Sometimes people get confused about what Object Desktop is. They don't realize that the programs, WindowBlinds, DesktopX, ObjectBar, IconPackager, WebBlinds, WindowFX, etc. are all components of Object Desktop.

The goal of Object Desktop is to allow users and corporations to transform their Windows desktop to be a customized solution that is specific to their needs. Until now, however, it has been a tedious process to do just that. That's because a user or IT manager would have to literally go and apply the themes, packages, and skins for those various programs individually. On top of that, there were various third party programs that also would then have to be manipulated to go with the overall look.

To this end, Stardock created a project called Convergence. The Convergence project was designed to put all the various major skinnable/themeable programs together with a single interface to control them all.

The final result is WinStyles, the Object Desktop component that not only controls the various parts of Object Desktop but can also control popular third party programs like Windows Media Player, WinAmp, Hoverdesk, Beatnik, etc. So no matter what programs you use, you could access them in a single consistent manner right from the Windows display properties (in the WinStyles tab).

Not only can WinStyles control the individual programs, it can apply entire super themes (.xpthemes) which contain skins and themes and icons from all those various programs at once. Want a Mac-like look? Download a MacOS XPTheme and apply it. The XPTheme will have the necessary WB skin, ObjectBar theme, DesktopX theme, IconPackager icons, etc. to have, in a single click, a reasonable facsimile of the Mac desktop.

To protect the intellectual property rights of skin and theme authors, Stardock also created a .suite format. Where a .xptheme file literally contained the actual skins and themes within it, a .suite contains LINKS to the individual pieces where WinStyles can go out and download those pieces. Fields are available for listing the author information and no legitimate website will knowingly accept a .xptheme that contains other people's materials without their permission. Meanwhile, .suites allow skin and theme authors to get their work not only more distributed but distributed with credit AND increases their download count (for instance, when a .suite file downloads the WindowBlinds skin, it increases the download count of that skin - the more widely available the .suite file becomes, the higher the download count on the websites their skin gets which in turn increases the visibility of the skin author). So users get an easy way to quickly reproduce a favorite screenshot and skin and theme authors control their skins and themes and gain greater visibility.

WinStyles is also good for software developers. If a .xptheme or .suite contains files to programs the user does not have installed, WinStyles will offer to go out onto the net and download/install it automatically. No need to hunt for the program yourself.

WinStyles is available in two forms - WinStyles standard which is free and WinStyles enhanced which is $10. The enhanced version supports additional programs (to help offset Stardock's cost of supporting those programs). Future versions of WinStyles will support a plugin-standard so that developers can add WinStyles support for their program.

As part of our continuing series, we talked to Jark, the lead administrator of deviantART and took a close look at the site at what makes it so special. Check it out.

Finalists for First event - Most Cheerful skin announced:

(in no particular order)
Tropica
Gilla
Candied Apple
Banana Cream
metalX v1.5
Soma v1.0
Olympics OS
losOS
FiberopticAngel
Design I

In all, LotsOfSkins led with 4 of the 10 finalists. deviantART took 2, Deskmod, TweakXP, VelocityART, and Skinbase each had 1.

Congratulations to all involved on this first event.

The judges will now begin voting.

For the second event, most depressing skin, there will be 15 finalists.

The third event, fastest skin, will have 20 finalists.

We will let you know in a few days who has won the first event. Congratulations to everyone.

The voting for Most Cheerful skin has closed. In a day or so, the finalists will be displayed and the judges will determine which ones will win the awards. The judges are made up of the administrators of the founding site, Stardock, and Theo Mandel, well known GUI designer and author of Elements of GUI Design.

Voting on the second WindowBlinds visual style - Most Depressing Skin, has begun.

Please go through the skins and find which ones convey a sense of darkness and well is just generally depressing. This continues the challenge of UI designers trying to convey a mood in their work. Please make sure you have USED the skins before you vote for them. Also note that the admins will be monitoring the voting very closely.

Have Windows XP? Want to change your logons or make your own? Grab LogonStudio 0.96. A safe and easy way to do it. Version 0.96 adds a visual logon editor for making it easier to create logons.

Ah capitalism... Amazon has a few Segways now available for purchase via an auction. So how bad do you want a segway...?

Contrary to what most people may think, it's been my experience that in contests that only a couple dozen people actually take the time to vote on contest entries of this nature.

In the GUI Olympics, that means that your vote really does count. And only the top 10 entries are ging to be considered by the judges for medals.

So go to http://www.guiolympics.com and vote!

The first event of the GUI Olympics is "Most cheerful skin". Visit http://www.guiolympics.com to go through the skins and find the top 5 most cheerful looking skins that you might actually use and then go to the voting booth. The 10 most vote getting skins become finalists that the judges look at and determine the winning skins.

This event is the first of 15 total events of the GUI Olympics. There are 2 more coming this week! Stay tuned.

The first event is most cheerful skin. A good user interface designer can design skins that imply a certain mood to them. Most interfaces have traditionally attempted to provide a "neutral" mood (gray).

If you don't have an account here (or at Wincustomize) create one and you can vote.

Go through the skins that are here, write down 5 or so WindowBlinds visual styles (skins) that you feel convey a sense of "cheerfulness". When done, go to the voting booth and vote on those 5 in which you award each with 1 through 10 points.

In a couple of days, those votes will be added up and the 10 highest WB visual styles will be listed as finalists. The judges will then pick from those finalists a gold, silver, bronze and 2 honorable mentions.

Make sure you go through all the skins. We ask that you have downloaded and used any skin that you vote for (use the screenshots to narrow things down of course).

We will list the finalists in their own section in the top left in a couple of days. The final judged results will show up later in the week or early next week.

FYI..

This site seems to be downloading people's icons and is preparing to sell them. Here's the URL. Did they get permission?

http://www.jabinc.cjb.net/