MAC-icon rips
Friday, January 11, 2002 by c242 | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Reply #22 Monday, January 14, 2002 7:34 PM
In practice, it's near impossible to stop every rip.
If you think about it like that, all the Aqua/BeOS skins/icons etc.. are rips and should all be removed. Also all the XP skins/wallpapers/icons are also rips.
I might be wrong, but if my memory serves me correctly, I think IconFactory created the XP icons... they are owned by Microsoft of course, but there is a _name_ to but to them... so I guess they're not just some faceless company's creations.
Unfortunately, It's just not going to happen, most people would rather just convert other OS's icons/artwork then actually think up and create something new, original and fresh.
And a lot of the time that's exactly what users want... they want to imitate other OS's and explore different looks on their system.
Who's going to be the first person to ask for all the XP skins & icons to be taken down from all the sites out there?
not me... it's more hassle then it's worth, believe me.
In a perfect world... maybe.
Reply #23 Monday, January 14, 2002 7:49 PM
Reply #24 Tuesday, January 15, 2002 4:36 AM
Reply #25 Tuesday, January 15, 2002 7:06 AM
No, I am a little more 'global' than that.
At no time was I inferring that rip concerns only applied to what happens on this site. If that was the case, I wouldn't be taking such a stand on each and every other skinning site as I do here.
Check DevART, for example....pretty-well every rip-related thread there has me commenting somewhere....

All 'third-party',individual skinners and/or groups/companies thereof deserve the same protection.
It's more a case of trying to distinguish between 'porting' and out-right 'ripping'...

Reply #26 Tuesday, January 15, 2002 7:10 AM
I really think that it's open-season on the OS, but definitely not on another's personal interpretation of same...

Reply #27 Tuesday, January 15, 2002 3:29 PM

AJ
Reply #28 Wednesday, January 16, 2002 4:05 AM
I really think that it's open-season on the OS, but definitely not on another's personal interpretation of same..."
I agree with you Jafo, but have you notice my tread above?
Also there is another package that it says "An elegant combination of icons from many different authors here at Wincustomize.com"....what is this?
Reply #29 Wednesday, January 16, 2002 4:20 AM
Reply #30 Wednesday, January 16, 2002 7:43 AM

Adni...the only way that a 'collection of icons' by other authors 'should' be allowed to be uploaded is with the express permission of each and every one of those authors. The re-distribution of another's artwork without permission is 'ripping'[by the omission of consent]...

[and not the 'porting' of OS's, crae...
]Reply #31 Wednesday, January 16, 2002 8:09 AM
Now the fun starts when those ports are ripped (again). Then what do you do?
And where do you draw the line? So it's okay to rob big corps. Is it also okay to rob smaller corps? Say I steal that WinCustomize lizard, modify it and upload it without permission. Is it still cool then?
Not trying to nag here, but my point is clarity. Ban rips or don't ban them, but don't take no middle stand.
Okay, I am nagging. Ports are the spawn of Satan!
Reply #32 Wednesday, January 16, 2002 1:54 PM
I don't understand.....
If it is a rip why we are still have them in our database (WinCustomize)?
I am talking about 2 icon packages, the "MacOS Modern v2" and the "Patchwork", which are 100% rips.
Are we waiting for complaints from the original authors before having any action?
I don't understand.....
Reply #33 Wednesday, January 16, 2002 5:24 PM
In the case of porting the 'look' of an OS to WindowBlinds or whatever, it's not a matter of directly stealing the graphic files used on the OS in question, simply copying them to your skin folder and -bam- you have a theme using them unmodified. In many cases it takes hours of time and work to recreate something that fits within the framework of the skinnable app and still make it resemble the original OS. There's also usually no attempt to hide credit where the original inspiration comes from, either.
OTOH, I've seen several instances where someone comes along and rips one of my themes. They don't modify the graphics, they simply change the author name in the UIS file and readme...no thought goes into it, no real time, and no real work. They've stolen the image files and the way it is constructed entirely.
If someone rips one of my OS ports then it gets reported and removed, which I had to do just recently in fact... So there's not much of a question as to what happens there.
Reply #34 Wednesday, January 16, 2002 8:15 PM
It's plain to see it's a rip of various copland's icons mixed in with some of Scrow's, random XP icons and quite a few of Jon Wojan's ( http://www.digitalgarage.net ) glass icons.
And there is no permission in the zip.
Reply #35 Wednesday, January 16, 2002 8:53 PM

[Not counting certain issues with Apple in the past, that is].
Also, is my creation of a LiteSTEP theme emulating the 'appearance' of a Commodore 64 a 'rip', a 'port', or just an 'inspired theme'?
To be a rip, it would have to be a new OS, the same as the original one....[it isn't an OS]
To be a port, it would have to at least use graphics from the original...[there are no graphics as such in the C64 OS..and the fonts are free-ware]
Inspired theme?....I thought so...

Hell...
I'm not all that up-to-speed with Icons, and icon makers....[I use LiteSTEP, which needs none]...but if there are reproduced icons belonging to one auther uploaded by another without permission then they should/will be removed....

Reply #36 Wednesday, January 16, 2002 11:47 PM
Create an icon for each program? What if you use several programs that essentially do the same thing such as text edit? If you create an icon from scratch for each program it would get cunfusing and frustrating to the end user which defeats the whole purpose.
You can change it some to fit in with what your skin is doing, but if you change it too much it loses its functionality.
IMO That would be a rip, but a necessary one. In a way it is advertising for them. Besides, can you imagine emailing MS if you could use their E for explorer each time someone wanted to make a skin that used it.
Damn!! I should have copyrighted a button with an X on it.
Reply #37 Thursday, January 17, 2002 3:32 AM
Reply #38 Thursday, January 17, 2002 3:33 AM
Reply #39 Thursday, January 17, 2002 1:30 PM
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Reply #21 Monday, January 14, 2002 7:15 PM