FAQ: Why can't I download any more stuff?
Sunday, May 30, 2004 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Problem: After having downloaded 50 megabytes or more of skins, themes, icons, or wallpapers I am unable to download any more without having to purchase a subscription. What gives?
Discussion:
As of May 2004, WinCustomize.com uses approximately 27,000 GIGABYTES (not bits) of bandwidth each month. The cost of this bandwidth, as you can imagine, is quite significant. In addition, while the site runs on a day to day basis thanks to a small but dedicated group of volunteer moderators and administrators, it still requires consider IT resources which are not free along with occasional hardware upgrades (a typical server might cost $10,000).
At the end of the day, someone has to pay for this. You are not paying for skins and themes, you are simply helping pay for the bandwidth costs that you have used. The ISP that provides WinCustomize the bandwidth that has to be paid for each month doesn't care what is being downloaded. They don't care whether it's skins, themes, music, documentation, videos, whatever. Bandwidth is bandwidth and it has to be paid for. Thousands and thousands of dollars each month.
Once a user has downloaded 50 megabytes of skins and themes (and in actuality used considerably more than that in the form of previews and library browsing) they are asked to contribute *something* to the site.
One can contribute to WinCustomize in one of 4 ways:
(1) They can being creating skins and themes and icon packages and submitting them. That is, contribute to the library that they themselves have used. Users with Apprentice access or higher are immune to the bandwidth caps.
(2) They can help their fellow users on the message forums. Answer questions, give them a hand or tips. This is another path to gaining higher access.
(3) They can purchase one of Stardock's programs (CursorXP, WindowBlinds, DesktopX, Object Desktop, IconPackager, etc.). Since Stardock is the one who ultimately pays the bandwidth bill, they have agreed to pay for the bandwidth used by Stardock customers.
(4) They can purchase a WinCustomize account which is $19.95 and not only gives them unlimited bandwidth useages but access to premium suites, access to the WinCustomize skin browser (an extremely cool program), the WinCustomize system tray add-on, and more.
We hope that you will join our community and help it continue to grow and thrive. It is only because of those who contribute back to the site that it is able to exist today.
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Reply #22 Sunday, July 11, 2004 3:12 PM
| Q: I don’t have a credit card. How can I purchase Stardock software? A: We also accept checks or money orders in US funds (no Eurocheques, please, as they are not certified funds). Please print and use the order form at https://www.stardock.com/order.txt (also found in the directories of Stardock’s shareware products) and mail with payment to: Stardock Systems, Inc. 17292 Farmington Rd. Livonia, MI 48152 USA |
Same applies to subscriptions here
Reply #23 Monday, July 12, 2004 12:12 AM
Reply #24 Monday, July 12, 2004 2:51 AM
Road_Kill....'brown-nosing an admin' certainly won't do it....particularly as it's not quite the correct 'attitude'.
Generally it comes through positive attitude/contribution to skinning in general and Wincustomize.com in particular.
'30+ skins hosted here' appears to be more like 20 or so logons which in themselves are not the most involved of skinning processes, often being little more than replacing one single bitmap with another found on a wallpaper site somewhere.
Ultimately people are 'noticed' through their contributions to the community by admins [and others] and 'advancement' is the result....
Reply #25 Monday, July 12, 2004 5:45 AM
Scat - nearing 40mb downloads
Reply #27 Monday, July 12, 2004 10:42 AM
Reply #29 Tuesday, July 13, 2004 1:25 AM
Scatoligist....I don't know how one would do that, other than accepting that the average human being...99% of us
has morals and values and would not resort to such tactics to steal from the bandwidth that the WC subscribers pay for.
Reply #30 Friday, July 16, 2004 4:19 AM
I think that people that submit skins should be able to download their own work reguardless of whether they have reached their limit or not... as some people don't have the disk space to keep all their works... so they may wish to update it but have deleted it so would need to download their skin again but can't due to restrictions... Just a suggestion... I can't see that I'd be keeping all of the skins I made if I had as many as some of the top skinners
Reply #31 Friday, July 16, 2004 6:57 AM
Reply #32 Friday, July 16, 2004 8:15 AM
Kryss....hosting your skins for you is a service. It is not pre-ordained to be a free service.....call it a 'privilege', not a 'right'.
If you want to keep your skins, files, walls, whatever securely then put them on a disc or CD. Do not rely on a third party....not without entering a responsible, formal contract for such...
Reply #33 Sunday, July 18, 2004 3:15 PM
Reply #34 Sunday, July 18, 2004 3:18 PM
Reply #35 Sunday, July 18, 2004 3:23 PM
Reply #36 Sunday, July 18, 2004 7:09 PM
Kryss....not a problem.....I'm just more concerned for people who may try to rely on storage or backup systems or methods which may not be genuinely reliable or permanent....
Storage of personal/valuable data or artwork, etc 'should' be seen as of paramount importance to the individual.
Nothing in this computer world of ours is more important than the protection/retention of our works. Anyone who has suffered a harddrive crash or similar will know exactly what I mean.
Storing work online is nothing more than one alternative backup source and should NEVER be relied upon as the 'only' one....
Reply #37 Monday, July 19, 2004 7:38 PM
>
I don't even know if this stuff work's correctly yet or will cuase problems with my system.Reply #38 Monday, July 19, 2004 7:49 PM
There are other skinning sites out there as well. The idea behind the 50megs is for you to decide if this site, WC, has content you would want to continue to download and use. Check out the other sites, I think you'll find that WC has the largest collection of skins available at one site 
Reply #40 Monday, July 19, 2004 10:51 PM
| One hour?! Holy cow...it too me 3 months! |
It took me almost a year!!
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Reply #21 Saturday, July 10, 2004 10:11 PM