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Blog: Drama on Aqua-Soft

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Blog: Drama on Aqua-Soft

from WinCustomize Forums

(decided to make this a forum post since it's not really news)

For this blog I'll have to put on my special flame-resistant outfit.  Our friends at Aqua-Soft have shut down their forums after a dramatic inter-developer spat broke out. I was in the middle of it and for my part in that discussion I feel bad.  So what happened?

First a little background. Aqua-Soft is a customization website that specializes in helping users make Windows look more Mac-like. Since WindowBlinds, ObjectDock, IconPackager, ObjectBar and DesktopX have long been used to that end by many users. Stardock has long been on there in various ways.  But I hadn't been on there much until recently because of my work on The Political Machine.  Now that that game is out at the stores, the next things on my list to work on were ObjectDock Plus and DesktopX 2.2 both of which had late summer release schedules. 

But when I went back to Aqua-Soft I was startled by how much its community had changed.

The site admins are great guys who really have worked hard to make the site a place that is friendly for developers and users. But the content of the site had slowly become very AveDesk oriented.  AveDesk is a program that essentially lets you take dock plugins (such as for ObjectDock) and put them on your desktop sort of like DesktopX widgets.  How did the site become so oriented that way? Why AveDesk instead of other widget-type programs like Kapsules, Samurize, or DesktopX? Because those programs all have their own website, own forums, and own libraries whereas AveDesk does not so they gravitated to Aqua-Soft.  So just as users WinCustomize.com tend to be users of DesktopX and WindowBlinds, users on Aqua-Soft had become vocal supporters of AveDesk. Which is fine until they start trying to antagonize other developers/programs.

When I went onto the DesktopX forum and wrote a post on DesktopX 2.2, one user actually wrote "Hmm, this sounds like a Payware version of AveDesk" (not even close).  When a news item on IconX was made, several AveDesk users went on and wrote things like "AveDesk can do this better" (no, it has nothing to do with IconX).  Other developers have noticed this trend as well.  In one discussion, an Aqua-Soft news moderator actually accused us of scheduling DesktopX 2.2's release around AveDesk's 1.1's release to interfere with it.  This would be akin to accusing Microsoft of scheduling Longhorn's release to conflict with SkyOS.

So with that back-drop, I submitted a news item to Aqua-Soft of the DesktopX video tutorial I did the other day. And like I said, the guys who run Aqua-Soft are very fair minded. They've been doing this for a long time and know what they're doing.

Then all hell broke lose. If you think people ripping on IconX or saying it's not as good as AveDesk was bad, the response to this news item was much worse.  The first response was from the AveDesk developer himself who publicly complained that a news item for a video tutorial wasn't appropriate.  Now bear in mind, on Aqua-Soft, the AveDesk developer gets to directly post news items. He has a developer's blog where he can put his development status reports (and does) as front page news items on the site.  I don't object to that. I don't object to that AT ALL.  I make blogs posts like this here on WinCustomize.com (of course, I work for the company that owns the site).  But for someone whose own personal development blogs get posted as front page news items on Aqua-Soft to publicly complain about a 3 line news item about a video tutorial seemed like quite a double standard.  Which I said so. 

And if I thought it was rough having AveDesk advocates zinging every DesktopX or IconX related news item or post, it was nothing compared to when the developer himself had taken a public stance. It was like a clarion call for its advocates to rush in. 

Eventually the news item comments were closed but a forum post was made at which point the entire process repeated with everyone getting angrier and angrier.  The AveDesk developer felt I was putting words in his mouth. I felt he was demanding a double standard and oblivious to how much benefit he received from Aqua-Soft. And I also felt under-siege as his fans came to his defense. His fans essentially argued that since his program is free he should get special treatment.  And besides, I was "forcing" DesktopX down their throat because I had become active in posting there in the run-up in DesktopX 2.2's release. So  post after post about AveDesk is fine, but if I write about DesktopX in the DesktopX forum I'm forcing people to use DesktopX. DesktopX has WinCustomize they argued (implying that AveDesk should have Aqua-Soft even though Aqua-Soft is supposed to be a neutral site).

The AveDesk fans basically took the view that while it okay to basically flame and impugn me or DestopX and its users, merely disagreeing (and I mean the polite cannon was on maximum power) was considered forbidden by its fans (I wish I could link to the thread so you wouldn't have to take my word for it but to see it for yourself). Literally the mere concept of other apps, particularly non-free ones, being given an equal shake was totally unacceptable to the AveDesk fans. Ave was "part of the community", the rest of us were not.

That was when I threw up my hands and gave up on the forums. It reminds me a bit of the whole Style XP thing where at first its developers were giving it away and had no forums so users gravitated over to Neowin and because Neowin is a neutral site, it gave the impression that Style XP (and later msstyles) must be really popular because everyone was talking about it there and few were talking about WindowBlinds. That effect hasn't gone away entirely but now that its developers have their own forums, things on skinning sites have evened out much more though msstyles discussion, not having an official home, tend to gravitate out on various sites.  So in other words, I'd been through that pain before and I wasn't going to go through it again. 

If the site's users want Aqua-Soft to be THE AveDesk marketing/channel where other developers could expect to have AveDesk fans pile on every time there's a discussion/post/news item about a "competing" program then forget it.  Soon after that the owners (who again I want to stress are very fair minded, this is not their fault and as an admin I know the feeling have losing control over the direction of the site, JoeUser.com often feels like it's gotten totally out of hand) closed the forums.

And bear in mind, all this came to a head over the same exact news item we have here on the DesktopX object video tutorial which received about a dozen responses total.

Hopefully things will return to normal as it is a good site and the people who run the site are great guys. But I also think that the AveDesk fans need to be a LOT more tolerant and realize that Aqua-Soft is supposed to appeal to all users who are trying to "Aquify" their PCs. If they want to have a partisan site to promote AveDesk then they need to create their own, not latch onto a site with a proud 3+ year old history.

33,837 views 104 replies
Reply #26 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Last January I stumbled upon aqua-soft and was very impressed by it. It had a great variety of applications and skins and quickly welcomed people into it's ranks.

Within the last three months I've seen that completely change. Andreas (author of AveDesk) has always come across as a fairly reasonable person and has even jumped into my forums from time to time to make some friendly suggestions - which is in a great spirit, and the guy writes some nice code. However...

Apparently the hordes which guard over the land of AveDesk have never heard the phrase 'There's more than one way to skin a cat'. Thats what programmers do, and how we are usually borne into it - We dont nessesarily like how an app functions, so we roll our own.

I've gotten so discusted with the hard-on that every-other aqua-soft member has for Andreas and AveDesk that I've all but stopped posting and submitting news to the site. It's to the point where no one is even willing to listen to another soul about application creation if their name isnt Andreas. Its a real bummer for a recreational programmer.

My 2 cents - If youre gonna run a community to server the general interest for a given topic, dont allow an author to pimp his/her application 24/7. Give them a sub-domain - anything other than that. Everyone can now clearly see the result of such action. I hope they re-open in their former glory. If they re-open without change I hope they allow me to run a search for recent posts which dont include AveDesk - it should cut down the 3+ pages down to 1/2 page.
Reply #27 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I think we can agree it's not Andreas's fault.  Andreas has always behaved in an honorable way - giving freely of his time to help others.

But there is something not quite right about the community around Avedesk.  Can you imagine, for example, what would happen if Samurize's community were that militant? There's a LOT more of them than there are Avedesk users. Luckily, they take a live and let live type of view.

I think Avedesk has simply reached the popularity point where it needs its own site and its own forum to drain off some of the zealots from the "neutral" sites.

As a side note, widgets, in all forms, are pretty iffy in the "aqua" world anyway. Dashboard isn't out and it's not really delivering widgets in teh same way as any of these programs.  So once on that slippery slope, objecting to talking about other widget programs and beyond gets to be a tougher thing.

Siege of Centauri
Reply #28 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I suspect that one of the reasons that AVE garnered such vocal support over at A-S is that he was very responsive to the community's 'needs': he rapidly developed a lot of features that people requested, and so - yes - people felt 'ownership' of the application.

However, despite the visibility that these people clearly had at A-S I think it would be inaccurate to say that there were more supporters of AveDesk than of, say, Samurize or DesktopX there. The amount of coverage it was getting was really because AveDesk 1.1 had recently been released and so people were testing out its limits - interested in seeing exactly what it was capable of and what its developers could be talked into adding.

Stardock is also not without its fervent supporters (just read back through this thread). Personally I've always been slightly envious of people who see things in such a black-and-white manner. Their life must be much simpler than mine.

Oh well. Hopefully this will get sorted out, the fanatics will come to realize that the world is not quite so simple and we will achieve world peace by Christmas.
Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top
AndreasV?How are you man?I had no idea you were AVE.Try not to get too discouraged by these turn of events.You turn out some really interesting stuff.(I'm using a couple right now )I would bet there were no real problems between you and Brad,seems some others just couldnt behave like grownups.

All this fuss over a informative tutorial involving desktop customisation is just silly.We're all here(or there) because we thinks its great(sometimes even important).I hate to see this kind of negativity and backbiting...we should support all developers in there endeavors,paid or not.

I still dont see why any of this was even a problem...
Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Judge: Certainly there are Stardock supporters too.  But I don't think you'll find moderators/admins here publicly suggesting that Ave was ripping off features from DesktopX or that the timing of Avedesk 1.1 was designed to compete with DesktopX 2.2's very much anticipated release.

Similarly, I don't think an Avedesk news item here would get a bunch of "Sounds like a washed down version of DesktopX".  People here tend, on teh whole, to be pretty open to trying out different things.

I want to be on Avedesk's side. I've been very vocal in that I would like all the native Windows widget programs to cooperate more closely, lest Konfabulator come over to Windows and wash them all out in a wave of hype (you can almost imagine the headlines "Konfabulator teaches Windows to do Widgets" or some other such nonsense).

But it's hard to do that if one of the sites that "gets" the whole Widget has so many fanboys supporting Avedesk that non-Avedesk talk gets swept away.

Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I currently have 2 AveDesk desklets and 5 DesktopX objects on my desktop. I wouldn't want to be without any of them. That means I run both apps. That also means I am very happy that I can get exactly what I want by running both apps. A certain US President once said that a "rising tide lifts all boats". (begin stupid metaphor) The widget tide is rising and I'm glad I've got more than one boat to choose from. I sure hope that the AveDesk and DX "camps" quit trying to sink each other's boat and just enjoy the ride up. (end stupid metaphor)

-Jeff
[Message Edited]
Reply #32 from WinCustomize Forums Top

That's how I feel too. Widgets are things you can run together.

There is no need to attack one.

Reply #33 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i say use what ever works ... to each his own .. but dont beat on each other. the more skinning stuff there is out ther the better it is for all of us .. skin the world !!!!!!! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
[Message Edited]
Reply #34 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I see, just another reason for me to give up on sites like neowin and the such. It has become very unhealthy for me to read all the idiots' posts about how evil Stardock is every time Brad posts some news on Neowheenie or deviantart (and now aquasoft). And I doubt it will become any better.



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Reply #35 from WinCustomize Forums Top

c242: That's what I fear.   It really doesn't take that many people to spoil things for everyone else.  I think Neowin has come a LONNNG way since the 2001/2002 time when even me posting a comment on a skin would bring someone on there crying foul.

The whole anti-commercial thing has, fortunately, petered out quite a bit. But it's still lingering around. But in the Avedesk community, Samurize and Kapsules gets their ire as well and they're free.

Like HG says, people should just use what works. And there's no need to run one product down because you can intermix them.

Reply #36 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Is there any news on the future of AveDesk? It would be a great shame to see development end due to a huge 'nerd-blowout'. I've seen it happen a lot through various sites and the forums of those sites never really go back to how they were.

Aqua-Soft does need to change admittedly and I agree that AveDesk needs it's own site. I'm sure that would help the development of the app and I know that many would be willing to help support the site via hosting (myself included) and donation as it has been up until now.

I just hope AveDesk doesn't die out, but I can understand if Andreas does not want to put up with any more issues arising from it.

I'm sure there will be even more Stardock bashing now also... a great shame all around.
Reply #37 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It's people like Grim who cause these sort of unneccesary events to occur, as his post here just demonstrated.
Smoke's post was right on the money. If everyone thought the same way he does, the skinning/theming scene would be a lot more enjoyable again, and there would be a lot more respect going around.
Reply #38 from WinCustomize Forums Top
wow, im glad im the cause of the end of the world:P,

ok, im gonna take a breather here. cuase people are throwing my name around like they know what im about.

ive been at aqua soft for a year, and i have NEVER seen such a sturr as what happend. and im NOT one of the people who posted in the news thread at aqua soft that started the huge flame war. i have acutally had nothing to do with any flaming, i just got home from a long day and saw that my site, wich i post all of my work at was closed. and that may never open again. and i was pissed off. if your in my shoes and part of a comunity that may never exist again u would be pissed too. im sorry if i jumped the gun or was wrong when i posted here.

BUT. do any of u know what yoru takling about when u say aves fans, and the mob that backs up ave. cuase im pritty sure that doesn't exist. if u can point out what the hell your talking about ill apoligies.

all i know is eveything was fine. then people started talking about whats better ave or desktop x. and why do u use this when u could use that. maybe some people should just let it be, post that something exists, and let the user make up his own mind as to what to use. but hey. probalby dont have to worrie about that. cuase ave sounds like hes not making anything. or a nouther native aqua soft dev named alilm, but hey we dont need them anyway right...

ok, continue bashing me. cuase im sure u know me and your fully researcing the kind of person i am to make judgements on me
Reply #39 from WinCustomize Forums Top
oh, and how do this demonstrate anything? did u even read what i said, here take a nother look.
#18 by grim53 - 9/5/2004 6:28:44 PM
thanks for killing aqua soft, your a moron if u think people will just pick avedesk over anything else bacuase it is at aqua soft. different people will use different things to suit there needs. i have seen many threads at aquasoft by u acusing aqua soft memebers of backing up ave, and its just not true. you have managed to make this seem like something its not. congrats. and aquasoft is closed now.IF it opens up again it will be drimaticly differnt.AWSOME. GOOD JOB.
kill my acount, im not comeing here any more.
Reply #40 from WinCustomize Forums Top
grim53....most people here at Wincustomize.com do not suffer memory retention problems, and can read just fine.  No need to repost your last thread.....particularly when it's inflamatory and misguided....
Reply #41 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Grim: Blaming me personally for "killing" Aqua-Soft is pretty damn offensive.

It's my fault that a bunch of people threw a fit that the owners of Aqua-soft put up a news item about 2 video tutorials I made? 

Is that what you're saying? That by encouraging the posting of NON-Avedesk related content on Aqua-Soft I am the cause of its demise?

If you want to "blame" anyone for the problem blame the Avedesk zealots who tried to enforce an iron grip on what was and wasn't acceptable to be discussed on Aqua-Soft as if they were owners of the site.

I know if I was the owner of a site I'd be pretty ticked off if a bunch of users started trying to tell me what was acceptable to talk about or not. Especially if those users who were complaining were boosting for an app that is only very loosely related to the site's central purpose.

Reply #42 from WinCustomize Forums Top

[email perhaps of passing interest to others]

 

Grim53...

 

Generally we do not remove posts...particularly if/when their removal may be seen as some form of pro-Stardock-protecting censorship.

Wincustomize.com is owned and financed by Stardock, but their patronage is for the betterment of skinning as a whole, and shouldn't be seen as some nefarious sub-plot.

You say you were at A-S for a year and now it appears you may lose your site through the stupidity of others.....that's unfortunate, but the 'older' members of the skinning community can attest to numerous instances of the same situation....

A few to ponder....

Customize.org [oldest public skinning site]

Customize.org the second time

DeskMod [hacked]

DeskMod [again, if I remember right]

Skinz.org [arguably the most influential of them all]

LiteSTEP.com [hacked, I think][several times]

LiteSTEP.net [ditto]

Downtime also but perhaps less invidiously...to...

Skinbase

ArtUproar

LotsOfSkins

DeviantArt

There'll be more, but I'm bound to forget them....

Those within the skinning community that have been at it for six years or more certainly know what it's all about, and how easy it is to have things lose the plot.

Those who consider skinning to be more than a fad or passing interest [mildly diverting] will not be discouraged by the dick-heads who are intent on spoiling it for others, but will be pro-active in ensuring it doesn't happen again.

People like Brad [Frogboy] [he may just 'happen' to be CEO of Stardock, but actually he's first and foremost a skinner] and other older, established members of the online skinning community are particularly pro-active and have no interest what-so-ever in bringing any facet of skinning into disrepute as it serves no common good to do so.

When leveller heads have prevailed, and reasonable 'control' is restored on A-S I'm sure it'll be back again for all to enjoy.  If tighter reins are required on forum conduct....so be it.  Keeping 'sensible' control of an online public website is not for the faint-hearted, nor is it an easy juggling act [imagine a site with almost 1.5 million members].

Hope this explains things a little,

 

Cheers,

Paul Martin

JAFO

Admin Wincustomize.com

Reply #43 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Paul said "dick-heads"
Reply #44 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i have been in the skinning comuntiy since 95/96 ?... in that time i have watched many sites crumble under the pressure of over zealous patrons. when a group latch on to a program and start bashing those who use or advertise different programs, i know what the end result will be ,,
in time the admins either loose control of the site and close it .. or they remove the offending patrons. its as simple as that.
if A-S was a "product support/skins" only site i could understand questioning brads posts.. but as far as i have understood A-S was supposed to be a "for all skins site " that means most any prog and skinner was welcome ...
if that is NOT the case it should be stated on the main page ...
[Message Edited]
Reply #45 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I have been visiting both sites (WC and AS) for many moons and I don't understand why some folks seem to have the need to flame other site's apps. I say it that way because as Brad mentioned, folks that want SD related stuff tend to congregate here, and folks that are looking for Aquafication tend to go to sites like AS. The forums have the unfortunate flaw of being vulnerable to flame-happy die-hards with nothing better to do than run down an app they don't like/understand/use/can't afford. I just want Brad and the other SD folks to know that I appreciate all their hard work and dedication to GUI customization. Thanks mainly to the folks here at WC I have quite an impressive collection of skins that I can't bear to part with.
Reply #46 from WinCustomize Forums Top
" #18 by grim53 - 9/5/2004 6:28:44 PM
thanks for killing aqua soft, your a moron if u think people will just pick avedesk over anything else bacuase it is at aqua soft. different people will use different things to suit there needs. i have seen many threads at aquasoft by u acusing aqua soft memebers of backing up ave, and its just not true. you have managed to make this seem like something its not. congrats. and aquasoft is closed now.IF it opens up again it will be drimaticly differnt.AWSOME. GOOD JOB.
kill my acount, im not comeing here any more.

have a nice day. "

Grow up, buy a dictionary, and learn some grammar. It's folks making pointless rants like yours that are causing the problem. Brad did not cause the closure of the forums at AquaSoft. By the way, check your facts: AveDesk IS a very popular subject at Aquasoft. Not knocking the app, I think it's a great proggie, so don't EVEN go there.
Reply #47 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ok guys, after this im done. im sorry, i have looked into it more, and i relise this is no one persons falt.Im sorry i was being so harsh. im really just sick about what happend, and im sorry i broght it here.

i would like to personly apoligize to frogboy.sorry man.
i hope u guys can understand that a lot of crap happend at my fav site, and i was upset.i posted in anger and i regret that.

so again, im sorry.

peace
Reply #48 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Brad, its very easy to bash other software instead of promoting your own... and the diffrence between freeware and non-freeware probably is the quality. If you buy your software from people who are working on it as their full time job it is not that hard to understand that the quality might be better. Even tought I am not really a WB person anymore I find this whole thing sad...

never heard of AveDesk... neither of skyOS
Reply #49 from WinCustomize Forums Top
HG: "i have been in the skinning comuntiy since 95/96 ?"

Wow. What community was that and what skinnable apps were you running back then?
Reply #50 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I have been a contributor to both the wincustomize site and over at aqua-soft, and I am nonplussed by this strange episode.

I have been a wincustomize customer for a long time. I have bought and I use most of the products Stardock offers. I love them. I also love AveDesk. Myself, I find Avedesk much easier to use than Desktop X. I understand they do different things. I have tried both. I use AveDesk, but I do not use Desktop X. That is simply my own experience and not meant to put down Desktop X.

To put Andreas' AveDesk app in perspective, the reason why Aqua-Soft members may find themselves ebullient about supporting Avedesk, is that Andreas is a developer who has written many valuable aqua emulating applications for the Aqua emulation community at Aqua-Soft, not just AveDesk. He gives a lot to that community and he has done it so far without demanding any recompense. So he has many fans. The release of Avedesk 1.1 happened relatively recently and its ease of use and aqua-emulation has been a boon for the Aqua-Soft members. But there is a strange dynamic that occurs for freeware developers at a site like Aqua-Soft that 3rd party payware developers should already be well aware there is a touch and go worry about losing developers of free apps due to too many complaints about the software, or not enough appreciation shown the developers, or payware competitors trancing in with sales pitches. It is a very uneasy balance. Developers who offer popular programs often get fierce loyalty or support because members do not want to lose the developer. Sometimes it goes overboard without question. When this delicate dynamic is out of balance it quickly goes into an uncotrollable frenzy. It is most unfortunate and happens more often than most of us would like. It is no joy having to beg great developers to come back, when why they left in the first place was due to the errant comments of just a few.

Like I said, I am a stardock customer and supporter, but I did find it a little odd to find the Desktop X tutorial on the news at Aqua-Soft. I watched the tutorial, and after seeing it I was assured that I still had no need of the program (eventhough I have a stardock subscription). It just doesn't do what AveDesk does and I don't even see how to use Desktop X for Aqua emulation. Not that it was wrong of anybody to post it, but it did seem out of place per emulation possibilities.

Frogboy, I think you did the community at aqua-soft a disservice by coming back to the site after a long hiatus and making a value judgement about the direction the site has been taking. The AveDesk thing has not been going on all that long. You probably came back at its peak. These things ebb and flow. Just like with the finder wars, all the buzz and excitement dies down once everybody finally gets what they have been dreaming of. So I think your assessment contained a bit of a perspective error by judging that the community had radically changed in your absence. That's a bit of an overreaction, and it is unfortunate because it has led to an erroneaous judgement upon AveDesk.

I am very happy with all the software Stardock offers to make my emulation easier, safer, and more fun, but I am equally grateful to Andreas for giving me apps that do things others don't and giving them to me and the rest of the aqua-soft community for free. I do not think that because Ave's Apps are free means he should get special privilege, but I do think he has earned special consideration and a substantial following at Aqua-Soft because of his longtime contributions and involvement with that specific community. You as developers of software not specifically oriented to Aqua-Soft should be aware of that, and since you profit from promoting your software you should at least be more amiable to a sense of fairplay. Although Andreas may have had a knee-jerk reaction that was construed as unfair, in essence his reaction was not entirely unfounded either. The Stardock tutorial video didn't really have much to do with aqua-emulation (or at least didn't really make it clear how it did), and I will go further to say that the previous post to that, about 'the reason why Desktop X doesn't come across as favorably as other widget programs was because nobody was making good graphics for it' was even more out of place. You have a product that you are selling. For one, my skin crawled upon reading that because you were making a plea to be on an equal playing field with a free app. This is not appropriate. If you are selling a product and you want to improve its competitveness, then invest capital in it. Hire graphic artists to improve the look of Desktop X widgets. Do not ask graphic artists to contribute to your app for free at a community with a very closely related freeware app currently in high-popularity mode. Be aware of your market and be sensitive to it. People contribute to AveDesk for free because they get it for free and they find it an agreeable exchange. It is not an agreeable exchange to improve the look of a product for someone who makes a profit and does not share the profit with you. Each of these two news posts taken alone were not egregious, but taken together they begin to seem a little like a sales pitch. Again, as your customer who is already sold on your product, it turns me off to see this.

Ultimately, I feel your reaction to AveDesk was short-sighted. It is a new app. Version 1.1 was a huge leap forward over its previous version and the app has suddenly found exponential growth and popularity at the website where it was born. If it continues to grow, or I should say, If it "had" continued (if Andreas does indeed stop developing apps for Aqua-Soft), it very likely would've gone on to prop up its own website apart from Aqua-Soft over time. These things go through stages. Let it have its time. If it went on to get its own website and become payware, so much the better. Andreas deserves as much for all he has done. He has written an app that is very popular. On the other hand, Stardock also deserves its place in the emulation community and I hope we can see more apps in the future that help us get what we want out of our computers.

The entire episode is most unfortunate. I hope that all the developers can see how they contribute to the happiness of all of us modders and emulators, and for the greater percentage of us, we support you and are very grateful to the hours of obsessive/compulsive fun you provide us for screwing around with our computers. We also get most distressed and queasy when we see a riff between developers because we know we may lose the future bliss of a cool new app that puts a fabulous panther-like doohookie right where we always dreamed it could be.

I hope everyone can kiss, make-up, put this in the past and get on to what we were doing before...

happy modding/emulating

-pazl