Say John just check the numbers!

You ask a simple question - but it is not going to  be a simple answer. No Way!

I see it like this...

1. How many new computers are being sold on the market today?

2. Who is buying them?

3. Do people really care about Skinning their computer?

and not but least...

4. How much if any is a good price to make people think about buying something now that the economy is going bad. {meaning how bad is it and is it so bad that you can not afford to buy a lunch or a cup of coffee you could go without one or 2 days to get that skin you like so much???}

On any given day I spend close to $20 on lunch and coffee. Thus if I see something I like I usually just skip having a day away from the office and doing such things to buy what I want as such. That and with the price of fuel down now from what it was. I usually have a bit more to spend in a way of speaking. But that is me and my life style for the moment. A lot depends on people keeping their employment and a good income to pay for things. Some have lost that and that makes it harder for everyone else it seems. People find it better to hold off on spending and keeping as much in the bank as possible. {If they can?} Plus - if you are in what frame of life too! Married , single, or married with young children and such.

If you have had hard times up there in the northern states due to layoffs or the economy. Then come to Texas - hit the larger cities first for good jobs. This state is one of the few that is doing fairly well compared to others. Even here in a middle small town of Amarillo - there are still good jobs and we do have a lot of people coming in from out of state looking for a new life here. Things a bad as they are in most every other place. But it is not as bad as you think if you look closely here.

As for skinning to make a living? NO! it is a good hobbie and a good idea to try. But to make it at doing such you will need to have closer contact with media markets as a professional and/or graphics degree for design as such to really get into the big bucks as would be needed to be as such to make a good living at skinning.

Just my thoughts as to the subject. Best idea is to find a good steady job and do skinning as a side job for whatever and whenever you have the time to do so. Without the stress of having to meet deadlines for income to be presented for your only way of making it in this world today.

Art has had it's ups and downs for all the same reasons. When people have more money to spend they will do just that - "spend it!". But when times get hard and there is less money... people and lets say artist do not sell as much for the simple reason - there is not enough people spending money on art as there was before. But as is the economy - when it changes so will how people spend the money and what they spend it on as such the case is.

Go back and look at history and what has in the past happened to a lot of great artist. You know where I'm going with this and I feel you will figure it out for yourself soon.

I feel Stardock and WC will make it for sometime before there is something bad enough to put a real hard crunch on what these peolpe do. With that in mind ... it will be something much worse than it is now before that does happen. Not saying it will not happen either. Things could go down hill really fast and a lot of people would finally say it is not a recession but a depression we are about to fall into then for a certain fact. Few want to see it this way or for that matter think this way either. Anything at this point is possible and we can only hope things get better and keep working for a better tomorrow.

Thus it is and so be it today and we hope tomorrow is better!

Most economists and commentators are predicting that it'll get a whole lot worse before it gets any better, particularly with regard to job losses across most employment sectors Worldwide.  Here in Oz they're predicting 112,000 jobs or more will be lost in the 1st quarter of 09.... 44,000 have already gone, so the immediate/short-term forecast on spending here is bleak at best.  The long-term forecast is no better, with economists and analysts predicting at least a 2 year recovery period from when it reaches rock bottom.

I'm no economist, but I've been predicting this worldwide financial collapse for 10 years or more now, particularly for those industrial nations whose corporations have based their manufacturing operations and associated jobs offshore to take advantage of lower employment costs.  While these operators have lowered their own costs, they have driven exports down and imports up, thus creating anomolies in their national GDP/balance of payments figures.  To worsen things further, most developed countries have poured to much faith in electronic monies;, stock and shares in (now) non-producing companies depending on electronic fund and transfers themselves; buying and selling bad debts for profit (can't get blood out of a stone), and trying to take advantage of the different time zones to maximise interest earnings, thus creating artificial profits because the World is round and time becomes relative to the location of funds... what they gain on the roundabouts they lose on the swings, so to speak.

Does all this mean that Stardock will go guts up? Probably not, but it and skinning professionally is in for a hard time because all indutries are interdependent and need others to be doing well to thrive.

My ODNT sub expired in Dec and it was either renew that or pay my cable bill, so I chose to keep my internet. It might be a while before I can renew it again.

They just announced the closure of ALL Circuit City stores here in the US....35,000 jobs gone.

And this is a story that'll repeat over and over during the next 12 months and beyond.  While prices are rising, peoples shrinking disposable incomes are losing value on a weekly basis, meaning people will forego items for others they want/need more.  Which makes me wonder what the corporate big-wigs are thinking when they decide to hike up prices to maintain profit levels??  When people in hard economic times can't afford higher priced items, they simply leave them on the shelf... and thus, rather than make them more affordable, supermarket perishables are going out of date and rotting instead of being consumed...

So another bi-product of the greed which created this economic mess in the first place is waste.... unmiitgated and unforgivable waste.

Yeah I noticed that too. And on top of that, my cable bill actually went up by $2, first time it's changed since I got it almost 3 years ago.

My mother is living in the UK now, and she was saying the other night on the phone that Woolworths have closed all their stores, with over 50.000 jobs lost... and that doesn't count Marks and Spencers, who has laid off a 1/3 of its staff, with more likely in the near future.

It's a global recession which, by all accounts, given worldwide mass unemployment, may yet become a global depression... unless World leaders (like Obama) can implement meaures to counteract greed, particularly that of banks, and get onshore manufacturing industries going again.

Well...the first thing Obama should do is stop the bailout of the car companies. What's the point of bailing them out so they can build more cars very few of us can afford as it is. I understand the reason they give for it is to preserve jobs...but lots of other companies are going under...why aren't they being helped? I  mean seriously...if you showed up at my door in a stretch limo or private jet asking for money...I'd have you thrown out on your ear. They need to sell assets and regroup...if some jobs are lost in the process...welcome to the real world.

But they got him elected to get that money - not good to make promises you can not keep!

We have been looking at skinning from the consumer side.

There may be more opportunity on the commercial side though.

If people are buying less, when they do buy they are looking for the best value and maybe looking to keep that same PC longer.  So companies like Dell (who have the DellDock based on ObjectDock technology and design) are looking to differntiate themselves and skinning may be one way.  I'm seeing many more "fashion" laptops that seem to be begging for matching skins.

That would be great gor skinning and skinners.

starker's, Woolworth had a nail in the coffin for year's they went under her in Canada basically in the early '90s recession. Your comment abour perishables was good but, global food production was the lowest in 50 years last year. If it continues to drop when the recession end's there will be substantial inflation in the average person's grocery bill.

Zubaz mad a good point. Last year laptop sales passed desktop sales, though with the economy I'm not sure that will be true for 2009. The other big area for skinner's to look at would be the smartphone segment.

No matter which way you put it, Stardock apps and skins in general are luxury items.  No one really needs their desktops to look nice; you're not going to die without them.  As long as the interfaces are functional, people will survive.  Skins are bling for your PC and thus not considered essential.

If a worsening situation forced people to make real tough decisions about spending, you can bet Stardock/skinning would suffer.  It is NOT a recession-proof market when it really comes down to the crunch.

Put it like this:  if it came down to either renewing an ODNT subscription or keeping food in your family's mouths and a roof over your head, what would you choose?

Consider also people outside the US who have to deal with exchange rates when purchasing goods/services.  They'll only continue to do so while they can justify the expense. 

I, thankfully, still have enough of a disposable income to be able to afford my luxuries and keep up on my savings. 

Well....if you ever need to dispose of any let me know.

Glass half empty I see... well, I think a little differently.. in a recession, sure things get a little tougher.. sure some folks have trouble keeping food on the table, conversely.. I am also sure that another large group of people are not starving, but, still not as willing to spend on high ticket items, or going out to movies, expensive eat-out food etc...

Ergo, more time spent at home... more time spent on PC... more likely imo to indulge instead in PC based activities.

Possibly an increase in business for skinners ... imo.

Now.. when we get into a world...'depression', things are likely to adjust.

For right now.. I'm gonna keep my glass half full.. or more.

Interestingly enough . . diring the last depression movie sales skyrocketed.  Peopel wnat to escape to a better place.

I agree with vStyler though . . buying a skin or skinning engine doesn't codt much but might jsut scratch that itch of buying "something".  I know the last time my wife (then girlfriend) got laid off the first thing she did was go shopping. 

Lets also remember that "recession" is also a term often used by various media outlets to make the situation much worse than it really is.  I'm not saying there isn't a recession and all that, but it doesn't affect 100% of the population. 

Doesn't seem to have much effect.

This year will be the best year for ODNT users in years. 

The only effect the recession is having on me is I have more money to spend. Petrol has dropped from £1.20 a litre to 0.82p a litre, saving me £10 per week. Nearly everywhere has massive sales going on.

The downside is I'm not getting as much interest on my savings and the value of my house has dropped by £40k in the last year. At least I still have positive equity, unlike a lot of people.