Stardock will be closed for the week starting on Monday, June 29th and we will be returning on Monday, July 6th. We will be monitoring support tickets and forums during this time but expect delays in responses during this time.
WinCustomize Forums
I don't know about you guys but Vista and Windows 7 were real downers when it came to customization. But it's clear from playing with Windows 8 that there's going to be a LOT of customization wanted/needed with Windows 8. All hail Metro and its ugliness. 
Brad...no matter what Microsoft comes up with I could never be without WindowBlinds! As far as I'm concerned...every new pc should come standard with WindowBlinds. 
You can say that again. Does 8 have UAC?
I didn't see any prompts when I was running it.
Metro and it's ugliness might make a lot of people decide not to buy Windows 8 in the first place.
So then what you are saying is that there are some tools in the works that will help make Metro ugly look much better, hmm? 
1. For Metro Lovers (whoever they are) - Tiles. And pre-made customized tiles for different apps.
2. For the "7-oid" taskbar lovers - Windowblinds, all the other ODNT apps.
Total win-win.
a hammer?
... I hope it will be a easy thing to do. How cool will it be for the skinners to be able to skin for a tablet 
Aesthetically speaking, Metro is a giant leap backwards and will not be used in its current form as a UI on any PC of mine. So while Metro may be good for skinning, it certainly has no other plusses, well not for me anyway..
In fact, even if MS does make it look prettier, there is no way I want Metro on my desktop I have my preference and I'm sticking to it... where I have a taskbar and start menu that I can tart up with Windowblinds... where IF I want to place a tile or two on my desktop I don't have to enable a nauseating GUI to do so.
Exactly! Microsoft may think it is catering to the app happy now generation, but there's millions of old school PC users who will not be at all impressed with the new format... especially if it is enabled by default. So unless Microsoft provides users the option to select their preferred GUI at setup, because most will have no idea how to change it otherwise, Win 8 could very well be the next ME, Vista in terms of consumer uptake and popularity.
For me it will be all about choice and whether I can do things the way I want... whether or not I will be forced into some registry hack or 3rd party app to access the kind of desktop environment I desire. And no, it's not about being a dinosaur and not moving with the times. You either like something or you don't... and I simply loathe the concept and look of Metro.
I think some of the downer, from this point of view, are the missing components, borked coding that is encountered with SKS. One would think, that as the fall back for win8 is win7 that skinners that don't skin all OS's will skin for both of these as they are a part of the same OS.
Hopefully, you all will make sufficient changes to SKS to accommodate.
If Microstuff allows the option for a W7 like desktop then skinning 8 is gonna be a blast because there will be lot more to skin. Imagine skinning for Desktops, Tablets and if a greedy CEO or two or three, finds a way to get it on an iPhone or iPad or whatever, skinning heaven I think. Decisions decisions. lol
I have no wish to put a downer on anybody's enthusiasm regarding the skinning possibilities opened up by Metro's pug fugly ugliness, but as Starkers and I have stated, Windows 8 could have a pretty poor adoption rate. As it stands, I've no reason to buy Windows 8 because I'm perfectly happy with Windows 7. What is 8 going to bring to the table that I and many others are going to feel we just have to have? I don't have a smartphone, and I don't have a tablet. And sure, it may offer a Windows 7 GUI as an option, but I've already got that.
There were many, many PC users who skipped Vista and weren't easily convinced that 7 was worth moving to from XP. Depending on who's figures you look at, the adoption rate from XP to 7 looks great or mediocre. So again, what is Windows 8 going to offer that will compel people to buy it? It certainly isn't the interface.
As I've said, I've no wish to piss on anyone's chips/fries. But how many people in this economy are going to shell out the money for a new OS, and then spend more money on customisation software just so they don't have to deal with it's fugly GUI?
From what I can gather, whether you're skinning a tablet, desktop or smartphone, you're required to have it so you can test the skin as you create it. If you already have these things, great! But if you don't, are you going to buy a tablet just so you can create skins for it? Maybe I'm wrong on this last point. But ultimately, how large a customer base are you going to be skinning for when it comes to the different devices?
@reply 1: This!
If only Microsoft & Stardock would strike up with some kind of deal. They should of done this years ago during the XP-era. Then it would of carried on to Vista and Seven as well.
There better be WB skinning in Windows 8 or i'm not buying it. It's that simple. I don't know about you guys, but I want computers to still have their own identity. W8 is gonna kill the whole self-expression concept with Metro, which most users (everyday soccer moms and such) would conform to using. LAME!
I love using Custom Skins, Icons, and logon screens thank you very much. Don't blow it Microsoft.
Whoa!
We still use Xp in my office. I'll retire before they move to 8.
I've been away a while and to be honest it looks like skinning is damn near dead on its feet right now. Don't kid yourselves.
As long as I have Stardock products that work on win 7 and below it will never be dead on my computer. I want my computer to look the way I want it to not how someone else tells me it has to look.
What DaveBax just said is probably why the whole customizing community got started.
@DaveBax and @Philly0381
Obviously I feel the same as you guys but lets be honest, the forums seem much quieter here and on other UI/Customization sites than they were mid 2000s. I do think Windows 7 was sufficient improvement in appearance for most people and as a result the enthusiast community has shrunk.
The economic situation, long work hours and a general lack of knowledge about customization might be fueling that. Windows7 is better to look at than XP, but corporate vanilla never did it for me...
I have to agree with those that 'feel' the enthusiasm has fallen for the community and for the creation of skins as a whole. It is a bit sad, but I have not given up hope. I will definitely get Windows 8, but that's because I'm a geek and I love playing with operating systems. Do I hope it invigorates the skinning community? Hell yes! I have to rely on all the wonderful artists here to dress up my PC, because I'm just too busy to learn a new craft myself. (I'll be designing the apps, me hopes) I've been downloading all the wonderful creations from Wincustomize for a hella long time and I'm not going to stop anytime soon, not now, and not when I've just finished installing Windows 20.
I love the new windows already first i hated it a bit since it looked so "phone"-y like but after testing it i must say workflow gets a boost but also you get stuck playing with this metro feature so its about equal 50/50 to windows7 at least to me - but i guess if you get more experienced on working with metro you will be working faster.
I just hope that SD-Team will come up with something for windowblinds that can take control of skinning the metro start look, even if its not much.
IF the above will be true i think "W8" will blow some fresh air into the skinning community with its feature all over the web.
And if you hate metro, - hey there is still the normal desktop for you so everything is the same + you get improvements in speed.
I also want my OS to look the way i want it to look but we are still to limited i take our starmenu for example i think its the best example, you have to do the square thing and i think that is the main killer it is like ordering something at taco-bell everything looks different but tastes the same - (everything looks slighty different but all has the the same shape... I know there are skins available that do not have the square shape like outerlimits from vstyler or noload limit - slider from IR.Brainiac- Retro Plus from Madcat21 but still even if these mentioned skins took a step out of the regular it still is limited to the boxed shape.
I never dared to ask but i think it was a pain in the lower back to create outer limits or at least it was very time intense i might be wrong but i doubt it.
So instead of being frustrated about metro i give it both thumbs up.
I guess this answers most of my questions. I've been away from Stardock products and even looking at Wincustomize for a couple years. I got board a few weeks ago and installed it on my Win 7 box and started having fun. (health problems keep me from working so I have time) I had downloaded the Win 8 development when it was released and was so disgusted with the interface that the computer has been siting idle since. The thing that bothers me is the lack of accessibility. Mousing from little square to little square (the opening interface) and all the right clicks to get rid of the excess about killed me. I'm using the laptop mouse. I'll not run something that requires that I bring a regular mouse because my hands won't work for that long with the laptop mouse the way it is designed. I'm happy to know it is skin-able. So that will mean what I am learning now will at least make the navigation issue bearable.
The reason I finally left DOS years ago was that Windows finally made a product that looked pretty good. I think Win 8 is a giant step backwards - I'm not sure what they were thinking (buy more cloud) Keep up the good work. I'm learning as fast as I can, maybe I'll have some goodies to share some day.
Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.