One thing I know about Frogboy [and quite well, too] is that he doesn't need me stepping in in his defense...but...[there's always a 'but'] It is quite presumptuous of you to be asserting a higher knowledge/acumen when it comes to appropriate business practice and how to treat a 'customer', particularly when the efficacy of said 'customer' is tenuous at best.

Truth of the matter is Stardock's business practises and success are the ONLY reasons Wincustomize.com exists [at least in this form and scale...it may have easily been someone's mum's dsl modem in a bedroom somewhere - it happens].  New whiz-bang servers are purely thanks to SD's capacity to create a popularly-received Computer Game and to market it well.

As for 'temper', sometimes it's simply not appropriate to 'kick your cat' in frustration....but to kick some sense/reality into the specific person who clearly needs it...

1) I've been in business for over a decade.

2) It's already a very successful business and has been for years.

3) I don't care whether someone is a potential customer or not. I'm going to give my opinion just like anyone else -- even if it costs sales.

4) Why would you think you'd be banned for disagreeing with my opinion? You have every right to disagree with me, my attitude or how I run things.

If someone doesn't like the way WinCustomize is run, the're free to set up their own site.  Here's a link to SkinBase. I like that site. By all means, anyone who objects to how I responded is free to go there and never return here.  We give a place for people to voice their disagreement or opposition to something. But we have the right to respond in kind.

Ultimately probably all of them.  Looking slightly further forward it'd be a relative waste of effort to create such an extensive icon set only to have its useability/relevance time-bombed by the onset of a new OS.  Alittle more of a wait won't hurt anyone, surely....

I think the problem is that some people have unreasonable expectations.  Rather than taking an update of Apogee as being a good thing - something that we're doing well beyond what we need to do, we get treated as if not having significant FREE updates to it out instantly as being a negative. 

Consider this -- we've been doing this stuff for 7 years now right? We've never raised the prices. WindowBlinds is still $19.95.  We still release these icon suites for $8.95. 

And yet the quality and cost of doing them has increased dramatically.  Orion was an anomaly but even it did not come out with tons of different icon sizes. It had a LOT of icons but it was easier to do them back then because no 128x128 versions were needed at first which made it easier to design them.

With Apogee, people expect not just 128x128 but 256x256 sized icons. Now you're talking each icon being a full blown piece of art.

Sir Lantec: Perhaps you should be checking out the beta releases.  WindowFX has undergone a MAJOR update, we just haven't released it as non-beta.  Similarly, DesktopX 3.1 is on ODNT in beta.

You also are assuming that we think the sidebar/widget markets are worth investing a lot of effort into at this point. There's a zillion of them and Microsoft is coming out with more.  Yahoo Widgets is free.  It takes a lot of the incentive to keep updating the widget oriented parts of DesktopX and there isn't any. The next widget revolution, if there is one, is going to be content that makes use of your 3D hardware and that's going to be a Windows Vista thing.

We also have to prepare for Windows Vista.  I don't think many people realize how much of a change it is and how much time and effort is going into developing new Object Desktop software that will make use of it.

Though I generally side with Stardock in most cases, I have to say that I have been missing the "Network Connections" folder icon since day one (from the main "Apogee" manila colored folders) - which is present in the preview on Stardock site for those who are thinking about purchasing.

I use that icon extensively due to a manual registry edit placing it in "My Computer", along with the "Administrative Tools" icon via the same vehicle. When the main "Apogee" pack is applied, I end up with the "Administrative Tools" icon for both the "Network Connections" and "Administrative Tools"

This seems to be an easy fix to me, and an extensive update is not necessary to fix the one icon. This "manila" colored icon is nowhere in the pack, so I have no resource to fix the problem, and therefore do not have a nice matching set of "manila" folder icons to use on my system.

I do not have an issue with Stardock (and by natural extension, Brad) using the WC resources for a temporary fix of the Game servers, but I do see an issue with holding back on a fix for the Apogee product which was advertised in one way, and delivered short.

Since I work in Quality Control and closely with Tech Support, I understand that it takes time to fix certain customer issues, but the little attention to detail are dead give-aways to the true quality of the product and service.

Waiting for a Vista ready fix, in the case of Apogee, does not seem to be in the best interest of the average customer - who is most likely running Windows XP at this time. It would seem to be more appropriate to create a fix (or update) with the current average user in mind, and then offer the "Vista" ready pack when all the bugs have been worked out. Note - even uploading the Network Connections icon to the "Misc. icons" library would do the job just fine.

Again, I support Stardock, Brad, and the WC community - but I must take it with a grain of salt when presented with the reality of what is being delivered versus what is being advertised (or ambiguously promised).

Okay, I have said my peace.

Back to my mellow self.