Makes a lot of sense to me, a business has to be able to adapt to the climate.

Gone.

...well it might be a good thing if it happens.... as long its not a big AD for SD, that will only put users off and ofc if SD owns Wincustomize it will also have a big responibility to make it even greater and the cash to make it so..... i hope

And if i can speak frankly, remember the path that led to 90.000 visitors a day is not wrong and a tweak is probably all it needs to meet the future head on.... remember Frogboy without the community it wont be as many happy days at SD anymore and without "wincustomize" our happy days wont be as many either, both parts benefits of a mutual compromise.

Stardock have great support and a great connection to those who uses it's products dont make it all about the benjamins that would be a step down.

I will still be here making skins eitherway unless you guys have something completely different in mind??

i dont completely understand the thread..darn insomnia. i come to WC for the skins for xion, the misc icons and of course WB. hope these sections will remain intact .this little community is a great place to hang out... as i stated previously, wish i could contribute by buying a subscription, but circumstances beyond control force me not to. 

Gone.

Sitting here and reading this, sad is definitley one of the emotions I feel quite strongly cos as the post says.."The end of Wincustomise"...that to me spells doom, doom for the site which I have grown to love in the very short time I have been a member of it, for people like me and my Father, its been the personal touch that brought us here and kept us here, the people is what this was about for us, and obviously the fantastic software and the authors who use it, but I also understand that without money, nothing runs.....its just once the boardroom takes over this site, things will never, ever be the same, it will be a site where you come to conduct your business with Stardock and then leave, no checking in everyday to see what the crowd, the family is up to.......I dunno I understand where all this is coming from, I just hoped that it would never happen here, how stupid can one be, or maybe I am reading too much into this post by Frogboy, its just that the title sounds so ominous and then when you read the post and take in the hard cold facts.....I see it as it is, definitely the end of Wincustomise as a family unit....its JUST BUSINESS after all isn't it....Damn, Damn, Damn

Gone.

you mean..no more forum?

I don't know what to think, but then again I guess it wouldn't matter much at this point.  Can you be more specific when you say more Stardock oriented?

I don't think the forums will vanish completely y'all.. as it stands its already a fairly small forum and small number of 'locals' compared to some other forums and many folks come... and go..  sounds more like a consolidation of the two entity's... No one died.

On top of which, seems to me that the number of actual skinning \ customization posts have dropped dramatically over the past year or two.

well getting a forum up and running does not require 50k pretty much anyone on a limited budget can have a forum.....

And i think it would be in SD own intrest to have a forum... its a great and inexpensive way of support, new ideas suggestions etc. and we all work like beta tester.

As Brad said, WC as we know it today won't be around....however WC will still be here. This is where the community needs to show it's support for WC. Object Desktop, it's auxilliary apps and the games they produce is Stardock's "cash cow". This is what keeps Stardock afloat. WC on the other hand most likely costs the company a boat load of money. I'm sure the maintenance costs and bandwidth alone cost a lot more money than what the subscriptions are bringing in. In order to survive, companies must conform to their environment and adapt to changes.

Let's face it....as mentioned, the skinning world has changed significantly throughout the past several years. It was programs like Hoverdesk, Beatnik, and EZPop is how I actually stumbled upon WC. Windowblinds was in it's extreme infancy. Cursor XP, Object Dock, and several others didn't exist yet. Today, the primary focus is WB, IP and a couple of others. DesktopX is still struggling to catch hold despite the incredible power this program has to offer.

I'd be willing to bet Brad's outlook on WC as it is today would be a lot different if it was an entirely self supporting entity. I don't think you'll see a lot of change from the "community" aspect of things. The core jokesters and talent that come here regularly and really make the forums what they are will still be here ('cause here at Hotel WC, you can never leave!, and my Zubish to English translator has told me so!). So this is where we need to step up. Doing the math WC is looking for about 1670 subscriptions/renewals to hit it's goal and about 90,000 visitors a day....hmmmm......

Don't worry Tails.....you can't get rid of us that easy!!

The forums will remain as they are today.

But the non-stardock sections of the site will likely be no longer visible by default (they'll still be around).

Most people don't realize that today, WinCustomize is actually its own S-corporation (Stardock Media, Inc.) which is run independently from the rest of Stardock. The "community" has a large say over how the site is run, what content is maintained, etc.

Assuming the subscription drive fails to pay for the new site, what will happen is Stardock Media will become part of Stardock Software and Wincustomize would be run by Stardock's marketing team instead of by a community lead.  

The new design is going to be web 2.0 and the GUI Champs site is serving as a lot of the base tech for the site (though not the layout).  I think you'll see a lot fewer ads for google and such but you'll see a lot more promotions of things Stardock is interested in.

I also think you'll see more migration to Impulse with getting skins and themes and such more about using Impulse to obtain and manage them but I'm just speculating.

Gone.

It's not the forums that cost the majority of the money....It's the database structure, and all the proprietary programming that IS WC. Let's face it....no "out of the box" software can handle and/or provide anything close that Wincustomize does.

Wouldn't that make WC more like "Impulse Lite"  

I fear most benefits of a WC sub will be gone as it will become a corporate supported entity.

On the plus side,will that make it possible to bundle ODNT Ultimate or other SD software with a WC sub?

I still plan on renewing my sub in Feb. anyway.If it's going to be the future,so be it.

Do what you gotta do but anouncing a subscription drive the same week as announcing "huge" changes does seem a bit sketchy. I undersatand the need for changes , I'm just saying there is a big contradiction there.

If the new site functions like the GUIC site I don't think there will be many people around anyways.

WC introduced me to great apps such as xion and WB..both which has brightened my daily life. xion has brought back my love for blues music and WB's tweak of the OS has made my friends who arent WC members intrigued if not jealous.