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should Microsoft be using our skins for future generations?

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should Microsoft be using our skins for future generations?

from JoeUser Forums
it seems to me that the more we make nice, cool, and hot looking skins, the more trouble Microsoft has of making new skins for the future Windows (not Vista). We all make skins not even Microsoft would even think of! So should Wincustomize allow Windows to take one of our skins to make their future windows? (NOT VISTA).

to me i think why not. cause its like as if we're taking their ideas. for example: remember the longhorn 5203 skin? Microsoft already had it so they took it away. but that's a different story here. but what if KoL_ had made that skin right after microsoft had already thought about making that same skin, Microsoft can't just say that the skin has to be removed, cause they didn't even make it yet! so why couldn't they ask KoL_ if they can use that skin? also why not have KoL_ sell it to them? they have TONS OF MONEY!!!

so what do you guys (and girls) think about Microsoft using our skins for future generations?
microsoft
11,455 views 50 replies
Reply #26 from WinCustomize Forums Top
#10 by Skinner Meowy Tue, August 02, 2005 4:42 PM
Meowy agrees with #6

#24 by Skinner Meowy Wed, August 03, 2005 07:04 AM
Ditto koop

Reply #27 from WinCustomize Forums Top
So should Wincustomize allow Windows to take one of our skins to make their future windows?

Well no... WC doesn't have the right to allow anyone to use our skins. If MS saw something here they wanted to use, they're quite capable of asking the author for permission.

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #28 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think that Microsoft could benefit greatly from the author's here. I am new here but I have seen alot of awesome blinds and wallpapers...etc I believe there are many author's here that would give windows a well needed artistic boost. I am here because I am so sick of the same humdrum stuff that MS ships with there OS. Thanks to all the author's who work so hard on their blinds etc...trully awesome stuff. I only hope that I can accomplish a small portion of what I have seen here so far.
Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I only hope that I can accomplish a small portion of what I have seen here so far.


And u will
Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top
#10 by Skinner Meowy Tue, August 02, 2005 4:42 PM
Meowy agrees with #6

#24 by Skinner Meowy Wed, August 03, 2005 07:04 AM
Ditto koop



Yes, those are two different responces to two different posts.
Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I will abandon the extreme verbosity for a moment for the following announcement:

Microsoft has no need to even attempt to create anything resembling a creative department for their GUI. Think about it, Microsoft doesn't need a creative department that they both own and have the burden of paying. They already have that functionality in this and other groups like this one. Here, they have willing artists, doing a lot of work on their own time, mostly for free, and Microsoft has NO overhead for it. It is kind of like Microsoft's version of Open Source... let the masses mod it on their own, create the implements that suit them, and create their own communities. MS doesn't have to oversee it, or distribute it, and tons of people benefit from it. Those who choose to sell the resulting products can, and do, and those who choose to create and publish for free will continue to do so. I would love to have employees that worked for free on their own time to make a software product better. Seems like MS already has this one figured out.

Thoughts?
Reply #33 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Seems like MS already has this one figured out.

Thoughts?


To a large extent this is true, but MS has employed the talents of Skinstudio to create skins for its media player. Maybe there are other such cases, but in any event, the skinning community looks after its own and 'all time great skins' will be preserved for posterity and future generations, with or without MS participation.
Reply #34 from WinCustomize Forums Top
AGAIN with "The Invisible Heart" references!? Amazing, there wouldn't be anyone with the name Gordon by any chance would there?
Also, if I may say, MS doesen't need an artistic GUI for another reason: What they do just works. There's color, functionality, and it runs smoother than some of the more complicated skins made here. Think about it, how many people in the PC community use a different XP skin than Luna (and the defaults for ME, 2000, etc), I'd say maybe 10-15% at the most (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm only assuming, and I know that it makes "an ass out of u and me", but oh well). To the average Joe who's only known Luna, why should he change it? It works for him...
Reply #35 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Even the 'average Joe' may still have an aesthetic bone in his body...

The question is...if EVERY man and his dog on the planet KNEW about Windowblinds [for example]...how many would be likely to use it/them to adapt thir GUI more to their personal taste?

The world would be a pretty crappy place if the overriding requirement was merely 'function'.

The Mona Lisa doesn't 'function'.....

Reply #36 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The world would be a pretty crappy place if the overriding requirement was merely 'function'


Excellent point!
Reply #37 from JoeUser Forums Top
The world would be a pretty crappy place if the overriding requirement was merely 'function'.


Conversely it would be twice as shithouse if design (in the skinning sense) was the only consideration.
Reply #38 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The world would be a pretty crappy place if the overriding requirement was merely 'function'


Very good point, hence the propogation of a multitude of options for one's choice of vehicle, for example. You don't have to drive a Beamer or a Porsche, but it is nicer than driving a Yugo or a Focus.
Reply #39 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The Mona Lisa doesn't 'function'.....


I beg to differ....it functions as a magnet for tourists to spend their money on viewing something without function
Reply #40 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I beg to differ....it functions as a magnet for tourists to spend their money on viewing something without function


he's got a point...
Reply #41 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I beg to differ....it functions as a magnet for tourists to spend their money on viewing something without function

Ok, fence-sitter....it's either not got a function or it has...

Reply #42 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ok, fence-sitter....it's either not got a function or it has


Ok then, it has.....without it there'd be an empty, dust collectin' picture hook, unemployed security personell

Now, getting back to the original thrust of this thread, whilst also remaining with functionality, it seems, Bash, that you're funtion of late is to be ambitious...competitive.
should Microsoft be using our skins for future generations?
First you're vying for a posie in making over Wc and now you're testing the waters for one MS's skin dept .....dunno if Bill Gates ever reads our forum but...

So wot's next....Bash for President?
Reply #43 from WinCustomize Forums Top
"So wot's next....Bash for President?"

Better Bash than Bush!

(sorry, was too easy a setup
Reply #44 from WinCustomize Forums Top
"So wot's next....Bash for President?"

Better Bash than Bush!


really funny guys!!
Reply #45 from WinCustomize Forums Top
#30 by Skinner Meowy Thu, August 04, 2005 09:03 AM #10 by Skinner Meowy Tue, August 02, 2005 4:42 PM Meowy agrees with #6 #24 by Skinner Meowy Wed, August 03, 2005 07:04 AM Ditto koop

Yes, those are two different responces to two different posts.

I know that, but koop disagreed with #6, so how can you agree with both?

Reply #46 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Better Bash than Bush!


Shouldn't that be: Better Bash Bush?

Sorry, couldn't help myself
Reply #47 from WinCustomize Forums Top
As a UI developer by trade I feel that I must at least toss a little comment in here. Bash, while your zest is formidable, I think you are placing far too much emphasis on the G in GUI. While GUI's are graphical in nature their main focus and job is to be inherently usable, and there is far more to usability than looking nice and having cool colors and big fancy icons. The design of a good UI must take into consideration far more than color scheme and wow factor. Besides, while there are some very nice skins on this site, they are limited to doing what WB will allow them to do to *mask* an already existing interface.

Don't get me wrong, I use WB and have since v1.0 but when MS sits down and thinks about what they are going to do in the next revision of Windows, I'm sure they have some of the best HID (human interface design) developers in the industry working on it and their focus has to be on making the interface such that a person who has never used a computer before can sit down and with as little help as possible can start interacting with and using the capabilities of the OS.

So, do I think there are great skins here? Absolutely!! Do I think MS should/will reach out to a community site like this to provide it the look for a future version of Windows? No, while I think there are definitely people here that would come up with something that is usable and nice to look at, like I said before MS already has the best on the job.
Reply #48 from WinCustomize Forums Top
like I said before MS already has the best on the job.


...and yet MS came up with Luna, while Apple came up with Aqua? There are obviously some people who consider more than function when choosing the UI - otherwise we would all happy with the 'Classic' windows style, and people wouldn't choose Mac over Windows.

I think that, as has been mentioned, the UI is something that themes 'wrap around' rather than replace. Sure, extra buttons can be added etc., but primarily we are only changing the 'look' rather than the 'feel' of what MS intended for the windows UI.

So, on the question of whether MS should include more themes: Yes! On the question of whether MS should buy them all from me: Yes!
Reply #49 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yes, MS should include more themes, but would that put all these great skinners out of "business" by making it more difficult to "wrap" windows? Would the concept cause software like Windowblinds to become obsolete, or would it further the development? Should MS use skins that are made by populace, no. That would take the fun out of it for all of us, who like to diddle with the look of Windows. But, MS should stick to what really counts, like Apprentice states, making the next Windows as functional as possible without taking away the ability to "diddle with the look" of it. So, my question is for those out there who have a copy of Vista...is it skinnable?
Reply #50 from WinCustomize Forums Top
#30 by Skinner Meowy Thu, August 04, 2005 09:03 AM #10 by Skinner Meowy Tue, August 02, 2005 4:42 PM Meowy agrees with #6 #24 by Skinner Meowy Wed, August 03, 2005 07:04 AM Ditto koop

Yes, those are two different responces to two different posts.

I know that, but koop disagreed with #6, so how can you agree with both?



I never said I agreed with the whole message.