The August edition of WinCustomize Magazine is now out.

In this issue:

• DesktopX 2 Preview
• Article "It's a Robotic World"
• The Universal Skin Format
• LotsOfSkins Returns Notice
• August Desktop Shots
• And much more!

Visit https://www.wincustomize.com/wcmag/aug2003

State of Skinning: 2003

Is Customization growing? How do you measure that? Technological improvements? Gains in popularity? Which apps are growing in popularity and which ones are slowly losing ground?

We asked that question and to find that out, we went back and looked at WinCustomize.com's logs. Looking at the top 5 skins in downloads per category and adjusting for daily fluctuations we've nailed down which programs have gained in popularity and which ones have lost ground.

We specifically chose September 2001 because it is just before Windows XP released.  Windows XP's release has changed everything. Some programs benefited such as Windows Media Player.  Others took a beating such as ICQ because of Microsoft Instant Messenger.

We've broken this list down into 5 categories: Big Winners, Winners, Stayed the Same, Lose Ground, Lost a Lot of ground.

		The Big Winners
	CursorXP	This program wasn't available on WinCustomize in 2001 but is the second most popular "skin" to download (cursors in this case) today.
	Media Player	This program has seen the number of downloads per day increase by a factor of 10. Much of the popularity can be given to the skin design studio "The Skins Factory" for creating and releasing so many high quality skins that it's encouraged a thriving skinning community.

		Winners
	WindowBlinds	It's pretty undeniable that WindowBlinds has benefited from Windows XP. It has seen its popularity index more than double. It went from being the second most popular skin type to download to #1.
	Wallpapers	The wallpaper section has seen its popularity grow by almost exactly the same amount as WinCustomize itself has grown.
	ObjectBar	ObjectBar has never enjoyed the kind of attention the other higher profile programs have received. But it's enjoyed steady growth. Version 2.0 of it is in internal alpha and Stardock hopes to see it take on a whole new life as something vastly easier to use and to skin for and a lot more functional.
	Suites	WinStyles only has one reason to exist -- to apply suites. It doesn't skin anything. So its popularity rests on how popular the idea of putting skins and themes together into a single suite to be applied at once. It too has seen growth and with version 1.5 nearing release, it may see its growth jump.

		Stayed the same
	Icon Packages	It's probably safe to say that the high point of icon packages was long ago achieved. People have known about changing their icons for a decade now. IconPackager files were the third biggest draw in 2001 and they are the third biggest draw today.
	Litestep	Litestep is in the same position as the icon packages. It reached critical mass for an open source shell before WinCustomize even opened. It has seen its ranking relatively increase due to the decline of two once heavy hitter skinning programs. Litestep has shown lasting power.
	Winamp	Winamp has remained one of the most consistent programs on the net. Its downloads are almost exactly today as they were 2 years ago. Despite a new skinning format introduced in version 3 (which subsequently has gone back to version 2) the skins created today are much as they were then.

		Lost some ground
	NeXTStart	NeXTStart is very good at its core feature - replacing the right click menu. But during that time, competitors ranging from ObjectBar to Hoverdesk along with a resurgence in alternative shells like Aston, Talisman, and others have eaten up a lot of NextStart's user base. NeXTStart version 3 is in beta. However, the last announcement was in January of this year.
	Beatnik	Beatnik is a skinnable digital clock. It has managed to hang in there despite a great deal of alternatives and not a lot of development effort. But it has lost ground as programs like SysMetrix, DesktopX 2, and others can provide the same functionality and more with equivalent overhead.

		Lost A LOT of ground
	DesktopX	After a lot of hype, DesktopX was released in summer of 2001. Not surprisingly, it became immensely popular as people tried out what it could do. And it could do a lot of amazing, though largely useless, things. People used it to create really complex but beautiful looking themes...that didn't quite work when used. Other users made a sophisticated objects...that didn't quite work right or moved funny.  The last public update to DesktopX before the 2.0 beta was in Summer of 2002 and it's taken a toll. DesktopX was the #1 downloadable skin/theme type on WinCustomize in Sept of 2001. Today it is a distant 6th. DesktopX 2, however, looks very promising. But will Stardock be able to get the people who couldn't figure out a use for DesktopX 1 to try out DesktopX 2?
	ICQPlus	No program lost more ground than ICQ Plus. ICQ Plus is a program that skins ICQ and therefore is tied to the fate of ICQ itself. ICQ Plus is a fantastic program that works very well. Unfortunately, ICQ has lost a lot of its user base particularly to Trillian.

• OS Requirements
• Introduction
• What's new in WindowBlinds 4
• WindowBlinds 4 Overview
• WindowBlinds in Action
• Conclusions

Windows XP (version 4 for Windows 2000, Windows ME, and Windows 98 will be available next quarter)

WindowBlinds is a program that that enables Windows users to completely change the look and feel of the Windows user interface.  Windows XP comes with the ability to change its "visual style" between blue, silver, and green as well as switching to "classic" mode. WindowBlinds is the Microsoft certified way of extending Windows XP to support additional "visual styles". WindowBlinds visual styles can change virtually every aspect of the Windows graphical user interface (GUI) such as title bars, push buttons, radio buttons, the Start bar, menus, tool bars, the task pane, dialog backgrounds, and much more. It also adds additional features to the Windows operating system such as roll-up buttons, always on top buttons, URL links, MP3 players,  user control over how double clicking and right clicking on the title bar will behave, and many other functionality enhancements. And WindowBlinds 4 is able to do all this while actually increasing the performance of the Windows GUI. WindowBlinds 4 accelerates the Windows user interface both in terms of productivity gains and raw performance. Additionally, it optimizes visual styles on the fly such that they use less memory than the included Windows XP visual styles.

WindowBlinds is part of Stardock's Object Desktop suite of desktop extensions. It is also available stand alone at WindowBlinds.net.

WindowBlinds versions 1.0 through 3 were developed primarily with Windows 95, 98, and ME users in mind. Much of the code in it involved implementing features into the OS that simply did not exist. With version 4, Stardock rewrote WindowBlinds with Windows XP as the target OS. Then, working backwards, it has been redeveloping the "skinning" features that exist in Windows XP to be largely delivered to Windows 98, ME, and 2000 users.

So what's new?

WindowBlinds 4's exclusion list is tiny. Users can still exclude any program they want or have it run with specialized options.

• Essentially perfect application compatibility. Windows XP has new APIs that allow programs such as WindowBlinds to determine more easily whether a given application is "playing by the rules". This has allowed WindowBlinds to properly skin previously problematic programs.

• Vastly greater performance than available in either WindowBlinds 3 or the basic Windows XP style engine. Stardock has developed a new technology called "Smart Paint" that allows WindowBlinds to prevent programs from repainting more often then they need to. Often times, programs repaint themselves hundreds of times per second which is often unnecessary and slows down performance. The net result is that the perceived performance of applications when running WindowBlinds is noticeably faster than if one were running a basic visual style. In short, WindowBlinds accelerates the perceived performance of a skinned Windows XP.

WindowBlinds 4 is so tightly integrated into Windows XP that it can skin its command prompts. Only WindowBlinds makes this possible.

• Much more "native". WindowBlinds makes use of what is already in the system. In some ways, WindowBlinds integrates visual styles more closely with the operating system than they would be without WindowBlinds. For example, command prompts in Windows XP are now skinned if you are using the full version of WindowBlinds.

WindowBlinds skins virtually every imaginable control on Windows and even some that many thought couldn't be. And remember, it does this while increasing the performance over the basic  Windows XP visual styles.

• WindowBlinds 4 also now skins virtually every aspect of the Windows GUI that one can imagine. And in fact, the enhanced visual styles used by WindowBlinds can skin things previously not thought to be skinnable such as logon/logoff dialogs, the "please wait" dialog, backgrounds in the Control Panel and other special folders, and more.

WindowBlinds 4 includes a new configuration dialog.

• WindowBlinds also comes with a totally new, clean and easy configuration dialog. Users can still control their WindowBlinds enhanced visual styles from the display properties dialog, but the new WindowBlinds configuration makes it easy to manage dozens of skins, sort them by category, and configure it to their liking.

• WindowBlinds 4 gives Windows XP users, for the first time, a say on how big their Windows XP start bar is. Now users can set how big they want their Start bar to be.

Of course, all the features mentioned above are just what's new. WindowBlinds has a lengthy feature set that allows users to have unprecedented control over how Windows looks and feels and works. Here are some of the notabable features.

• WindowBlinds visual styles support skinning additional small aspects of the Windows XP user interface such as mouse-overs on the Start menu.

• WindowBlinds supports a feature called "Hyperpaint". This is different from "Smart Paint". Hyperpaint uses the extra video RAM on your video card to "buffer" your windows which makes moving them on screen possible without any repainting.

• WindowBlinds lets users define what double clicking and right clicking on the title bar do. This can translate into significant productivity gains for users as they can perform various actions with a single or double click to the title bar.

• Stardock Skincast is a way for users to add new visual styles to Windows right from the appearance dialog or WB Configuration dialog. It automatically downloads the week's featured visual style and installs it.

• WindowBlinds can change the color of any visual style on the fly. While there are thousands of existing WindowBlinds visual styles, this feature allows users to take those visual styles and tune them to their own tastes visually. The same is true about gamma adjustment and even gray scale. A user can even invert the colors of a visual style.

• WindowBlinds allows users to have different visual styles on different applications.

Before & After. Same applications. WindowBlinds can skin non-theme aware applications.

• WindowBlinds can skin non-theme aware applications. Windows XP is designed to only fully skin "theme aware" programs. But WindowBlinds 4 can skin even non-theme aware applications fully while still maintaining a high level of compatibility.

Over the past year, the versatility and power of WindowBlinds has been used by millions of individuals and corporations as well. Here are some examples of WindowBlinds in use in the real world...

Microsoft licensed WindowBlinds to create an X-box visual style. If you would like to try this visual style, visit Microsoft's Xbox website.

Touchstone pictures licensed WindowBlinds for the computer interface scenes in The Recruit.

nVidia licensed WindowBlinds to provide an nVidia UI for their customers. Additionally, nVidia partners such as ABit, EVGA, BFG, and others also licensed WindowBlinds to include with their video cards.

Nintendo is currently using WindowBlinds to promote the Nintendo Gamecube and their games such as Super Mario Sunchine, Pikmin, Legend of Zelda, and others.

Today, WindowBlinds has an estimated installed base of over 8 million users worldwide. It is the 22nd most popular download of all time on C-net's Download.com (the world's most popular download site) and the world's most popular desktop enhancement program. It has over 2000 visual styles (skins) created for it with new ones appearing every day from people from around the world. It is used both by consumers and corporations alike. For consumers, it lets them personalize Windows to their needs. Corporations use it for branding or to extend the Windows GUI to have additional features needed by individual companies.

Another benefit is that WindowBlinds will work on Microsoft's next version of Windows, code-named "Longhorn" and version 4 will soon be available for Windows 98, ME, and 2000 users making WindowBlinds a universal solution for all Windows users.

Its website is http://www.windowblinds.net. It is $19.95 stand alone but is free to try with a download available on the WindowBlinds website. It is also part of Stardock's Object Desktop suite of desktop enhancements which is $49.95.

Bjorn3D has put together an article that answers the age old question: Will customizing your Windows PC slow down your computer?

To find out, he loaded up Object Desktop components such as WindowBlinds, ObjectBar, IconPackager, and WinStyles and then put on CursorXP to top it off.

He then ran it thorugha  host of benchmarks comparing it to his clean setup. Benchmarks included 3DMark, PCMark,  UT2K3, and others.

The result? No discernable performance hit.  Check out the article for yourself.

What does your desktop look like?

In our last poll we asked you what section would you like WinCustomize to add the most.  With about 1100 people voting it was pretty clear:

BOOT SCREENS: ~40%
Trillian: 22%
Other: 16%
The Rest: 24%

Many other customization related sites support boot screens. But there's a problem. Most boot screens are actually pirated software. Which is ironic because the same person who would never consider clicking on an attachment would happily replace their WINDOWS KERNEL.

The way you replace your boot screen on Windows XP is to replace the graphic images in the Windows XP kernel. So many, if not most, boot screens on various sites actually contain a copy of the Windows XP kernel. 

In a community that values intellectual property as ours does or at least says it does, we just can't reconcile this. How can we morally or ethically be against ripping while allowing people to submit files that contain the Windows XP kernel? It's in essence software piracy.

This has been a difficult decision for us because we want to serve the needs of our users and skinners. And with 40% of you wanting this section, it's pretty temping. I mean think about it, nearly half the people who responded to the poll want boot screens.

Not having boot screens hurts the popularity of our site so you can see the dilemna. 

Now, if someone knows of a way to apply a boot screen in such a way where the boot screen submitted doesn't need to contain the NT kernel please respond here and let us know. We're perfectly okay with having a boot screen section if the submitted files contain just the graphics needed to do so. Perhaps someone has written a program that can apply those images to the system.

In the meantime, we will be looking at adding other sections including perhaps a Trillian section. Are there enough Trillian skinners here interested in submitting their work to get a section going? Let us know. Thanks!

This hasn't shown up on any news sites yet that I know of but there is a really nasty worm going around the net that uses an exploit in RPC on XP. Make sure you have the latest updates to Windows XP installed or you will get zapped by this at some point.

It will cause a crash in RPC which will force your machine to reboot 60 seconds later (With a count down). It's a PITA to remove too once you get it.

Looking at this week's poll on sections people want, it is pretty obvious that people want Boot screens.

This puts WinCustomize into an odd position. Users often hear about "ripping" which is where someone takes another person's images and uses them in their own work without permission.

The problem with boot screens is that a "boot screen" is actually the Windows XP kernal, modified with new bitmaps, put into a ZIP file. Ignoring the support issues, there's the question: Is it okay for people to distribute the actual kernel of Windows XP in a zip file?

But this problem isn't just with boot screens. Logon screens often come with a replacement logonui.exe. It's the literal logonui.exe on your system that someone has modified and reuploaded. That's why WinCustomize's logon section uses LogonStudio because it has its own format .logonxp which allows people to make logons that don't have to include the actual logonui.exe.

And many "visual styles" that use .msstyles format include a file called shellstyles.dll which, again, is the literal .dll from a person's Windows directory.

In all these examples, these files are copyrighted by Microsoft. And I don't mean copyright in the same sense that an OS skin might be. I mean they are literally the code for the program. If Apple, for intance, gets mad about Aqua style skins on occasion, you can imagine how they would react if people were passing around the actual system files from MacOS X.  Microsoft must be aware of this stuff but so far doesn't seem to have a problem with it.

As a skinning site, we want to have the kinds of sections people want to have.  And in fact, every other major skinning site already has sections for these kinds of things.  So we are torn on this situation. Our inclination is to put up a boot section since so many people want them and every other skin site already has them. But we're uneasy in doing this because of the potential copyright issues.

So that's where we are. Please no responses with "I don't know why anyone would want to replace their boot screen" or "We should put section X up instead." I think we can all agree that there is a large demand for boot screen. The question is what is the best course of action.

August has not gotten off to a very good start. Deskmod went down (is currently up in reduced - no skins - form) and now Neowin.net is down due to a denial of service attack.  Hopefully Neowin.net will be back up again (and Deskmod too).

Besides WinCustomize.com there are other skin sites to check out:
Skinz.org http://www.skinz.org)
Skinbase http://www.skinbase.org

And art sites that also contain skins:
deviantART http://www.deviantart.com
ArtUproar http://www.artuproar.com

If there are other skin sites that you know of, please feel free to post them here. Please restrict pages to sites that have at least 10 different sections.