Style XP Gumph :-(

My take on the whole thing is let them rant. We all know which of the two is the more full featured program. If all these people want to do is change the colors of their XP, by all means that's pretty much all they need is StyleXP with the DLL.

I guess it ultimately boils down to each their own. There's nothing that we can say or do that will make some of them change their minds and there's nothing they can say or do that'll make us change our minds.

As for the rip, that just doesn't surprise me. Alexandrie is by far one of the most talented artists we have available to us and she makes some wonderful XP-style skins. And I agree, it will only be the first of many.

Personally, I'm not going to play around with any DLL modifications for critical windows system files. I don't mind playing with something like the ICQ DLLs that will allow me to remove the ads but start messing with system files..no thanks. I like my computer booting thank-you-very-much.

Let them be. It can only bring more customers to Windowblinds in the end. It will users a taste of what customisation can be, then when they want more and better, they'll find WB.

the hate there they have for wb is apalling and bizarre. i can't see how anyone can hate a piece of software. and the claims they make are so outlandish. warez people mainly. they hate that wb costs money to get all the goodies but they don't mind having paid $100+ for windows xp? Hmmmmmmm...

hehe, that's a good one JayG, paid a $100+ for XP....hehe I'll be laughing about that tomorrow still

Hmm, reminds me of what the ignorant say about Netscape.

I maybe completely offbase here (but that's allright), I think a great deal of them are just rejoicing about a new alternative. Although, there will always be a few morons who take it too far, I think they have a right not to like WindowBlinds as people have a right not to like StyleXP/StyleBuilder, etc.. it's just when things are taken to an extreme is when problems can occur. It's a proven fact that if you don't bite onto their bait to get you involved in the moronic activites, it will soon die out.

I don't think Brads 'skin primers' are helping matters any, as they are lopsided in favor of anything Stardock/WinCustomize related, but that's neither here nor there. Everytime Brad releases a 'skin community' flavored document, people can't help but notice that it's somewhat a commercial for either WindowBlinds, WinCustomize or any other Stardock sponsored affiliate. Just my personal views, feel free to shoot them down.

My Skin primer was written in SEPTEMBER and covered every major skinnable program and website. What more could I have done?

Attila, I agree with your first paragraph....but just not with the second...

The problem thet Brad encounters is that no matter what subject he comments on, someone, somewhere will simply assume it is a party political broadcast....and definitely so if the subject is skin related.
I guess he is just going to have to resign himself to that.
But just for argument he was NOT and had not anything to do with Stardock and Windowblinds....what if they didn't exist?
Would that alter validity of opinion?
I'd hope not.

Now, back to the first para....yes, it does make sense to just ignore these styles newbies....and wait for them to wake up and smell the roses, but in the meantime, they are stealing artwork and creating ports without permission.... degrading the talents and reputations of established, respected artists, and that is both sad, unfortunate, and unlawful....

Here's Brad, getting ripped apart day after day because of doing the following:
1. Makes the best skinnable apps ever. I don't care what anyone says they are some of THE best!
2. Started this website in a real time of need (skinz death). If it weren't for this website (started/funded by Brad and stardock) a lot of skinners would have been lost, and probably quit.
3. Helps out the community by writing articles or browsing the message board helping people with their questions or problems.
4. Much more that I don’t even know about

Far too many people, however, for some unknown reason (are they just too immature?) accuse brad of doing the following.
1. Brainwashing people into buying his inferior skinnable apps.
2. Started this website for personal gain, power, and to sell more products.
3. Lies to people by writing articles/ message board responses promoting his programs.

I don’t understand it. I’ve refrained many times from ripping apart people acting ridiculous towards stardock/brad when they should, in fact, be thanking him. All I can say to you Brad is thank you very much for your dedication towards the skinning community.

Thanks Mooshoo. I'm convinced that there is something grating in the way I write that just rubs a percentage of people the wrong way. Even Shoggot, who've I've known for years said the other day that he despises me truly on WinCustomize.

There's a term known as "negative interpretation". Essentially it means that when something can be interpreted either to be a positive thing or a negative thing the person interprets it negative. For some reason, much of what I do is interpreted negatively. I wish I could discover the root causes and correct them. When someone says that the Skin Primer is basically a Stardock ad, what would a skin primer cover differently if it's based on merit and objectivity? I even worked with Dangeruss on the Hoverdesk section for instance.

It's TRUE to say that I have read comments on other Web site Forums where 'Fans' of Style XP Rip apart Brad & WindowBlinds even calling StarDock itself Evil..

Just recently though on the Ripping issue, some one wanted a Ported Digital FX skin to be ported of course into Style XP. I kindly mentioned that I would hope they get permission on this first.

Seems to me that the 'Newbies' on Style XP have not got a clue about the Rules of Skinning in the Community, So just how many will actually break the rules, and Create (Sorry) Rip skins from the real Artists, before they realise what they are doing is unlawful.

I Certainly DO think that part of the issue here is down to what WindowBlinds COST. They see Style XP as a Free way out of Skinning Windows. However, as much as it is not a crime to want to Skin Windows Freely, the Actual Sin to me is actually uploading Cheap rubbish that is just another Luna Theme in another colour.

I have seen many themes for Style XP that are really poor standard attempts at Themes. You just don't find this in the WindowBlinds Community, where the usual Skinning Standard is quite high.

A lot of Style XP Themes I have seen actually used original Microsoft Graphics anyway, so they were most definatly not the orginal Author of a single Pixcel Anyway.

People are free to choose of course, and this is how it should be, but not at the expense of Peoples hard work. (Another reminder of how Work from Excellent Skinners can be exploited and cheated)by People making Rips.

I just wonder what do any of us do if One of our WB Skins ends up suddenly on Style XP with out any knowledge of it prior to it being uploaded. ?

Brad,

In your position with Stardock everything you type will be picked apart to find the "stardock ad" but I believe you type an honest and 0jective view of most things ( the funding for WinC thing still irritates me) and the majority of those who whine just don't want to try to understand or read all of what you posted.

You also write to an older and above average intelligent crowd which you are a part of but, not all of the people reading have obtained yet.

They are either young or new to skinning..


Just some more random thoughts from TasT

Intelligent = intelligence

/me leaves the rest for Jafo...

Brad needs a pen name...Let's see...Richard Bachman, nope, taken, John Sandford, er...nope, taken as well...hmmm...

Maybe that can be the next big contest: Find Brad a pen name. Of course, the winner could never be announced as then everyone would know immediately that the new name is really Brad

Whelp, I'm sure Brad knows that I respect the work he has done, the work he's currently doing, and most importantly the work he will do in the future. I have no reason to personally dislike Brad. I can only speak the truth as it pertains to the way I interpret things. It's a simple fact that not everyone is going to agree with everything that you do or say. As for the skin primer subject, I used it in its plural form to signify the numerous articles you've posted at various sites within the past few weeks (not just THEE Skin Primer). As Brad said, it's the 'negative interpretation' thing. Some people will interpret it as a blessing to the community, others as a commercial for Stardock/WindowBlinds. Neither is a flawed assertion in my opinion.

Now... thecat started this thread regarding the actions of a number of people who are bashing WindowBlinds, some are even posting unauthorized work of other skinners/designers. I can't name ONE person who isn't opposed to this, who isn't involved in the practice themselves. However, I think what needs to be done is instead of maybe venting/ranting about what's going on; people should rather report incidences of possible RIPS to site administrators/moderators so appropriate actions can be taken. I can't count the number of times people have complained to me about "seeing" a rip and nothing was done about it. I would then ask the person if they reported it to someone capable of doing anything about it, and 10/10 times, the answer was "no."

I guess my point is this: We can spend endless hours debating whether or not mine and others INTERPRETATIONS of Stardock/Brad are accurate or not, or we could instead MOVE ON and DO something about what this topic is essentially about. I suppose, the key word in all of this bickering about peoples motives is "INTERPRETATION" which is unique in all of us. You won't here any more from me concerning other people's motives unless they infringe on mine some way or another. That's just ONE of the numerous ideologies I've garnered while writing this reply. I hope I have remained coherant throughout this lengthy post, I know many of you can atest to the difficulty of keeping things coherant in these small text boxes. ~ With warm regards, V. Brown (Attila)

You know what I think? We need to modify the message board so that the text is bigger. I think that's it's too hard to read stuff on WC.

Frogboy,

Larger text size would be nice but I can control text size in IE: View / Text Size / Largest, and it looks nice. Wider boxes might be nice though....

Attila...I copped loads of flak on DA for handling a rip of Nuvem's Lost Souls....in particular from one fellow DA member who followed up by posting deliberate rips of work at DA to make some obscure point about it being meaningless.
What hope have responsible artists/skinners/community members got when their efforts are undermined from within by 'Rebels Without A Clue'?...
Anyway...I passed on info of that transgression to jark, so again it can be dealt with via proper channels...

I won't even ask why you bothered to mention DA, although it's probably because I'm affiliated with it, perhaps... Anyways, what do you mean by: "I copped loads of flak on DA for handling a rip of Nuvem's Lost Souls" handling? I don't follow.

Oh yea, Attila, evil agent of DA, spreading DA propaganda! Probably getting paid to read this post even!

/em practices his troll growling. GRRR...grrr..cough cough choke..

Attila - I won't even ask why you bothered to mention DA

from my reading of the thread, i thought that this was simply an example of:
a) someone doing something about a rip
this isnt always welcome

i wont attempt to speak for Jafo (people would notice the spelling, leading to me being found out ) but that is what it sounded like to me.

Frogboy - practices his troll growling. GRRR...grrr..cough cough choke..

i could purr into a microphone for you, and you could then shift the noise to make it deeper if that would help?

/me PURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Vince...it was in no way meant as a slight upon DA, but merely an example of ripping not being appreciated as the crime that it is by an existing member of the community who seems to think that if he doesn't care what happens to his work, then no-one else has a right to care what happens to theirs....a really clever logic...
So, we don't have to look to people outside of this community to find idiotic attitude towards property theft. It ain't just newbies who are ignorant...
As to the flak...it was mainly via notes to and from this twit....I was merely pissing into the wind, trying to get him to understand the concept of artists' rights and copyright theft, and he claimed I had no rights what-so-ever to pursue the offending site because it wasn't my work that was stolen....
But stuff him, I say....I got a result, Lost Souls [the rip] was removed...and all of the communications between that site and myself had been entirely mature and professional, hence the outcome....

Jafo:

I actually followed as best I could that rather confusing thread. And yes, that kid just apparantly doesn't, for the lack of a better phrase, get it.

It was equally baffling to me.

Hmm well on DA Rips are always being reported, as much as it is a good thing people are aware of the potential of copy right infringemnts and so on, unfortunately the practise of understanding the rules of creating any theme or skin can well be ignored by new people to skinning.

However, Places that have forums that enable people to post there themes is all well and good, but I notice that some of the places arn't really moderated properly. Thus such Themes are getting through the Net, such as Alexandrie Rips. It is just a fact that many people see rips as acceptible. Many think it dosent matter, in fact.

ok, its easy to bitch about this, and there are solutions, but the mainline arugment really isn't about Ripping, it's about Style XP Skinners Ripping apart Brad and Window Blinds suggesting that Style XP is a better system of Skinning Windows XP with. Well actually it is only as good as what Microsoft had made it. The MS Styles Format even by the final edition was left with more than a few bugs..