Gee, how am I ever going to live up to the hype on this one? Checking BBXstudio 3-4 times a day? I better get off my ass and finish getting it up and running then, huh? A better alternative would be to join the BBX mailing list - then you'd get sneak peeks, test builds and new releases before anybody else Just send me an email (billyb@bbxstudio.com) and you'll be on the list. That's where the first releases and screenshots will be, not on MacNN, BBXstudio or MMicons...

I can't show you anything yet (that would ruin the surprise), but I can describe the new stuff briefly - imagine Aqua wrapped in an Audi TT, segmented injection-moulded silver plates with tight black rubber seams... sculpted in the vertical (horizontal edges are hard to come by in OSX) with a totally new soft metallic environment map (whereas Mercury was glossy silver, this new stuff is softer but very realistic)... clean new-style BBX 'glyphs' replace many of the candy-assed Aqua widgets (and toolbar items). I'm trying real hard to balance slick and futuristic with clean and simple while making the most of (and trying to compensate for) Aqua's retarded proportions and limitations (not easy)... but it's slow-going at this stage as there's a lot of bounce back and revisions going on while I try and integrate all of the different elements into a cohesive visual whole.

A lot of the 'window dressing' and flash is taking place on the icon side of the fence, where Mikkel is hard at work developing a deeply integrated icon system based on our new glyph-based vocabulary... these things are going to be solid and very cool We'll also be releasing a 'construction set' for creative types who want to build into the ever-growing 'official' pantheon of BBX for OSX icons.

I'm working on it as much as I can whenever I can, but sometimes I have to step away for a few days and look at it with fresh eyes because it all becomes a blur and I'll start to question the bits I've designated 'written-in-stone'... so I try to work on it only when inspired and full of good ideas. This won't be the end-all-and-be-all by any means - we're learning as we go along and are really laying the foundations and concepts for a whole slew of derivative designs at the same time. Things like this new-style BBX glyph system and silver metallic environment map will likely carry through all of our future OSX designs. There are actually 2 or 3 derivative designs (including Miraikane) being developed simultaneously from our BBX futuremetal master... so you'll likely see a family of metal BBX releases throughout 2003.

Thanks for the interest guys! Hope we don't disappoint