Blog: Will Windows Vista attract new skinners?

Is it day or night? I'm losing track. Things at Stardock are in total crunch mode.  We have a big project for Microsoft that is due very soon as part of the Windows Vista Ultimate Extras that I think a lot of people will be talking about very soon. A good chunk of our art team is working on content and some of our top developers are working on the software.  The good news is that we'll have a super-charged version of one of the extensions as part of Object Desktop (I can't really give specifics yet).

Windows Vista is really going to usher in a new era of customization.  Today we went through what is needed to do a Boot Screen changer for Windows Vista. That won't be too much pain. What will take more effort will be a LogonStudio for Vista. But it's doable and with any luck, we'll have both done before the Winter is over.  This Windows Vista migration is really quite a project for us.  Windows XP is very popular. And no Microsoft OS has been out without an update this long. Ever. Over 5 years now. So we have to keep supporting XP even as we get our software working on Vista.  This has resulted in a much slower set of updates as everyone is working on the Vista stuff. It's definitely been tough to be quiet with regards to the one new Windows Vista project that has been done for awhile.  But the wait is almost over.  The long wait for Vista has, however, had a dramatic effect on the world of skinning that I'll get to in a minute.

Work on WinCustomize 2K7 continues apace. We're looking at a launch in January to coincide with our support for the new Microsoft content that I can't talk about yet in specifics. One of the big projects for next year will be to help make both software and website content that makes it easier for new users and casual users to make interesting things.  We have a new "super widget" type program in development for Windows Vista (mid next year) that is designed to allow pure-artists to make widgets without having to write scripts or XML or whatever. 

There's been a few interesting CursorXP themes made lately.  Meanwhile, work on a CursorVista is in progress.  They'll use the same content so what to call the gallery here on WinCustomize and elsewhere gets kind of interesting. Serves us right calling is something XP. Razor's Edge looks interesting.

Meanwhile, the ObjectBar gallery still only has one theme and that was made by the lead developer. It's not hard to make a theme for it. In fact, it's very easy. And making cool skins for it isn't hard either. It's pretty well documented here.  The gallery's one submission has over 4,000 skins. So this begs the question: Why aren't there more themes? In fact, across the board the question is "Where are the skinners?" 

The trend I've been seeing with skinning in the past few years is that the more users we get, the fewer skinners we get. You'd think they'd both rise together. But that hasn't been the case. And the trend I mention I think is largely coincidental. The problem is that tinkering with the OS isn't interesting anymore. Windows XP has been around so long now that the adventure is long since stale and now it's just a tool. And skinning really involves people who are excited to tinker with the OS.  That applies both to making software and making content.

Back in 1999 in the Skinz.org era, it was a tiny community in which there seemed to be as many skinners and users.  Now, there's millions of users and hardly any skinners.  Consider this: In the last GUI Championships, 16 of the 26 winners were from China.  None game from Europe. NONE. And only 6 came from the United States.  What the hell happened? Interest in using skins certainly hasn't gone down. That's very easy to verify both in traffic and in sales.  But the # of skinners out there has declined dramatically. Why? Because monkeying around with Windows XP isn't interesting anymore. It stopped being interesting a couple years ago. It's been done. We've squeezed all the juice out. As a result, far fewer new skinners have come into the community and it's doubly so for software developers.

Look at the state of customization software.  I remember back in 2001 when Windows XP hackers started patching their uxtheme.dll. There was a post on Neowin.net that went "I wish WindowBlinds would just die, there's no need for it now". It was obviously wrong then but imagine where things would stand now if that had happened. Vista isn't skinnable by any reasonable definition. You have Aero. Sure, some hackers will probably figure out how to change the little PNG images buried in the resources (and only then after they patch three files -- and some of them only after eating crow after screaming about it being a vector based UI -- but I digress). But that's not skinning. That's Windows 3.1 all over again where people used to patch the User.exe file with new bitmaps for the title bar controls.  Where are the new skinning programs coming from?  Just as there are now millions of people wanting to do cool stuff the number of developers seems to have declined.  It's like "Hey, we won! We convinced the world that they want to customize their desktop!" and then they left to go to Linux or who knows what.  The long delay in Windows Vista has brought skinning to its knees even as the # of users making use of skinning has skyrocketed.

So Windows Vista is just about here. Will this revive the skinning community? Will it bring in new skinners who want to make cool new stuff? Will it attract up and coming software developers to create new things? That's what I am hoping for. New OSes cry out to be tinkered with. And tinkering brings the skinners and developers. As a community, we need those people. It can't be all users.

So who is going to make the skins and themes and icons? Will Vista bring a new generation? What are the alternatives? Let's look at the possibilities.

Every now and then you'll see someone complain how Stardock "exploits" its users because it "relies" on other people to make content for its programs. The argument goes that if the skins are free, then it's wrong for Stardock to charge money for its software. I've never looked at it like that because to me, labor is labor. We all have a threshold of labor we'll provide before we want to be paid for that labor. A software program that takes a month to make (like a good skin) will tend to be freeware. A software program that takes years to make, will probably not be freeware (assuming it has the same authors). Hence BootSkin and LogonStudio are free because they didn't involve huge amounts of labor. But WindowBlinds is not.

We have seen the relationship between labor and charging as suites have become more popular. A few years ago, a few skinners banded together and began selling skins (Pixtudio led the way) put together into a coherent suite. Creating a skin can be a lot of work. Creating a full OS skin, an icon package, a wallpaper and a bunch of other stuff is quite a bit of work.  But in the skinning community, if there was hostility by some towards commercial software, it was nothing compared to the hostility of commercial skinning.  For example, in 2001, Customize.org (the very first skin site) banned screenshots or mention of non-free content.  Pixtudio had released a new suite. The suite also included a ton of free skins that were uploaded across the net. But the admins of Skinz.org and Customize.org condemned the concept of selling skins. Me, Skins Factory,  JCRabbit, and others, who had nothing to do with Pixtudio, defended the concept. You can read the thread here.  Here's another thread (back before Style XP started charging $20 to patch your OS -- very ironic).  It is worth noting that the participants on the pro side of the issue are almost all still here.  Me, Skins Factory, JCRabbit, (to name 3) are all still very active.

Simply put, the gulf between those who believe the amount of labor to create a thing is the determining factor between free/non-free vs. the people who believe that the type of thing being created is the determining factor between free/non-free is huge. A less charitable person might say that the gulf between the people who put in labor and the people who want free stuff is huge (since the debates almost always involve developers/skinners on one side and mostly non-skinners/non-developers on the other side hiding their unwillingness to compensate people for immense labor beyind a facade of righteousness -- but I digress <g>).

Of course, there's a second important factor in determining whether something is free or non-free: How fun is the labor to do? Skinning is fun. That's why people do it. It's fun. And people can share their creations with others and interact with people from around the world. No new OS for 5 years has, in my opinion, made it less fun. Combine that with more effort needed to make something that stands out and you get less "stuff" or at best, less interesting stuff. 

So here's the situation on the eve of Windows Vista: There are now millions and millions of people who want skins. Skinning is mainstream. But the number of users creating free skins has declined.  So what's going to happen?  My guess is one of two things: Either Windows Vista will reinvigorate skinning just as Windows XP did when it came out or it won't (or somewhere in between).  If it does, then there will be lots of great free skins.  If it doesn't, it's going to get very commercial very fast.  And if it's somewhere in between, you'll see some commercial skins and lots of free skins.  The demand is there. It will get filled. The question is, by who?

On WinCustomize 2007 skin authors who reach the access level of  "Master" or higher will be able to sell their skins right on the site as part of the gallery. It's almost completely automated -- like uploading a regular skin except the skinner names their price and it goes through more moderation scrutiny. Obviously, to get to be a master you have to release a lot of free high quality content. But as a hobby, it's not a bad prospect to generate what can amount to significant amounts of revenue.  Based on early stats, I think that some skinners could actually make a full time living on it.  But -- here's the kicker -- some people won't be happy about this prospect of there being non-free content.  But that's the catch, either people will volunteer to make cool stuff or the option will be to pay for it.  Personally, a few bucks for a good skin isn't a big deal. But if someone doesn't want to pay for skins, best to pick up SkinStudio and start learning to skin. If artwork is an issue, team up with someone on-line who can make the graphics but doesn't know how to skin.  I have no art skills. But I've made plenty of skins.  BTW, WC subscribers get a big discount on those skins I mentioned.

To make a long story short -- Windows Vista took too long to get out there. As a result, a lot of OS tinkerers have moved onto other things. A tiny fraction of OS tinkerers become skinners. An even tinier fraction become software developers. In turn, the amount of new skins being released these days has declined dramatically even though the number of users has greatly increased.  Windows Vista, I think, will have reignite the love of skinning. Stardock is working on a bunch of new programs we think will help in that area. But I also think that in the absence of free skins, you're going to see an increasing number of premium content from skinners.  Anyone who objects to that I have this advice: Start skinning.