geekboy2000

Reply to Music piracy continues despite legitimate alternatives in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Right. Well, thanks to the RIAA's thug lawyers, by definition, that might very well be true. What I'm saying though, is that it doesn't matter. They can try to legislate their way (and have) toward making it a crime to "try before buying", but it's too late. In today's modern world, the barn door's wide open, and there's no closing it. Instead of trying to paint everyone as a criminal, the record industry should be working on ways to win consumer loyality by making such a shareware system a real

Reply to Music piracy continues despite legitimate alternatives in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

I don't agree, Jafo, though I respect your opinion. Playing and *never* paying, is, IMO, piracy. Downloading, listening, and deciding whether or not it's worth buying, is a different thing. If a download ends up being garbage, I'm betting most people end up trashing it to free up disk space anyway. The music that is kept, burned and enjoyed *should* be paid for. The shareware principle, as it applies to software is good, and I really believe that there's no reason why the same philosophy should

Reply to Music piracy continues despite legitimate alternatives in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Yeah, I guess it's inevitable that it would turn this way, but I think that in my case, it was seeing the pie chart labeled as "I'll pirate instead" that got me fired up. Whether it be software, music or movies, I get a tremendous amount of enjoyment from the work of tons of artists. I do not believe they shouldn't be supported. Having ticked the "continue to download music for free" box, I think it's a shame that the poll administrator chose to label that segment of the responders as "pirates".

Reply to Music piracy continues despite legitimate alternatives in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Agreed, Kibble. And, if in fact the artists share of the profits is still too small, they need to negotiate better terms. Heck, maybe the lawyers, the publishers, and the agents need to think about a change in their lifestyle, so that more of the money *does* go to the artists. And, with respect to the snippets on the radio: Yes, it's true, they do play "snippets", but it's rare that you'll ever hear a new CD in it's entirety. Why? Because they know that typically there are a few songs (at most)

Reply to Music piracy continues despite legitimate alternatives in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Personally, I'd be much more likely to buy music online if those behind the almost "price fixing" nature of the business wake up and realize that it's no bargain to burn your own songs at 79 cents or 99 cents a track. The reality, whether the RIAA and Generalissimo Ashcroft want to admit it or not, is that in today's world, music has in fact become "shareware". I have (and will continue to) purchased many CD's by artists who provide me with value. I will not blindly add more CD's to my shelf tha

Reply to Windowblinds or Style XP in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

sig101 is exactly right. I suppose that while it's possible to have both apps *installed* at the same time, it's not possible to have both "theme engines" run at the same time. At least that's my non-technical guess. Having a WB option that would allow "exclude, but skin with Windows Visual Style" would be a great thing!

Reply to Windowblinds or Style XP in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Thanks for testing it out, Frogboy. For whatever reason, on my install of AOL 9, no window inside of the main AOL interface is skinned. That includes the sign-on screen, the Welcome screen, mail composition windows, etc, etc. Only the main window is skinned for me. I wonder why the difference? [Message Edited]

Reply to Windowblinds or Style XP in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Unfortunately, if an app is excluded from skinning via a WB exclusion, the app is not skinned at all. In other words, it doesn't take on the XP Visual Style, it's simply unskinned (like a default win2k app).

Reply to Windowblinds or Style XP in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

I have to add this, however unpopular it might be. WB is great for all of the reasons mentioned above. I'm a registered user, and I use it intermittently. Why not all the time? Because despite all the talk about it's total compatibility with the Windows XP OS, I still run into apps that don't work right (even using UIS1 skins), or aren't skinned correctly. The most recent example is AOL9 (no, I don't care to start a debate about the merits of AOL). So far, I have found no WB skin that will skin

Reply to iRider Web Browser in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

First, thanks for dropping by and providing some feedback here directly. >>If tabs do the job for you, then there are freebies out there. We believe iRider is qualitatively different: a visual map of pages, organized by site, that you can riffle through, opening multiple links/bookmarks at once in various ways, bookmarking multiple pages, etc. I certainly don't mean to imply that iRider is useless, but I don't regularly and repeatedy browse sites in outline form, roadmap form

Reply to iRider Web Browser in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

MyIE2 and AvantBrowser are both excellent MDI/tabbed browsers, and are both free. While iRider looks interesting, it doesn't appear to offer anything significant that I'd use, let alone pay for.

Reply to 'Logika' and 'UniMet' skin suites by Pixtudio updated. in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Thanks guys! I appreciate the updates to two of the very best skins suites available!

Reply to WindowFX 2.1: Why wait for Longhorn? in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

With the new Catalyst 3.4 drivers and the new WindowsFX, the effects are vastly improved on my Radeon 8500 card. Nice work, and I'd say you most definitely beat MS to the punch.

Reply to Longhorn - Windows Doing The Twist in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

In a lot of ways. I'll bet Bill's got an ODNT subscription.

Longhorn - Windows Doing The Twist in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

I'm sure this will be of interest to the skinning community. It appears that there's lots in the way of bells and whistles coming in Longhorn!

Reply to AquaXP.com - the next Aqua-Community in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

I'm thinking it might be a good idea to go there and grab in a hurry.

Reply to Customization Index up over 5% in January in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

I have a theory. I suspect that there's some correaltion between the interest in customization and the unemployment rate.

Reply to AIMutation! in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Very nice! I'm looking forward to seeing this app evolve.

Reply to ODNT/WinCustomize "Combo Pak"? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

For anyone else that might wonder, the interruption in subscription status did *not* affect the renewal rate. It's still discounted.

Reply to ODNT/WinCustomize "Combo Pak"? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Thanks Mike. Yes, my WinCustomize is working fine today, so perhaps there was a glitch of some sort. As for the other issues, thanks. That pretty much covers it. I'll just go with the renewal option and see if it works at the renewal rate. If not, I'll probably just bite the bullet and go for it anyway.

ODNT/WinCustomize "Combo Pak"? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

I will most likely be re-newing both my ODNT and WinCustomize subscriptions. Three questions: 1) Both have expired. Do I still qualify for "renewal rates"? 2) Is there a combination of the two subscriptions that's discounted? 3) Is this "Stardock Central" part of ODNT or WinCustomize, or does it combine the two? Thanks!

YOIKS! Back to Windows from Linux . . at least for now in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Well, not that I have a fan club or anything. Basically, I spent since early October exclusively in Redhat Linux 8.0. I love it. But, yesterday I found myself back on the XP drive. Why? I'm still wondering that myself. I think in large part, it's because although powerful, secure, slick and fun, IMO Linux is still very much an OS by and for "hobbyists". Even I, who loves tweaking, sometimes wants to inst

Reply to Hmmmm... in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Fellow smokers, check out: http://www.smokesearch.com Very reliable, excellent prices.

Reply to Hmmmm... in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Ms. Sally: I think I'd have to challenge that one. But, there might be cases where that law makes sense. For example, offices and places of employment often frown upon having a gathering of smokers outside their door. I smoke, but I can totally understand that. On the other hand, if it's a public building, and that 25 foot mark is on public property, I think I'd have to test the law.

Reply to Hmmmm... in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Couldn't agree more, paxx. I'm a smoker, and I completely understand that it irritates people. I respect all non-smoker's wishes with respect to not smoking in their cars, houses, near them at a restaurant (I'll eat in the non-smoking section), etc. Again, I understand that it's a habit *I* enjoy, but that it's no picnic for non-smokers. But, having said that, how long will it be before pregnant women are actually prosecuted for attempted murder, if they light up after conception? I actually