Wow, this looks really cool! I've honestly never heard of replacing the Windows shell before, so I've got some really n00bish questions to ask:
1> Where do you even begin to learn how to write something like this?
2> Can a well-written and/or simple shell improve performance/startup-times?

I recently got a new PC, so I'm keen to do some experimenting on the old one. This means I'll probably give MintShell a go when it is ready/available, but I'd also like to have a go at doing some of that kind of stuff myself

Jibb