And yet people happily work for him....

Soylent Green IS people ....

Wow, what an interesting thread this is becoming! Frogboy merely spoke out what many of us were thinking. I haven't submitted any artwork on here because someone might want it in another color, different font, or another size. I feel that many creative artists refuse to share because of the so called "bashing" of their many hours of hard work.
Therefore, we continue to see Vista this and Vista that themes, all of which begin to look the same after a while.
I like the idea of Master Skins. These guys certainly deserve something for their time and ideas. If you like it, buy it. If it's free, be thankful and let the artist know.

Well said Frogboy!
It's unfortunate that Alpha Tellurian quit skinning because of negetive comments.
But most of the skinners in this community carry on because they love doing what they do.
Unfortunately there are people who, Like kittymalone said (reply #9) "..i reckon if you dont like it for personal reasons then the best option is to just
say nothing."

I should point out that the iPhone update and added features are free, only the touch had a charge as the new features were such important enhancements and device alterations. Having said that, everything you said Brad is so obvious and correct that I am amazed how often it must be said, but I guess that sense of entitlement runs very deep.

I thought the folks at Neowin were really mellowing on their feelings towards Windowblinds and Stardock over the past year up until this 'Aero Executive' nonesense. I can remember the times, years ago, when they would come in their droves to crap on anything and it became the norm for Frogboy, Pas, myself and others to try defend anything that went up on that site. In the past year I sensed that many of them had finally realized that Object Desktop/Windowblinds was not a 'resource hog' and that it actually was a damn good suite of programs with some excellent skins. What caused this 'mellowing'? There are several factors and one of the main ones is the healthy respect that many of them have built up for vStyler's work. Yes, John you may be surprised by that comment but a lot of folks migrated from Visual Styles to Windowblinds because of Vienna, Sexy and Harmony. Simple styles which you put together with a lot of professional care which had MASS APPEAL. I know of at least ten people, acquaintances and friends, who were staunch VS merchants who would not have touched any Stardock product with a barge pole a couple of years ago and - believe you me they just loved to throw it in my face - but these same people now have Windowblinds and have ditched VS styles. If I took Vienna and Sexy off some of them they would cry like babies, I tell you. If you add in the fact that they can put in an iconpackage, calendar, clock and weather gadget to match, they love it and you would not get them back to VS Styles, even if you paid them. I also sensed this 'mellowing; when I watched Mike's Slider XP Work in progess thread go up over there. On the whole, the Neowiners, were fairly restrained and even those who did not like it were quite complimentary towards Mike and his skills. Mike, to his credit, handled himself with utmost dignity and won himself a few fans. I started posting screenshots on their Monthly Desktop pages and did nice pieces on both the Magic and Winter Wonderland suites and I think I only received one negative comment. A few years ago they would have been all over me like a rash..........

Someone might think this is 'food for thought' but as I was reminded ealier in the week, it's really none of my business as I don't really count as I don't make skins..........

I enjoy Neowin but you don't have to be a brain surgeon to see that that they have more than their fair share of.........let's be polite and not sink to their level.....'young' followers........Just look at some of the XP/Vista/Mac threads to watch 'civil war' in action..........

It's a shame that they have reverted to some of the 'old ways' and hopefully it's just a blip caused by a few undesireables.

I said my piece about this skin in it's thread earlier in the week and I got well and truly 'slapped' by Frogboy and others for it. A certain amount of that was justified and if I had of had my 'diplomatic and sensible head on' I would have confined my comments to something like Carl's comment..........Just a little disappointed in the direction that Stardock might be going after such a great past few months with Magic, Winter Wonderland and Sirus.......Still that's 'water under the bridge' and I will continue to extol the virtues Object Desktop to everyone in my travels - many and I mean many have bought it on my recommendation - and look forward to some of the exciting developments planned for 2008

What can I say..... It's a clear case of "smells like teen spirit"-behavior.

Whenever you have a bunch of people who have never really accomplished anything in their lifes, and who are clearly jealous of the people who did accomplish a lot, you will get a "bashing"-party. People who are not capable of creating/doing, feel obviously the need for destroying. That's the way it has been since humankind first climbed off the trees.

.... such a shame humanity doesn't seem to evolve..... (

I think these are 2 separate discussions. The first "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" relates in my mind more properly in this setting, to those who critique the artists work, both constructively and sadly destructively based on it's appeal to them.

I'd hope as a community we can respond by continuing to develop the skills needed to support artists who offer submissions with constructive feedback. If we can learn to do it well enough, we may cease to lose or otherwise deter contributors.

"Value" as I understand it, relates not solely to how much beauty I perceive in something, but how much of my treasure (be it time, money, energy, etc.) I am willing to risk or spend in order to say that I possess some facet of that beauty.

Unfortunately, I think where a company is identified as having a monopoly on a product, it's apparent 'evilness' is enhanced. For example, it lack's options such as the ability to point to a competitors price/service and present itself as being a positive choice. As a result, to the customer, it's pricing structure becomes less obviously driven by the market and so perhaps more open to subjective criticism, however unfair and/or irrational it may be.

Personally, I think that as Stardock makes various customization products that are accessible to people on many levels, there should be a value point that works for most folks. There is a scale in which people can choose to spend energy where money is an issue, money where time is an issue etc.... it seems on balance to be a system of deployment that works well and could be reasonably described as fair from a consumers point of view.

I knew it! I knew it!.....I just knew there was something funny about you !


Ok bud...I resemble that remark....well partially anyway. Change the H in hippies to a D and we're cool though. Its giving us good hippies a bad rep. Ok now...where's my free skins! I want'em now damn it!

I think it just pisses some people off that "they" either don't have the talent or ambition to produce stuff to the point that they just piss and moan when its something they "have to pay for" if they want it. Or...they're just brain dead.

When I first came to this site, one of the things "I bought" right off was ObjectDock, and when I started using it the first thing I thought to myself was "Hey...I don't see that many skin for this app." So rather than trashing the developer or the site for the limited skins available...I...without any prior training...started churning out docks like there was no tomorrow...sets of docks for 294 skins to date and counting. And I did it because I like a challenge...I like the end result when I can meet the challenge...I like to share with others...and its just plain fun. And along my little journey I've had a few disgruntle "users" with comments like "What were you thinking when you did this crap!?..and the stuff I do for the site and everyone else is free! But I just let it go like water off a ducks back. Your always going to have these kind of people. The thing is....there is a very low percentage of people who get it...life that is...and the rest are just as dumb as a bag of hammers.

Vstylers Aero Executive skin...whether you like it or not...whether its your cup of tea or not...is an excellent skin...plain and simple. Who gives a damn if its an Aero type of skin...who made the rules that there can only be one type of Aero skin? I wanna meet these people so I can smack them upside the head! Aero Executive is a nice piece of eye candy! And even though I'm partial to clear skins like Ecliz for example...I would have even bought this skin even if it had a price on it!

Ya know Brad...the one thing you can't recycle in this world is wasted time. Don't waste another second or thought even considering people who produce nothing but negativity.

"other people are greedy for not working for them for free."

You are SOOOOOOOOO right. Great commentary!!!!!
The same goes for Doctors! Why is it always "The rich Doctor in his Mercedes is bleeding me dry!" (lol...pun intended)? Well, when you all were out doing whatever, we sat in hot classromms and worked hard (all the way) for that title. So, since you need us, you pay.

Entitlement is a destructive proposition when not earned. This is not a socialist society. Hope it never becomes one.

And that's my two cents.

De-evolving once seamed a rdiculous concept to me but as I get wiser it doesn't seem all so ridiculous anymore.

"again, your base your skills on 50,000 retards who lurk on the wincustomize site..lol"
bubbabytes comment on neowin.

This annoyed me,sorry

I think this skin is excellent,there have been very few woodgrain skins that look this good.

Also the higher you go Vstyler,more people will try to pull you down.In Australia its called tall poppy syndrome

Sorry...but I think this is quite different in leaps and bounds. And if you don't think so...hang out with me while I go through my little journey of how I need a doctor. They need to change they're little credo from "First do no harm" to "First get paid"...and thats all I'll say about it.

Too many people take the "what goes up must come down" theory a little too literal.