Not well known to many people here but Stardock also develops games. The project I'm currently the lead developer on is called Galactic Civilizations. We just released a short teaser trailer on it. Visit the website to grab it.

Stardock has released release candidate 1 of LogonStudio (0.99). LogonStudio is a program that allows Windows XP users to create and apply new logon screens. Version 0.99 adds a new visual logon creation applet making it much easier for users to create logons. LogonStudio is freeware and can be downloaded at:

http://www.logonstudio.com

For those users who have Object Desktop or have registered WindowBlinds, version 3.2 is now officially available. The new version has a host of new under the hood changes to make it use a lot fewer resources than 3.1 and a new architecture on Windows XP to further extend Microsoft's visual style engine more seamlessly than in 3.1.

The GUI Olympics has finished its second week and deviantART jumped from having no medals in the first week to 6 medals in week 2. VelocityART, a new skin site, is now second overall thanks to the strength of Grayhaze's skins.

Voting for "Strangest" skin is now going on. GO AND VOTE NOW!

-- EVENT #3 Fastest ---

Gold: Z by Alexandrie (deviantART)
Silver: MetalX by grayhaze (VelocityART)
Bronze: Olympic OS by Treetog (deviantART)

Honorable Mentions:
Blackcomb by Green Reaper (deviantART)
Tidy Mind by essorant (deviantART)


-- EVENT #4 Best use of colors --
Gold: MetalX by grayhaze (VelocityART)
Silver: Olympic OS by Treetog (deviantART)
Bronze: 911 by Hippy (deviantART)

Honorable Mention
RazortArt VR2 by Ruined Inc. (Deskmod)
Z by Alexandrie (deviantART)



-- EVENT #5 Best power User Skin ---
Gold: MetalX by Grayhaze (VelocityART)
Silver: OlympicsOS by Treetog (deviantART)
Bronze: Lean Green by pjpowell (deviantART)

Hornoable Mentions:
Seti Glass by DavidK (Deskmod)
LOS by Alexandrie (deviantART)

After the GUI Olympics is done we will be starting to make some changes to WinCustomize and looking at adding new sections.

One of the first changes is going to be figuring out a way to merge the WinXP section back into the main WindowBlinds section. Skin authors should always upload their skins to the WindowBlinds section (NOT the WinXP section - it'll get copied there automatically if you say it supports XP) so that the categories are resolved.

But it does bring us to one issue that we would like to have your input on:

For new users, visiting a site where we list by the program name rather than what it does is daunting to newbies.

When people visit a site, they are looking for themes, skins, and icons to change their GUI, their desktop, their icons, their favorite MP3 player, etc.

When they visit and see "WindowBlinds", for instance, they get confused (which is why we provided a WinXP Skins section when XP was released to help new users).

But ideally you would have sections with names like:

Visual Styles
Icon packages
MP3 player skins
Desktop shell themes
Start bar skins
Logons
Cursors

that sort of thing. But we're not sure how to go about that since we odn't want to confuse the people who already know what programs they need to use.

Any thoughts?

User voting for the Best OS-like skin is up. This isn't a skin that looks like an existing operating system. Rather, this is a user interface that you could imagine Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or some other OS designer wanting to use for their OS. Click on the "Vote here" on the right.

Traffic in February was down from January by around 100,000 unique visitors. Then again, with 3 fewer days (we average around 30,000 to 35,000 uniques per day) the results aren't surprising.

Febuary was dominated by the GUI Olympics over at http://www.guiolympics.com. We have seen a real increase in the creation of skins of all kinds. February was a great month for new skins.

One challenge we face is that the site is getting slower and slower. After the GUI Olympics is done, we are going to be putting some effort into rewriting some of the underpinnings to the site to make it use the database less.

Last month referrals came from:
Stardock (69.22%)
Customize.org (0.61%)
Neowin (0.52%)
deviantART (0.49%)
TweakXP (0.47%)
Deskmod (0.45%)
Others (27.94%)

We thank all the sites that link to us. Without you, there'd be no WinCustomize!

If your site is linking to WinCustomize and you would like to know your referral info, post (don't email) here and I'll look it up for you.

Over the past year, a new technology site, Neowin has experienced explosive growth. Part news site, part technology community, we explore what Neowin is and talk to its founder, Neobond about its success.

The judges are now going through the finalists for the skins that use colors most effectively.

Users should proceed to the voting booth to pick the finalists for best power user skin. Which skin do you think makes you the most productive?