I get threats of various kinds pretty frequently. Sometimes it's because they really dislike my political points of view. Others because they are mad because I moderated one of their posts.   And other times they just plain hate me for reasons that I cannot even begin to fathom.

But I get enough of these that I have to take them seriously. When I was younger and had more free time (and a lot dumber) I'd call their bluff. I'd tell them "Go ahead, make my day, coward."  I've met enough on-line people that I've found a very distinct corolation between how nasty and aggressive someone is on-line and how cowardly they are physically.

Now that I'm older, have a family, and know that indeed, while most of these people are just cowards, some of them may be truly violent sociopaths, I use more discretion.  So I tend not to try to "egg them on".  But make no mistake, someone comes to my house after making such a threat I can't reasonably make the distinction of whether they are coming to "confront me" in person, merely to try to "beat the shit out of me" or to "kill me and my whole fucking family" (as various threats go). 

And so if anyone reading this is ever tempted to "confront me", make no mistake, I cannot afford to wait and see which type of assault you're planning to make. I'll do whatever I have to do to defend my home, family and myself and ask questions later. Anyone who threatens me or my family and follows it up with an unwelcome visit can be assured it would be the last action they'll ever take.

And anyone who knows me personally knows I mean that. I am not easily intimidated, certainly not physically. So to anyone thinking of sending me some threatening email or private message or on IRC or via instantt messener realize this - I get threats regularly and you may think making such threats is a form of intimidation that you don't mean very seriously. But you can be assured that they won't instill fear but that I will still take it very seriously. I get some threats that sound pretty serious (and specific).

And so  I have to assume that every threat is a serious one and be prepared for. I'm not going to shut down my website or quit going on-line because some sociopath doesn't like me.

So my advice to the rash - don't threaten me. And certainly don't threaten me and try to come over to my house to try "give me a scare".  I can't afford to wait and see if you're just bluffing or serious.

There is a general natural progression for someone becoming a WinCustomizer. It usually follows this pattern:

Step 1: User changes their wallpaper and is pleased.

Step 2: User decides to change some of their windows icons but finds that they can't easily change that many.

Step 3: User does a google search and eventually finds a customization website.

From there they hear the term "Skin". So what is a skin?

A skin, generally speaking, is a collection of images put together with some sort of script or text file that changes the user interface of a given program or environment. The images are usually in either .BMP format, .TGA format, or .PNG format. Regarldess, they're images. The text file is usually organized using XML or INI to create its own unique format to describe what those images are and where the skinning software should put those images.

There are lots of different programs for skinning and they skin different things. A Winamp skins will change the look and feel of the program Winamp. A SysMetrix skin will change the look and feel of the program SysMetrix.  Other types of skins will change the entire Windows user interface -- all the title bars, push buttons, Start bar, radio buttons, scrollbars, etc. of Windows that aren't skinned by something already.  One such program is WindowBlinds.  Its skins come as .WBA files which are just ZIP files renamed and inside of them is a host of images along with some text files that tell WindowBlinds what should be done with those images.

So there's nothing that complicated or scary about skins. They're just a cool name to describe what is really just a bunch of graphic files put together with a text file to explain what the heck should be done with them. Have fun!

Once long ago, Customize.org was the world's leading customization site.

But today it's a case study of what happens if the site is run by teens.  No offense to the mature teens that may be reading this.  But it as a long time skinner, it has been disheartening to watch customize.org slowly decay to the state it's in.

In the same post in which I get called "arrogant" the mod rips on WinCustomize and claims how Customize.org leads in "quality" over sites like deviantART and WinCustomize.  It's really hard to assess that given that they only get a couple of submissions per day that aren't screenshots and that those submission are also typically here on WC too.

What is also odd is that this was in a thread in which the various staff of Customize.org were claiming to be defending skin authors everywhere (though apparently it's okay to imply that those who don't post their things there suck).

Anyway, those of you who haven't been through Customize.org when it was a great leading site may just see this as pointless venting.  But those who remember when Customize.org was an inspiration to all skinners I suspect know the sorrow I feel at its decline.

I've been observating (and participating) in some interesting..ahem..discussions with regards to Adam's article on using SkinStudio to import .msstyles files as WindowBlinds skins.

Some intersting "outrage" at the thought that some user, in the privacy of their own home, might run a skin that was originally in .msstyles format in WindowBlinds. That this was, somehow, a violation of the rights of the skinner.

Let's be clear: No one is suggesting that someone should be able to import in a .msstyles skin and then start being able to upload it around. You still need permission. The rights of the skin author should still be respected.

But we also have to have some perspective as well. .msstyles is MICROSOFT'S FORMAT.  It's a format that NO ONE has legally licensed to make use of. And it gets worse - every single .msstyles on the net is a derivative of the Luna.msstyles.  People either reshack luna.msstyles (or an existing derivative of it) to change the bitmaps and data in it or they use a $20 editor that is available that reshacks luna.msstyles with a prettier interface. 

The reason WinCustomize currently does not have a .msstyles section is because of that issue: Can we condone the distribution of what is borderline pirated files?  It's the same reason why we don't include Boot screens that are patched files of the NT kernal (we only support .bootskin and had to write a freeware program just so that we could have boot screens here).  You can't just patch someone else's copyrighted stuff and pass it around.  Believe me, I would love to have a .msstyles section here from a purely capitalistic point of view and if someone can rationalize it for me to have a section for them, go for it - I'm ready to believe.  But like I said, we're talking pretty gray market stuff.

But let's get back - so then the people who object to the idea that WindowBlinds would somehow profit from the ability to make use of .msstyles.  This is apparently somehow different than the commercial programs that have existed for the past 3 years that make use of .msstyles by patching uxtheme.dll.

And anyone who claims that hacking your system files to use .msstyles should explain to others why the main sites that promote patching uxtheme.dll do not have forums.  Even the main NON-FREE developer of a uxtheme patching program removed their forums. The most popular .msstyles distribution site has no forums.  Could it possibly be that it's because of the technical disasters it causes? I don't know. What I do know is how much tech support WE get from people who messed around with their files and blew away their default visual style or had problems when they applied a service pack or something else.  In my opinion, anyone trying to claim that patching your system files (either in RAM or on disk) is "safe" is not telling the whole story.

Puttin that aside - there are already programs making a profit from .msstyles and have been for years. Where's the outrage? But because the handful of original msstyles floating around the net might be able to be added to the 3000+ existing WindowBlinds skins Stardock is the greedy one? Please.

Regardless of the format, the rights of skin authors need to be respected. They are artists.  As the #6 most downloaded skin author on this site, I know something of the work that goes into skinning.  But I also know where my rights end.  When someone downloads my skin onto their own computer, my rights end.  What they do with it on their own computer is their business. People have been downloading and modifying skins for their own use since day 1.  And of all formats, .msstyles authors happen to be using a format that requires them to be using someone else's stuff without their permission in the first place. 

We've been thinking that we should just add a bunch of new sections. Let them see how they do and the ones that do well would continue to be highlighted in the default gallery list and the others would still exist but not show up by default.

So what sections do you think we shoudl have? I was thinking of small things even.  Misc. Icons.  Not everyone has full icon packages. What about adding a Misc. icons area for people who want to upload a few icons here and there.  The Misc. Icons could have sub-sections for Avatars and Buddy icons and OS X icons and the like.  We would need a volunteer who would be in charge of such a section to help go out and get authors (Mac icon artists, etc. to come out and submit their work).

But tell us, what do you customize on your computer that you find yourself having to go elsewhere for.  Don't feel the need to be gentle. Let's be open and honest here. Tough love.

Longhorn may not be here yet but you can start learning about XAML now.  XAML is a new mark-up language that Microsoft is developing that allows users to easily create user interfaces.

Stardock plans to incorporate XAML into DesktopX at some point to combine its power with DesktopX's native easy of development.  In the meantime, check out this article on it.

(update) External link fixed.

If we learned anything last year with regards to the media and bloggers, it is that the days of ideologically driven "mainstream" reporting are numbered.  When CBS tried to smear Bush with blatantly phoney National guard documents it blew up back in CBS's face as Internet users posted on-line how the documents were obviously forged.

Conservatives have had to grin and bear it for years as the mainstream media, led by the New York Times and followed by the network news stations, had a virtual monopoly on news distribution.  NBC anchors could casually say "If we could get the NRA out of the way we could have a decent civilized discussion on the 2nd amendment" as if this were an established fact.

Books like Biased have warned for years that there was a serious slanting in the news - something most conservatives were painfully aware of.  Unfortunately there was nothing they could do about it. If ABC's Nightline wants to run a full show smearing Pat Buchanan as being anti-semetic without any real evidence, what could he really do? What could anyone do?

And conservative statistic freaks could notice that stories on homelessness and the AIDS epidemic seem to greatly increase when Republicans are in office but die down if a Democrat is in office (apparently AIDS and homelessness went away during the Clinton administration but boom, now it's back with a vengeance and it's undoubtedly the fault of the "smirking chimp").

I am sure the folks in news rooms across America wish for the days when the only opposition to their ideological positions came from a fat man on AM radio.  Now they not only have to deal with AM radio (gasp) but also cable news such as FOX and now the Internet.

Funny thing about the blog sites, the most popular blog sites are conservative. Not even a close call.  There are a limited number of viable theories for that and none of them favorable towards liberals (a: Conservatives are more interested in discussing real world issues on-line or b: Conservatives don't find enough conservative info through traditional outlets are the two Occam's razor answers).

And so as we head towards 2005, I am very thankful that, at time goes on, the mainstream media won't be able to pass on poorly researched ideological bombs as facts and history as they did in the past.  What happened with CBS this Fall wasn't unique, it was just that critical moment when the Internet had reached critical mass to be able to get the truth distributed out to counter the lies.

I'm typing this from my ThinkPad T40.  That's the main PC I use.  I like it because it's not super fast so I don't get too far ahead of what others are using and it's portable.

But behind me here is my Dell G4 which is a 3.6 Ghz monster with 2 gigs of RAM and 400 gigs of hard drive space, ATI X800 Pro.  That's my gaming rig.  Next to it I have a 2.8 Ghz machine that I use Multiplicty on (unreleased Stardock product we're working on that you can find here https://www.stardock.com/products/multiplicity/) to control both at once.

Chilam was kind enough to let me port over this msstyle into WindowBlinds format.  Now, the screenshot you see here is just a colorized version of it (one of the reasons why I like this on WindowBlinds is that I can make it any color -- and it's MUCH faster as a WB skin than an msstyle).

It's default color is Longhorn blue.

Our neighborhood pond is frozen over and so I decided to take my sons out to see it.  The oldest just turned 8 and it was quite a treat for him. 

The 4 year old, however, had a melt down because he couldn't get his gloves on just the way he wanted. After repreated attempts to help get his gloves on he had had enough and refused to try any more. But he wouldn't go outside without them.  Do I live the 4 year old in the house by himself to take the bigger one over to the pond or have us all stay in the house because the 4 year old is having a melt down?

I decided to leave him alone and let him cry it out. The pond is very close to the house and the 4 year old needs to learn that he can't always have his way. So we went out and played on the ice for a few minutes after making sure it was safe (the pond is only 2 foot deep anyway).  Another week of this kind of weather and I'll get the hockey sticks out. 

Hopefully by then the 4 year old will have more patience in putting on his gloves.