A look back

Exactly one year ago, I wrote an article about how Stardock failed the skinning community.  It outlined 4 key issues that needed to be addressed this year.  So how did we do?

Challenge #1: Make it easier to create "stuff" for our software

This past year we saw the development of SkinStudio 6. A complete rewrite of SkinStudio from scratch.  It's still not quite done but it's in usable form and skinners seem to really like the direction it's going. 

In addition, the WinCustomize Wiki (wiki.wincustomize.com) project was begun this year to make it easier for skinners to learn about this stuff.  It's still in its infancy but it's a step in the right direction.

But overall, documentation has not substantially improved.  Stardock has brought on a dedicated technical writer to begin addressing this issue more thoroughly.

In summary, a lot of progress has been made but there is a lot more that still needs to be done.

Challenge #2: Organize support for Skinners

I don't think any real progress was made here.  DesktopX 3.5 is still in beta due to problems with Windows Vista SP1 compatibility.  Microsoft has taken a beating this past year with Windows Vista and a lot of it is pretty deserved.  They crippled a lot of software with their "security" initiatives.  As a result, a lot of things got delayed far longer than we expected.  Windows Vista has not been kind to the shell communities.

The challenge of having dedicated people working with the skinning community is a simple lack of funding.  The kind of support we envision for skinners is expensive.

Challenge #3: Get more involved in the community

Zubaz, a leader in the community, has helped out quite a bit. Island Dog has been making lots of good articles. And Stardock support is more present on the forums.  I have increased my presence too this year and have been pretty brutal at times in coming in and squashing exclusionary cliques. So I would imagine some people may wish I wasn't as involved as I was.  I plan to increase my presence further this next year as my other projects clear up some.

I am not sure if enough has been done though in this area. What are your thoughts?

Challenge #4: Lead by example

This is one area I think we have been pretty successful with.  Stardock Design has come out with a lot of stuff this past year. Nearly 40 skins of various categories were released this past year.  From DeskScapes animated wallpapers (Dreams), WindowBlinds skins, Sound Packages, gadgets, and so on.

In 2008, this will get a lot better as things really only started getting going in the latter half of the year. The big issue that needed (and still needs) to be resolved is showing off what can be done to serve as an example to others.  I think this has been pretty successful.  Even if you don't use SoundPackager (you should at least try it out) the fact that it was released with several sound packages provided by Stardock Design is a major break with the past where Stardock would simply throw a new piece of tech out there and hope people made stuff for it.

Similarly, WindowBlinds 6 shipped with several brand new skins. This was a marked contrast with the past where Stardock simply bundled popular skins from the community.

For Next Year...

So what does Stardock need to do next year for skinning?  Here's my list:

Resolution #1: More freely available skins from Stardock Design.  We have Aero Executive, Aero Graphite, and Elegance nearly ready to go. We had intended to release Elegance before the break but there are a couple of little buglets that need to be fixed first.  But overall, there needs to be more examples of how to do X from Stardock Design.  I think Stardock Design did well with the Dreams (animated wallpapers). This pattern needs to be followed into other areas.

Resolution #2: A new GUI Championships. We need to have another multi-site contest. Windows Vista will be mature and so will the software.  The contest needs to have more promotion than last time and have more forewarning.

Resolution #3: More documentation. We're trying in this area but it's difficult to do good documentation. Especially at the price points a lot of this software is.  The tough reality is that if we want to provide more services to customers, the price of the software is going to have to go up to cover it. I.e. If we bring in a full time technical writer dedicated to writing tutorials, manuals, documentations, user guides, etc. then that salary has to be paid for somehow.

Resolution #4: More polish on tools. You've hopefully seen that the over polish quality of Stardock's software has significantly improved this year.  Whether it be WindowBlinds 6, TweakVista, SoundPackager or CursorFX, there's been a significant level of polished brought here.  Similarly, SkinStudio 6 is quite polished and we'll be attempting to do the same with DesktopX going forward too.  The idea is to try to broaden the appeal of these things.

But if there are things you'd like to see us concentrate instead, comment below and let us know.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!