power users, so lack of Windows RT support is not a huge problem.


===================

Release notes :

Version 0.6.1 (2013/12/18) :
-pushed the expiration date to 2014/01/10
-bug fixes and minor improvements
-prevents the user from starting several instances in setup mode
-the optimizer tool introduced in 0.6.0 runs automatically after 1st app exit if the .net native cache needs to be updated


Version 0.6.0 (2013/12/12) :
-pushed the expiration date to 2013/12/18
-bug fixes
-added "Pin to taskbar" support for additionnal locales (EN, FR, ES, DE, IT, ZH-CN, VN, JA, ID, RU, EL, CS, NL, RO, PT, PL, AR, TR)
-added Common Folders pinning (setup only)
-added buttons to copy MD5 and SHA1 results to the clipboard
-added a tool to solve slow start-up issues occuring on some computers (Immersive Explorer optimizer.exe)

Version 0.5.9 (2013/11/27) :
-pushed the expiration date to 2013/12/01
-bug fixes
-added "Pin to taskbar" support (currently, this feature is supported only on English versions of Windows)

Version 0.5.8 (2013/08/31) :
-pushed the expiration date to 2013/09/15.
-fixed a memory leak issue in the picture viewer
-improved performance in the picture viewer (next/previous pictures are now preloaded)
-fixed keyboard shortcuts bug

Version 0.5.7 (2013/06/06) :
-pushed the expiration date to 2013/06/15.
-added a way to install the program on the user's profile.
-windowing : fixed the restore size bug on systems with multiple monitors, and improved the transition between maximized state and fullscreen.
-commands at the bottom of the screen are now scaled down to avoid being truncated when the window size is too small.
-picture viewer: pictures are now limited to a maximum 4096x4096 decode size to avoid using to much memory. This will prevent crashes that were caused by OutOfMemory exceptions. 

Version 0.5.6 (2013/04/24) :
-pushed the expiration date to 2013/05/25. 
-reduced the frequency of online update checking (now happens at most once per day).
-automatic display of onscreen keyboard when text boxes are activated by touch or stylus.
-picture viewer now supports moving pictures around using touch (pinch to zoom was already supported, but still needs improvements)
-visual improvements.
-improved translation support.
-bug fixes.

Version 0.5.5 (2013/04/13) :
-pushed the expiration date to 2013/04/23. 
-will not expire if no update is available after the expiration date (but an internet connection will be required to verify that no update is available yet)
-enabled the ability to Copy or Move files/folders (single item only; multiselect will be implemented in version 0.6)
-added the ability to display a background wallpaper
-removed the 3d gallery mode
-visual improvements (buttons and colors look more like the native Windows 8 visual style)
-bug fixes (should fix a crash at startup that occured on some computers and prevented the app from being used)

Version 0.5.0 (2013/03/05) :
-pushed the expiration date to 2013/03/15
-enabled the ability to Rename or Delete files/folders (single item only; multiselect will be implemented in version 0.6)
-added Keyboard Shortcuts : Escape (navigate to Computer), Backspace (navigate backward), Delete, F5 (refresh), F11 (full screen), Alt+Left/Right/Up (navigate backward/forward/up), Enter (open selected file or folder)
-added an "Open With" button

Version 0.4.1 (2013/02/05) :
-pushed the expiration date to 2013/03/05
-added the ability to download additionnal UI languages directly from the Settings panel

Version 0.4.0 (2013/01/07) :
-pushed the expiration date to 2013/02/05
-should be compatible with Windows Vista too (in addition to Windows 7 and Windows 8)
-bug fixes and internal changes
-added a Settings panel allowing to choose the UI language (automatic download of additional languages will be added in a later version)

Version 0.3.0 (2012/09/14) :
-fixed a bug that blocked the display of the folder thumbnails and items count on some computers (that bug also caused the use of lots of CPU resources).
-fixed a big performance regression issue related to thumbnails loading (introduced accidentally in version 0.1.2)
-displays the title on audio files

Version 0.2.1 (2012/09/07) :
-bug fixes and visual improvements
-translations are now automatically downloaded
-added controls for video playback (play/pause, skip forward/backward, stretch)
-added another picture viewer (inherited from Windows 7 Logon Background Changer). Not optimized yet. May be removed in future versions depending on feedback.
-pushed the expiration date to 2013/01/05

Version 0.2.0 (2012/08/25) :
-bug fixes and visual improvements
-added support for translations (english and french translations included; no automatic download yet for other languages)
-added video thumbnails and basic video playback support (click to play/pause, no extended controls yet)
-icon and description are now displayed for EXE files
-pushed the expiration date to 2012/09/15

Version 0.1.2 (2012/08/04) :
-bug fixes and visual improvements
-very basic support for audio playback (no playlist support yet)
-supports JPEG thumbnail extraction when available for faster thumbnail loading
-on the "My Computer" screen, thumbnails are now displayed only on the "My Pictures" tile
-pushed the expiration date to 2012/08/25

Version 0.1.1 (2012/07/29) :
-added a temporary icon for the exe file
-fixed a compilation issue that prevented the app from working on 32bit systems

Version 0.1.0 (2012/07/28) :
-This is the first public release of Immersive Explorer. Please do NOT redistribute.
-It will check online for updates at startup, and expire automatically after 2012/08/04. Expect at least a new update every week.
-Most features are not yet working, there is still a lot of bugs, and I'm aware that scrolling performance is still bad on low end CPUs.
I'm releasing this version just to offer a preview of this project as it is being developped, and to hear your suggestions early in the development phase.
You can visit this page http://www.julien-manici.com/immersive_explorer/ to submit me suggestions and bug reports.


When the app will reach version 1.0, it will be open-sourced. For now the code quality is not good enough to be shared widely.


Features supported by this application:
-local file system browsing, copy/move/rename/delete files and folders (no network drive support yet)
-picture viewing (scroll to zoom, click to zoom, arrows up/down to zoom, touch support: pinch-to-zoom/move)
-MD5/SHA1 hash calculation

Features that will be supported in the near future:
-scrolling performance improvements
-touchscreen support
-picture manipulation (rotate, crop, and mass resize)
-search, advanced view filters and sorting


===================

Configuration required :

-Windows Vista, 7 or Windows 8
-A Core 2 Duo processor, or better (this app will be optimised to run on low end CPUs like Intel Atom or AMD Fusion in a future version)
-At least 1 GB of ram
-The .NET Framework 4 must be installed (it is already installed by default in Windows 8, but not on Windows 7)
