WCMag: Nov 2006
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WinCustomize.com Magazine |
November 2006
What's in this issue
The end of November brings us the end of the 2006 GUI
Championships. This year, we've seen entries from all over the globe, with
artists representing countries such as The United States, Australia, Brazil,
China, Pakistan and Russia (just to name a few!). In the past few months,
we've announced the winners of Most Usable and Most Original Wallpapers, Icons
and Visual Styles, giving away two video cards from EVGA/NVIDIA, piles of
cash, as well as software from Stardock, Eclipsit and subscriptions to
DeviantArt.
This week, the winners of our final events have been announced. The Best Overall events are what the competition is really all about, showcasing and rewarding the absolute best of what has been submitted. These final three events account for over $3,000 in prizes, including two XBox 360 Premium consoles! On top of that, we have the overall winner of the competition, and the recipient of the Alienware Area-51 m5750 Multimedia Entertainment Laptop! With the laptop, we officially hit the $12,000 mark!
- 1st Place, Best Overall Wallpaper: Africa by evilhomer145
- 1st Place, Best Overall Icon Package: Aqualix by Dexter 2005
- 1st Place, Best Overall Visual Style: Azenis 2 by JJ Ying
The 2006 GUI Champion, and winner of the Alienware Laptop: JJ Ying!
Visit: [GUIChamps.com]
Microsoft
Windows Vista went to manufacturing earlier this month, and one of the most
frequent questions we've received from customers and community members is when
they can expect to see a beta version of WindowBlinds that runs under
Vista. Well, the wait is over! On November 15th, WindowBlinds 5.5
Beta made its way onto Stardock Central and includes full skinning support for
Vista. One of the goals with making WindowBlinds Vista compatible, was to
allow existing skins that run under WindowBlinds for Windows XP to under
WindowBlinds for Vista. This means that Vista users will have a vast
library of skins to choose from right at release this coming January! This
is a pretty big deal for our users who have their favorite skins under XP since
they'll be able to load them right up when they upgrade to Vista.
Right now, the only way to get WindowBlinds on Windows Vista is to have Stardock Object Desktop, which you can pick up at www.objectdesktop.net. Object Desktop includes over a dozen different programs that improve the user experience of Windows. In January, Stardock expects to make WindowBlinds 5.5 available as a stand-alone download. Current owners of WindowBlinds 5 can upgrade to Object Desktop here at the discounted price of $34.95.
Guided Tour: [WinCustomize Article]
Part of: [Object
Desktop] (get it now!)
On
November 14th, Stardock launched ObjectDock 1.5. ObjectDock is a program
that lets users add docks on their computer which can host programs, running
tasks, docklets and more. It's a great tool for customizing your PC and
looks really cool!
ObjectDock 1.5 comes loaded with a ton of new features. Included on the feature list is Windows Vista compatibility! That's right, one of our most popular utilities now runs under the latest Windows Operating System. On top of that, there's a new image search feature, support for the .DockZip format, a new algorithm for zoom docks, drag and drop support for items on docks, tabbed dock rotation when docking to a screen edge, a host of mouse-over activation features and more!
ObjectDock is freeware, but a Plus version called ObjectDock Plus, which adds tabbed docks, multiple concurrent dock support, system tray support, task grouping and much more, is also available for purchase.
Guided Tour: [WinCustomize Article]
Download: [ObjectDock
Homepage]
Interview: [WinCustomize Article]
Skinner:
[SKoriginals'
WinCustomize Page]
Starting November 20, the new site will be opened up for a public beta test. Any user will be able to explore the new site, get a feel for where things moved and how the new functionality works. This will be your chance to help us catch those last few bugs, those remaining browser compatibility issues we haven't found yet. Help make the site the best it can be by testing and reporting bugs!
Some of the highlight features:
- For subscribers: It'll be skinnable.
- Much faster overall (see forums for a taste)
- Much lighter (lot less graphical content in the design)
- Skinners with Master access or higher will be able to optionally sell skins and themes (giving an incentive for classic skinners to keep making new stuff and an incentive for up and coming skinners to release lots of good free stuff to move up -- subscribers will get at least 25% off the price)
- A simpler UI to get to things more easily.
- More galleries
- Featured Skinner section
Beta Site: [WinCustomize 2007 Beta Site]
ObjectDock:
- Eminence for ObjectDock by .Zer0.
- SysTats 2.5.11 by Judge
- V!VA Icons by JJ Ying
- Wireframe Dock by Diafragma
- Pacifica Tabs & Side Dock by WebGizmos
- ObjectDock Tray by NImix
- Startmenu Docklet by AndreasV
WindowBlinds:
- Vista Plus Version 2 by adni18
- Eminence by .Zer0.
- keleven by knatzz
- Trans Gloss by Themerboy
- Cosmo by navigatsio
- Evolver Bench WB by REMOLACIO
- Hallows Eve 2006 by Z71
Stardock
is pleased to announce a new premium suite available for sale now on
Stardock.com: Texas Hold Em!
The Texas Hold Em Suite from Stardock Design is a playing card and poker chip themed suite with a slick new skin from Hippy, a Blackjack game gadget from CerebroJD, a set of six wallpapers, a bootskin, a LogonStudio skin and a matching set of icons by Voo!
Visit: [Texas Hold Em Suite]
Requires:
[Object
Desktop]
It's been a busy month on WinCustomize, and some of you have taken to writing up your thoughts on any number of issues. Here are some articles of note from November:
Island Dog has been writing up a storm, with product guides and community highlights:
-
This Week In Skinning
A look at what is happening in the customization community during a given week. -
Using Multiplicity in a Home Office [Link]
A first time-user goes through setting up Multiplicity in his home office. -
Make Your Own Custom Cursor with Stardock's CursorXP [Link]
A very short and easy to follow guide on building your own custom cursor.
Object Desktop for Windows
Vista Preview [Link]
Brad Wardell goes over what Vista
means for Object Desktop's future with WindowBlinds for Vista, the future of
gadgets and a super-secret project with Microsoft.
WinCustomize sponsors a podcast called PowerUser.tv. They are up to 59 episode, where they chat about the Nintendo Wii, clothing that cuddles you, voting machines and more! In order to get the video you must visit the site. Check out what all these zany characters look like (if you dare) or just download the audio version and carry it with you.
Visit: [PowerUser.TV]