Boot Screens and Legal Issues...
Tuesday, August 12, 2003 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
In our last poll we asked you what section would you like WinCustomize to add the most. With about 1100 people voting it was pretty clear:
BOOT SCREENS: ~40%
Trillian: 22%
Other: 16%
The Rest: 24%
Many other customization related sites support boot screens. But there's a problem. Most boot screens are actually pirated software. Which is ironic because the same person who would never consider clicking on an attachment would happily replace their WINDOWS KERNEL.
The way you replace your boot screen on Windows XP is to replace the graphic images in the Windows XP kernel. So many, if not most, boot screens on various sites actually contain a copy of the Windows XP kernel.
In a community that values intellectual property as ours does or at least says it does, we just can't reconcile this. How can we morally or ethically be against ripping while allowing people to submit files that contain the Windows XP kernel? It's in essence software piracy.
This has been a difficult decision for us because we want to serve the needs of our users and skinners. And with 40% of you wanting this section, it's pretty temping. I mean think about it, nearly half the people who responded to the poll want boot screens.
Not having boot screens hurts the popularity of our site so you can see the dilemna.
Now, if someone knows of a way to apply a boot screen in such a way where the boot screen submitted doesn't need to contain the NT kernel please respond here and let us know. We're perfectly okay with having a boot screen section if the submitted files contain just the graphics needed to do so. Perhaps someone has written a program that can apply those images to the system.
In the meantime, we will be looking at adding other sections including perhaps a Trillian section. Are there enough Trillian skinners here interested in submitting their work to get a section going? Let us know. Thanks!
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Reply #42 Wednesday, August 13, 2003 12:42 AM
Reply #43 Wednesday, August 13, 2003 2:50 AM
Other artists have used it in ToonXP and integrated into DesktopX to compliment those themes.
There is a Universe Metal Rainlender skin here as a good example too. http://www.skinbase.org/section.php?sections=rainlendar (halfway down the page)
Quicknote is a free, simple to make skinnable notepad, that pops up with a push of a small button(two states). Some popular WB artists here have created quicknote skins to compliment their wb themes(Blue grid by Boxxi? is one). I have used them in my sysmetrix themes. I had matching quicknote skins in all of my Corona II sysmetrix skins(New expanded pak coming soon). The good thing about quicknotes is that the notes never disappear from the small notes window, until erased, even when the computer is completely turned off. But, it uses very little resources.
Quicknote program is here http://www.lowdimension.net/
Rainlender program is here http://vapaa.dc.inet.fi/~rainy/
Reply #44 Wednesday, August 13, 2003 6:01 AM
Reply #45 Wednesday, August 13, 2003 8:50 AM
Reply #46 Wednesday, August 13, 2003 5:32 PM
Reply #47 Thursday, August 14, 2003 9:58 AM
Reply #48 Thursday, August 14, 2003 5:32 PM
Reply #49 Friday, August 15, 2003 12:46 PM
BUT... from what i hear, if the screens are simply bmps matching certain criteria of size and color depth than i see a happy solution in some of the posts above...
Make a subsection of the Wallpapers section (or its own section), with one of those checkboxes on the page top for "Boot Images" which should meet the necessary criteria.
This way, the users get what they are looking for
and Stardock does not have to worry at all about legal stuff . The only IP concerns would be the same ones as any other images in any other skin. Problems solved, peaceful company & happy users.
Reply #50 Saturday, August 16, 2003 10:26 PM
Reply #51 Sunday, August 17, 2003 3:11 AM
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Reply #41 Tuesday, August 12, 2003 11:05 PM
If it's not safe or legal then don't put up a section for it.
Also wasn't it froggy who was fussing about bandwidth just a few days ago?
Put a Boot section up and more will come but, will more buy Stardock products? Most likly not and if they don't then the bandwidth bill goes up and we hear more fussing about that...
If you want to add a new section that will be of use put up detailed documentation for the skinning formats that are used for the proggies on wincustomize...