anyone notice anything different lately

from WinCustomize Forums

Greetings all, I have encountered some issues with WC recently that have given me a pause to wonder out loud. There appears to have been a major migration of effort and resources to make changes without informing the community. I visit the site almost daily for a look see.

 

One of the big changes that has been touted is “impulse”. I still am not sure what impulse actually is but my assumption is that is a replacement for “stardock central”, with a multitude of add-on stuff. In viewing some recent posts it seems that impulse is also flash dependent. I don’t think I am the only one out here that hates flash. There are good uses for flash but for the most part we are subjected to animated advertisements with every page we open, these are also flash driven. If your browser will allow you to manage its add-ons do this. Open wincustomise and look at what is presented. Go into your manage add-ons and disable macromedia flash, close your browser, re-open and go back to the wincustomize site. Quite a difference.

 

I, and others, have recently found out the hard way that WC no longer supports the IE6 browser. WC contends that IE6 is full of security holes and since MS will no longer support it why should we. I just don’t recall being informed that this was going to occur. Having been forced to upgrade to IE7, I find that my issues with the initial release appear to been corrected. So, if there was no harm done, what’s the beef?

 

Well the before the being forced to upgrade to IE7 beefs are; being recognized as Joe User instead of Wimpy, loss of identity going from WC to the forums, security alert that my log-in data was being transferred to another location, unable to post in the forums and unable to update my personal data.

 

Even having upgraded to IE7, I am still unable to update personal data and I have just recently uploaded a blind that I haven’t seen posted yet. Generally a blind is reviewed and posted within 24 hours, it’s now been more like 72 hours and counting and no see??? And yes, I still have “flash” disabled.

 

SO, thinking out loud again,

 

1. is WC losing it’s “joe user”/”community” focus with “sand box bully” antics?

2. is WC heading towards making the site “flash required”?

3. I didn’t see any notice regarding IE6 not being supported any more. Is there some logic to potentially alienating millions of users that were still using IE6 by not providing a “heads up”?

4. There doesn’t appear to be any WC stated official policy provided to the users before changes that took place were implemented, you know, basic “system requirement” information. how come?

5. is SD/WC ISO compliant?

 

Now, anyone that has dealt with “support”, the wizops or the community in general know this isn’t a people thing. The individuals are great. Whatever direction WC is headed is controlled at the corporate level. It would appear that these decisions are not involving the people that have to make the changes, deal with problems created or us, those that want to use the system.

 

Skinning is one of my hobbies, I enjoy it, I hope that I am able to continue doing that.

community
2,983 views 15 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

One of the big changes that has been touted is “impulse”. I still am not sure what impulse actually is but my assumption is that is a replacement for “stardock central”, with a multitude of add-on stuff. In viewing some recent posts it seems that impulse is also flash dependent.
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Must have been in a cave somewhere, because Impulse has been in the news the whole year, and I don't think it requires any flash. Impulse

As for IE6, as andrew has said, it's aging technology. There's something called "progress" where things get improved, updated, security holes patched, new features added, etc. It's not evil. Same thing happens with the OS, as new versions come out, old ones become unsupported. The last official version of WB that supported Win 2k was 4.6 I believe, and we're now up to 6.3.

Regarding flash, like I said, it's just one of those "progress" things. If you really hate flash that much, you could use the "flashblock" plugin for Firefox, but then again you probably won't use that, one of those new-fangled, constantly updated fancy browsers.

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The changes are to keep SD and WC within main stream computing. Progress tho some times unsettling is a necessity of life, when we stand still too long we stagnate. As the net and computing moves forward so must the community at large or we will be left behind and wither away in to oblivion.

 

Embrace the future Wimpy. It looks bright :pizza:

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Bebi, I'm surprised that you berate the messenger. the rant was just about my personal experience which lead me to wonder about all of the other things. IMHO, it's real cause I own it.

Must have been in a cave somewhere, because Impulse has been in the news the whole year, and I don't think it requires any flash.
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well this is where my ignorance will get me in trouble but I tied this "avatar" thing into "impulse". It would appear that "avatar" is flash driven? AND the question was about where WC is going with the site and system requirements for continued use.

Regarding flash, like I said, it's just one of those "progress" things. If you really hate flash that much, you could use the "flashblock" plugin for Firefox, but then again you probably won't use that, one of those new-fangled, constantly updated fancy browsers.
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geez? I can disable my own add-ons quite well, thank you. AND the question was again about regarding future system requirements.

I acknowledge that I have seen Impulse mentioned but have never looked into what it is. However, I don't recall any advanced notice regarding the changes that I mentioned here. Granted, I may have missed something but it seemed like an "oh, by the way" moment.

side comment: I probably had my first computer before you were born, but I'm pretty sure you could out tech me in a heartbeat. So, I give up, you are more new-fangled than I.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

wimpy, I think you make some good points. One thing that I try and do as a developer is make a post every time that I update the forums, which outlines what has been fixed, updated and added. We don't really have anything in place for the rest of the Stardock websites, but probably should. Greater transparency is one of the things that I feel we need to improve on, and on that point I agree with you.

Computers and technology is just one of those areas that you either evolve with, or perish. The internet is also very much the same way. As a company which is driven by the internet in many regards, we need to stay competitive and close to the edge. That means updating our websites and technology to match, or keep in pace with, the rest of the 'internet sphere'. Sometimes this means growing pains for some users who are not up with the 'latest and greatest'. And with that I completely sympathize.

I tell you what; The communities we have are great at providing help for things like this, but if you ever need some personal assistance with our websites and you're feeling like you're a little too far behind to 'get it', you can send me an email and I'll do my best to personally help you.

I, and others, have recently found out the hard way that WC no longer supports the IE6 browser. WC contends that IE6 is full of security holes and since MS will no longer support it why should we. I just don’t recall being informed that this was going to occur.
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In this you're just a little mistaken. IE6 will still work with our sites. We haven't 'officially' dropped support for it. We are however, encouraging users to update. (the variety of reasons have been covered, so I'll obstain from writing them here) When IE8 comes out we're expecting a sharp drop in the numbers of IE6 users the site sees. When IE8 arrives, IE6 will be two versions and 7 years behind. If the numbers fall like we expect them to (down to 1-2% of actual visitors) then it will cease to be financially justifiable to continue spending the massive amount of time required to make sites function the same with IE6 as they do with modern browsers. (And that's no joke, making sites compatible with IE6 requires 3 to 4 times the amount of time that other browsers require)

WC and the forums will continue to function properly with IE6 until such time as we officially drop support. And I will do my personal best to ensure that there is ample notice ahead of time. However, from time to time you may see some visual problems. If you do, make sure you report them and I or one of the other webdevs will make sure its addressed.

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Andrew, thanks for you response and offer to be assistance. as I mentioned the support group, wizops and users are generally a good group of helpful people, I have nothing but praise for them.

I hear you when you say that IE6 is still supported however there have been some changes made that impacted the use of that browser, most have been remedied with my upgrading to IE7. It did feel as if the rug had been pulled out from under the IE6 users. I'm grateful that you see a possible need to be more forthcoming to the community with proposed changes before they are implemented.

Again, thanks -W

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

WC and the forums will continue to function properly with IE6 until such time as we officially drop support.
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Well, as of right now, its extremely messed up, on IE6.

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Of course, wouldn't let me edit (sigh)

Still getting rows and rows of buttons up top (one of the things was supposed to be looked at last week after my post was closed)

...and all kind of other problems... not even going to mention, (don't want the thread closed again without the courtesy of being able to retort)

siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
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I upgraded to IE7 and most of my troubles were taken care of, I'm just saying. my security settings migrated also.

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I upgraded to IE7
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i CANT upgrade, I have to continue to skin it.:annoyed:

Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I'm supposed to say, sorry guys, not gonna take care of a vast majority of you cos I had to upgarde to IE7 to get the forums to work correctly, (

WC and the forums will continue to function properly with IE6
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even though, they are supposed to be working correctly)

Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Well I use IE6 as it is the only browser that WindowBlinds actually skins correctly and on XP with SP3 is close enough to the security level of IE7. So if you want us to upgrade to IE7, can at least WindowBlinds be also upgraded to skin IE7 fully? Example; Longhorn Slate 4051, with IE6 has a completely clean look but with IE7 has two lines mis-skinned between the title bar and the toolbar.

https://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=3665&libid=1

Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Here lately I have had so many EEGADS-coding pigeon messages its not even funny

Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I don't have a problem with IE7 in Vista, but I have to remain with IE6 when I boot into XP because IE7 constantly freezes, sometimes upon initial loading, and I have to close it in 'task manager'.  Thus, when using Impulse in XP, I am unable to use or participate in the forum/community pages because those are IE7 dependent

According to feedback from MS error reports, this freezing issue has something to do with the 'search toolbar', which unfortunately is hard-coded into IE7's address bar these days and cannot be disabled... well not to my knowledge. 

Here lately I have had so many EEGADS-coding pigeon messages its not even funny
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Yeah, I've been getting those again.  Seems the coding pigeons are slipping again... or maybe falling down drunk cos they've learned the new combination to Brad's liquor cabinet. :X O:) ;P

 

On another (browser) note: I am rather peeved at losing the ability to cut/copy/paste in Firefox 2.0.0.11.... no, I did not update to FF 3 because of some 'securirty BS' disabling long-standing, well established extensions/plugins that I use.  Sure we all want secure browsing, but disabling SmileyXtra, I think, is taking it way too far.

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top

coding pigeon messages
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I'm unfamiliar with this term, what are they?

I have to remain with IE6 when I boot into XP because IE7 constantly freezes
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I'm using XP. SP2 and having been forced to upgrade to IE7 to continue using this site I have luckily (knock on wood) have no IE7 issues (although still unable to upload changes to personal data). for reference I have "flash" disable and block third party cookies. (I'm pretty sure WC is listed as an exception) I'm only providing some comparison data and have really no idea of specific settings/issues that you are experiencing.

 

Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I'm unfamiliar with this term, what are they?
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404 page not found errors, Custom ones WC put up instead of the defaults like the almighty "Forums go Boom" message. 

A bit of web Dev levity if you will :)