Stardock Announces the Creation of Stardock Design
Monday, November 13, 2006 by Zoomba | Discussion: WinCustomize News
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For the past few months, Stardock has been
working hard to create a whole new team dedicated to bringing you the best
content for your computer. You may have
noticed the recent upswing in
premium content like the
Argos suite,
Texas Hold Em
and Fortune to
name just a few.
This new division also has the goal of working with companies, universities,
sports teams and more to deliver extraordinary, custom branded looks for Windows
Vista and Windows XP. This new Stardock team is called
Stardock Design, and claims some of
the world best skinners among its team of artists. Many of these artists
are long-time members of of the WinCustomize community, whose skins, icons and
gadgets you've enjoyed for years.
"The formation of Stardock Design
is an entirely strategic move for Stardock,"
stated Stardock President and CEO Brad Wardell. "Corporations are looking to
further their presence on the desktop as traditional advertising and marketing
wanes in its effectiveness on the consumer and we have provided a one-stop-shop
solution to all desktop branding needs."
Keep an eye out for us; you’ll be seeing a lot more of Stardock Design in the
future! Stardock Design: Where Unique Technology Meets Breakthrough Design.
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| Argos Suite | Texas Hold Em Suite | Fortune Suite |
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Reply #2 Monday, November 13, 2006 1:19 PM
Reply #3 Monday, November 13, 2006 1:32 PM
| and claims some of the world best skinners among its team of artists |
I checked my email TWICE and haven't been contacted. Stardock, please check your email system.
Reply #4 Monday, November 13, 2006 1:36 PM
Kind of sad, IMHO, as I'm sure more and more creators will be lured to the profit side with less and less quality material available for free. So we buy a subscription in order to buy skins. What a deal.
Flame me if you want, but I've been on this site almost since the beginning and I really hate seeing it become so commercial rather than a community.
Reply #5 Monday, November 13, 2006 1:47 PM
Good luck team!
Reply #6 Monday, November 13, 2006 1:52 PM
Even the skinners we've hired or contract with to work on projects still put out quality content for free. MikeB has recently put two new skins out (Parsec and Fett) on the GUI Champs. Essorant has his khado icon set up for download. The free goodies are still flowing and a good rate.
Reply #7 Monday, November 13, 2006 1:52 PM
Could this be why some of the questions haven't been answered regarding desktopgadgets.com? I've been working on a Slot Machine gadget for sometime and have been considering desktopgadgets as the potential marketing avenue; so, when I saw the Texas Hold Em Suite for $8.95 you could imagine my concern.
Obviously, who's going to pay $5 or $6 bucks for a gadget when they can get an entire suite for practically the same price? Also, after the significant wait for placement is an updated suite or new suite going to appear containing similar gadgets to those developed by independent developers? Is the inside team going to get newer development versions ahead of the market? Just a lot of questions, concerns, and worries.
The reason I bought DesktopX Developer Edition was for the eventual creation of gadgets that could earn me a little cash.
Reply #8 Monday, November 13, 2006 2:00 PM
Reply #9 Monday, November 13, 2006 2:17 PM
| Is the inside team going to get newer development versions ahead of the market? |
No. The most that the team would recieve would be the beta versions that are available to anyone with an Object Desktop subscription.
Reply #10 Monday, November 13, 2006 2:39 PM
Maybe it's just me???
Reply #11 Monday, November 13, 2006 2:42 PM
Reply #12 Monday, November 13, 2006 2:45 PM
It all seems fair and makes perfect sense to me.
Reply #13 Monday, November 13, 2006 3:03 PM
| Kind of sad, IMHO, as I'm sure more and more creators will be lured to the profit side with less and less quality material available for free. So we buy a subscription in order to buy skins. What a deal. |
Stardock Design is not WinCustomize. There will always be free content on here. If anything, the ability to make money off from the work now and then *keeps* people in the community. They make their own skins for fun (and learning) and then are able to get paid for commissioned work.
| it just doesn't seem to make much sense for a Texas Hold'em suite (poker theme) to have a BLACKJACK gadget. |
Well...I poker gadget would be too hard. So, we stuck to a simply card game.
| Obviously, who's going to pay $5 or $6 bucks for a gadget when they can get an entire suite for practically the same price? |
Stardock Design is primarily Corporate work. However, we also handle the consumer themes that you have seen come out lately (Logika 2007 on). DesktopGadgets.com isn't going anywhere, and WC is going to have a premium section for Masters and above to sell work through. If a gadget fits a premium theme or corporate use, Stardock Design may approach the owners and commission a custom version (such as Fortune ball). I see it as a success for all involved.
In the end, artists need to make money just like anyone else. If they can turn their hobby into a business, what is the harm? We still get free skins from the people involved (just look at GUI Champs). If anything, I think that the quality of the free skins has increased since the premium skins started picking up momentum. Seems like a win-win situation.
Reply #14 Monday, November 13, 2006 3:44 PM
| I checked my email TWICE and haven't been contacted. Stardock, please check your email system. |
yeah, right there with ya bud.. but since I'm not an "artist" its not likely ill be invited.
Reply #15 Monday, November 13, 2006 3:55 PM
Reply #16 Monday, November 13, 2006 4:18 PM
I think this is one smart and natural move for Stardock, and I am very pleased with the choice of skinners involved so far. I have already bought the Argos, Texas & Fortune suites and for quality work like that, I am more than willing to pay for skins like that in the future to support Stardock & the skinners.
Reply #17 Monday, November 13, 2006 5:02 PM
| While I admire Brad's entrepreneurial spirit. After checking the site, my stomach became a bit queezy. Initially it appeared you are/were targeting the commercial market but, it seems you are also targeting the consumer market as well? Could this be why some of the questions haven't been answered regarding desktopgadgets.com? I've been working on a Slot Machine gadget for sometime and have been considering desktopgadgets as the potential marketing avenue; so, when I saw the Texas Hold Em Suite for $8.95 you could imagine my concern. Obviously, who's going to pay $5 or $6 bucks for a gadget when they can get an entire suite for practically the same price? Also, after the significant wait for placement is an updated suite or new suite going to appear containing similar gadgets to those developed by independent developers? Is the inside team going to get newer development versions ahead of the market? Just a lot of questions, concerns, and worries. The reason I bought DesktopX Developer Edition was for the eventual creation of gadgets that could earn me a little cash. |
The primary purpose of Stardock Design is to create content for corporate customers not consumers. It does create content for Stardock to sell to consumers (like premium suites) but 95% of its efforts are on corporate work. The FSU suite is the first of many many such examples of companies, universities, sports teams, OEMs etc. that want to provide a custom-branded experience to their users.
Stardock Design is totally unrelated from WinCustomize.com. It's like Pixtudio or Skinplant and such but taken to the next level (in fact, Stardock Design involves the skinners from both). As it grows, we'll tap more and more people from the community (RomanDA comes to mind on gadgets).
Reply #18 Monday, November 13, 2006 5:24 PM
After reviewing some of the further response & thinking a little more. Obviously Stardock is not going to hurt a potential source of talent that continues to renew itself as more people become interested in skinning.
The trickle-down effect from corporate skinning definitely looks exceptional considering the number of people who will experience something never experienced before. Then look towards varying levels of customization for home use. Exciting Times.
Reply #19 Monday, November 13, 2006 6:18 PM
I say about time this happened. This is what I hoped would happend a couple of years ago. I guess there is a time for everything. I hope it works out for the best. I think it will.
Reply #20 Monday, November 13, 2006 8:26 PM
This is simply a logical progression for a company so heavily involved in the GUI mod 'game'. Probably the only mildly surprising thing is that it's been so long in the coming, though I trust it's a contemporaneous decision with the imminent release of a quite new OS [Vista].
Every time a new commercial entity emerged from within the skinning community [in particular Pixtudio and The Skins Factory] there has been voices of trepidation "the sky is falling". etc. when infact this very commercialism gives validation and shows mainstream acceptance of what was/is a 'young' industry/artform.
The first 'official' skin TSF did for a film company....or the first WB theme Pixtudio did for Nintendo, etc....they simply demonstrated a 'coming of age' of the craft.
This is ALL GOOD, and should never be seen as a negative as it ultimately benefits all, skinners and users alike...
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Reply #1 Monday, November 13, 2006 12:54 PM
Good to see commercial theming is taking an upward turn! Great news!