Popularity Whoring 101

Remember Misery's 'TrendWhore' wallpaper?.....

....a classic...

Apparently Tycus you have been away...these vista clones of everything have invaded everywhere.   

Popularity Whoring 101

It's no different than the movies.
Come out with and asteroid destroying the Earth movie and everyones got to make one.

Vista's the same way....

the double standard by allowing this skin to exist is laughable. obviously there is a reason microsoft requested Kol's work to come down...one would think that the same set of circumstances exist here. just because microsoft hasn't said anything about this item, doesn't make it right. allowing it to exist is setting a piss-poor example for everyone else. here we go folks, lets make it okay to steal...ummm...i mean "port" everyone's work

 

I totally agree. I thought here at Wincustomize the moral issue behind,ripping, copying,'porting' was paramount. Seek the permission of the owner before you 'port'! The message here to skinners here has been made clear on many ocassions in the past...'stealing is stealing'...black and white!!!

If Microsoft requested Kols theme to be pulled, then it WAS for a reason and you should be able to have the initiative enough to practice what you preach. Stand by the black and white claims u have made in the past and recognise that morally it is stealing and promoting the facilitation of stealing anothers work.

Since then there has been no communication/concern in any form in reference to any OTHER Vista 'version'. This silence is therefore taken as acceptance of their public distribution [in much the same way as that 'modded' [hacked] dll circumventing digital signing of styles is met with silence/indifference].

 

Do you expect Microsoft to daily scan each graphic website to look for infringements on what they have quite obviously made as a moral point and then request everytime that it be removed?

If you want to create a 'grey' area regarding theft to suit your needs;in a black and white policy you so solemnly advocate, then in my opinion, you are no less the same than any other ripper or theif that looks for these exact same loopholes to justify their actions.

Its easy, as you have said before, to justify these actions by saying 'silence is therefore acceptance' and 'I will stop when everyone else is asked to stop'. Such arguments have been used by rippers,plagiarists,hackers and P2P communities for as long as i can remember.

I am only taking and reflecting the hard-line approach you have so vehemently promoted in the past and wish to point out that if you choose to create self-serving 'grey' areas in such a black and white policy you advocate to others, then your credibility on this issue is seriously undermined.

On a lighter note...   there are some great and talented artists out there who create wonderful and original Vista style themes...such as JJ Ying, whom I admire very much. Thankyou to all those great artists who provide wonderful and original Vista style themes for us to use...you are the guys who make this site what it should be...dedicated to riginal and wonderful ideas that are executed with imagination and Skill.  

Do you expect Microsoft to daily scan each graphic website to look for infringements on what they have quite obviously made as a moral point and then request everytime that it be removed?

In a word, YES.

To properly enforce one's claim to Intellectual Copyright one cannot play favourites, that means any and ALL sites hosting questionable content must be approached with equal diligence ....something that has NOT been the case with this/these particular 'issues'.

To be specific, Microsoft requested by name one skin be removed.  It was.

In 2000 Apple requested one specific skin be removed [before Wincustomize.com].  It was.

If an OS company were to post an edict to each and every public/private skinning site to remove any and all imagery in any way originating from/related to their OS retrospectively and hence forth it would be complied with.

Apple 'might' do that....to its own detriment.

Microsoft won't.  It would be silly to even want to.

The thing about copyright is that once the rights have been allowed to erode over time then legally the 'horse has bolted' - you can forget the barn door.

Microsoft's request relating to just one skin throughout the history of skinning is clear testament to where they TOO see where the 'horse is at'...

Apparently Tycus you have been away...these vista clones of everything have invaded everywhere.

oh no., sry but i was talking about Wincustomize and not of other sites..

this sort of thing CAN'T happen here. i've admired wincustomize for NOT allowing this sort of thing. if more skin submissions is what you want, this is not the way to go about it. by allowing this, wincustomize will quite simply alienate it's established artists. allowing these skins fosters the idea that it is okay to steal/mod someone else's work and post it as your own. if wincustomize is going to sell-out like DA has, i may as well cancell my subscription now.

WinCustomize will accept Vista-skins as long as Microsoft is not enforcing their rights. deviantART is full of these skins now.  As long as someone isn't taking someone else's skin and modify it it's allowed. OS "ports" are allowed on WC.

People like OS skins.  We went through the exact same thing when Windows XP was coming out. This too shall pass.

In a word, YES. To properly enforce one's claim to Intellectual Copyright one cannot play favourites, that means any and ALL sites hosting questionable content must be approached with equal diligence ....something that has NOT been the case with this/these particular 'issues'. To be specific, Microsoft requested by name one skin be removed. It was. In 2000 Apple requested one specific skin be removed [before Wincustomize.com]. It was. If an OS company were to post an edict to each and every public/private skinning site to remove any and all imagery in any way originating from/related to their OS retrospectively and hence forth it would be complied with. Apple 'might' do that....to its own detriment. Microsoft won't. It would be silly to even want to. The thing about copyright is that once the rights have been allowed to erode over time then legally the 'horse has bolted' - you can forget the barn door. Microsoft's request relating to just one skin throughout the history of skinning is clear testament to where they TOO see where the 'horse is at'...

Well said.

Here's the thing about intellectual property and the net: It is up to the copyright holder to protect their stuff.

WinCustomize will go out of its way to try to protect copyright holders. No other site of this kind on the net is as proactive as we are.

But at the same time, WinCustomize is a business.  And people want this stuff and other sites, that now dwarf WinCustomize in traffic (like deviantART -- we used to get more traffic than dA, now they get 100X as much as us) are full of this stuff.

Case in point of something that won't happen again:

In 2001, Stardock figured out how to allow users to use .msstyles without having to patch any system DLLs. This was before any such patches existed. 

Microsoft did the same thing they recently did with Kol's skin. They asked us to A) Not support msstyles in WindowBlinds and Not support msstyles on WinCustomize.com.

We complied with that.  And where did that get us? Little start-ups like TGT Soft and ThemeXP and deviantART ate our lunch.  The entire msstyle "market" could have been with Stardock. We could have had SkinStudio supporting msstyles and WinCustomize being the place to get them.  But we went along with Microsoft's request.  Did Microsoft ever go after TGT Soft or ThemeXP or deviantART? Nope.

That won't happen again. You can bet under Vista we'll support any sort of msstyles or other mods to the OS regardless of what Microsoft thinks if any other site has them. That goes for Vista skins.

That won't happen again. You can bet under Vista we'll support any sort of msstyles or other mods to the OS regardless of what Microsoft thinks if any other site has them. That goes for Vista skins.

Could you be a little more clear Brad? I'm not sure I understood what you were getting at.   

"But at the same time, WinCustomize is a business. And people want this stuff and other sites, that now dwarf WinCustomize in traffic (like deviantART -- we used to get more traffic than dA, now they get 100X as much as us) are full of this stuff. "

I do not challenge your assertions on the need to run WC as a business and agree that copyright enforcement by the copyright holder is required which Microsoft has ceratinly not done recently.

However, the amazing growth of DA was not caused by the kind of skins they carry or don't carry but by the decision to turn the site into an art/social community rather than a "skinning site". I think they are a poor example to use in this case.

What i think is that when Vista is released and we have all upgraded to it, we will start skinning it to look like something else any way!!!Nobody will want it to look like Vista!

in my own oppinion........, i hate almost all skins that use Windows logo

P.S. Sorry for stealing your avatar Master Apprentice Cavan1, I'm using my own now.

Thanks.

in my own oppinion........, i hate almost all skins that use Windows logo

Ok everybody, Win logo on everything just for TYCUS

It be more fun if everyone just changed their nick to Tycus

Lets give it a try
Sir B. would become Sir T.
Cavan1 (C1 for short) would become TYCUS1 ( T1 )

Hey that works for me