OS/2, the operating system that did battle with Windows for desktop supremacy turns 20 years old this week.  OS/2 was a land of many innovations.  It is also the environment in which Stardock was born into. It is where Object Desktop came from originally with features such as the ability to change all the icons by applying a "package" of icons. It included the ability to change the look and feel of the OS/2 GUI (title bars, buttons, scrollbars, etc. sound familiar?). OS/2 was i...

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar is a PC strategy game. So why would we talk about it on WinCustomize.com? The user interface of it was created with DesktopX . Each screen is a .dxpack (just like the ones in the DesktopX objects gallery).  This week, G4TV's XPlay takes a look at the game. The average review score of GalCiv II: Dark Avatar is about 4.75 stars out of 5 putting it firmly in the top 10 best PC games in history. You can read the full review here . Check ou...

Slashdot has an interesting article up regarding the Viacom vs. YouTube lawsuit. On the one hand, Viacom's copyrighted content is showing up on YouTube.  On the other hand, YouTube is complying with the DMCA law that puts the burden on the copyright holder to notify the host of copyrighted material. So who's right?  It's a very tricky situation. YouTube videos are relatively low quality and the duration is strictly limited (I don't think you could upload a 20 minute video fo...

Stardock released WindowBlinds 5.5 today.  WindowBlinds is a program that enables users to customize the look and feel of the graphical user interface of Microsoft Windows.  By applying "skins", WindowBlinds can change title bars, borders, push buttons, scroll bars, the taskbar, the Start menu and virtually every element of the Windows environment.  Thousands of different skins exist and can be created using a free program called SkinStudio . WindowBlinds 5.5 is a major update...

If you haven't checked out Island Dog's video tour of Pantheon, absolutely check it out. It's not to be missed! Pantheon is a new suite from Stardock Design.

Version 5.5 released for registered users! Stardock has released WindowBlinds 5.5 for registered users and Object Desktop users.  The new version supports skinning of Windows Vista.  A new version of SkinStudio is in development to support skinning of some of the new GUI elements of Windows Vista as well. Screenshots of WindowBlinds 5.5 on Windows Vista:   Visit: WindowBlinds Homepage  

Stardock has released the first beta of IconPackager 3.2 (3.19) for Object Desktop users.  IconPackager allows users to change all their Windows icons by applying "packages" of icons. There are thousands of icon packages available on the net on websites such as WinCustomize.com, deviantART , Skinbase , and elsewhere. IconPackager on Windows Vista took some effort due to the added new icons that were not easily found along with the new "Live Folders" which do require updated icon pac...

Windows DreamScene is Microsoft's animated wallpaper program that's currently in "preview" (beta) for users of Windows Vista Ultimate.  So far, reactions have been mixed. While users seem to love the concept, the amount of CPU used to do it seems to vary wildly.  From 12% or so on my ThinkPad T60 to nearly 50% on systems that are much faster. The difference? So far, it basically can be thrown to the feet of nVidia. Their drivers, which not only seem to crash PC games do double-d...

Dark Avatar animated wallpaper in .DREAM format now available. You're going to get a lot of repetition on this so bear with us: Windows DreamScene is Microsoft's animated wallpaper program distributed as an additional download for users of Windows Vista Ultimate.  Stardock DeskScapes is a program that extends DreamScene to support the new .DREAM format for animated wallpapers which supports additional functionality. And the Dream gallery here on WinCustomize is whe...

Dream.WinCustomize.com is here! And so is Stardock DeskScapes which you need to run the new .DREAM files! Check out the guided tour below...

Windows Vista has gone from being 1% of traffic of WinCustomize.com last week to over 5% on January 30th -- the official release date of Windows Vista. Any bets on where it'll be next week?

ActiveWin.com's Andre Da Costa along with Byron Hinson and Fernando Fhualpa have taken an exhaustive look at Windows Vista Ultimate. This is, so far, the most comprehensive review we've seen for Windows Vista yet. Everything you might want to know is in here. Check it out.  

Microsoft officially introduced the world to Windows Vista today.  Windows Vista is Microsoft's next generation operating system to replace Windows XP. At the launch today (see video here ), the major features of Windows Vista were demonstrated. One feature we here at Stardock are particularly proud of being part of is the Ultimate Extra called Windows DreamScene. DreamScene allows users to play high-definition video content as their animated wallpaper.  Microsoft selected Star...

Master Skins. What are they? A Master Skin is a skin made by a user with Master access or higher that is premium content. On WinCustomize.com we have access levels: Citizen Apprentice Journeyman Master Users can rise up through those access groups based on merit -- becoming part of the skinning community and contributing to it in the form of skins, themes, icons, wallpapers, helping other users, writing articles, etc.  Once they get to Master level, they can choose to su...

  CES is winding down but before it's all gone, check out the link below for some of the sights from CES 2007!