Neowin.net - Alienware + Stardock Partnership

Alienware + Stardock Partnership

Posted by malebolgia on 11 June 2004 - 23:21 · 92 comments & 7440 views

In what must surely seem a match made in computer heaven, Alienware, the leading manufacturer of high-performance computer notebooks, desktops and professional systems has formed a partnership with Stardock, the world-wide leader in the development and distribution of software that customizes the Windows PC desktop.

Under the terms of the partnership, Alienware will pre-install Theme Manager from Stardock on all their new systems. Theme Manager allows users to change the Window’s visual style, icons, wallpapers, in short the entire appearance of the Windows desktop with just one click. Alienware users will be able to choose from a special Alienware theme, a second theme that celebrates Alienware’s new line of ALX computers and of course the default Windows XP theme. Additional new themes will be made available for Alienware fans as either free downloads or for a small fee, depending on the theme. Users will also be able to buy additional Stardock customization products.

News source: FileFront

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#1 Posted by Marshalus on 11 Jun 2004 - 23:30: Nice.

(6 replies) #2 Posted by cal2002 on 11 Jun 2004 - 23:30: What? Alienware, the high preformance PC maker right? 75% of the people who buy those machines what nothing running and taking up RAM, no?

(2 replies) #3 Posted by CaKeY on 11 Jun 2004 - 23:41: Yeah. I get the feeling the first thing most Alienware owners will do is uninstall windowblinds.

(1 reply) #4 Posted by threetonesun on 11 Jun 2004 - 23:47: My guess is they did it so their own theme would appear. Makes sense, it would look stupid to own a Alienware and run the Windows classic theme on it.

#5 Posted by Liquid on 11 Jun 2004 - 23:48: I always wondered if alienware would do this and now they are. COOL!

(1 reply) #6 Posted by bangbang023 on 11 Jun 2004 - 23:51: It's a pretty cool partnetship, if you think about it. Alienware has always been redesigning what a PC case should look like and Stardock has always focused on changing what the desktop looks like.

(2 replies) #7 Posted by Adnan248999 on 12 Jun 2004 - 00:10: Sounds fantastic and its also a big step forward for stardock marketing long live alienware and stardock though i can't afford an alx

(1 reply) #8 Posted by mko on 12 Jun 2004 - 00:43: A match made in heaven?

On on the basis that they are both overpriced considering you can DIY for much cheaper.i.e. build your own PC and download uxtheme.dll

I can just imagine the first time you turn on your computer "REGISTER WINDOWBLINDS TODAY! ONLY $20"

Also notice how they are using Stardock just to promote their own Alienware theme? Besides choosing WinXP default theme(which is already free) anything else might incur a cost. Sounds like a modified version of Windowblinds which probably will be half-registered i.e. if you use Alienware theme it won't nag you to register, but if you want to choose another theme you need to register anyway.

I just hope this doesn't add to the cost of an already expensive Alienware PC. I mean surely someone will rip this for registered Windowblinds Full users to use, possible even a conversion to visual style.

(8 replies) #9 Posted by Pas on 12 Jun 2004 - 00:59: mko, you are nothing but a blabbering fool. if you don't want an alienware machine or the use of windowblinds, then don't buy the machine or the app. just because you don't want either doesn't mean you have to coem in here and degrade the two and the announcement of their collaberation. obviously, alienware thinks highly of stardock and the theme manager or this collaberation wouldn't happen. go troll elsewhere, dude.

(2 replies) #10 Posted by moeburn on 12 Jun 2004 - 01:27: I hate it when people spend $2000 of their ignorant parent's money to go out and buy an Alienware pc, and then play counter-strike on it at 640x480.

(5 replies) #11 Posted by phiberoptik on 12 Jun 2004 - 01:30: Nice.

I can now get my Alienware PC all hooked out with the spinners on it, so that I can finally run Object Desktop with all the options on high and not have to worry about using over 500mb of ram. hmmm... noooooooooo...

(1 reply) #12 Posted by norky on 12 Jun 2004 - 02:14: cool. now stardock can move all their tech support to guatemala too.

(4 replies) #13 Posted by bangbang023 on 12 Jun 2004 - 02:23: There just has to be a bridge somewhere around here because damn there are a lot of trolls

(3 replies) #14 Posted by AthleticTrainer1981 on 12 Jun 2004 - 03:09: It still amazes me how immature some people are in this community. IF YOU DON"T LIKE IT, THEN DON'T USE IT OR BUY IT.

But damn people lay off the trolling

(3 replies) #15 Posted by mko on 12 Jun 2004 - 03:21: And if you don't like my opinion... don't listen?

(1 reply) #16 Posted by imtoomuch on 12 Jun 2004 - 03:29: "Additional new themes will be made available for Alienware fans as either free downloads or for a small fee, depending on the theme."

Does this mean that the Alienware format will not be normal .wbas or does this just talking about the premium themes available for WB?

Also, is it the full version of WB installed or is it the shareware version?

#17 Posted by |CiN|FuL on 12 Jun 2004 - 04:13: What if someone tries to port the theme to a visual style? Some user is bound to not want WB and might want to do that...?

#18 Posted by Lain on 12 Jun 2004 - 05:55: that's cool that they are doing this....but i can't afford one of their pc's but it's cool none the less!

#19 Posted by [a fire chronicle] on 12 Jun 2004 - 06:50: thank god i didnt but my alienware yet. i can now.

(3 replies) #20 Posted by WishX on 12 Jun 2004 - 06:53: Have I been living in another world? Since when has anyone "paid a small fee" for themes? Maybe I'm just spoiled by the Completed Visual Styles thread here at Neowin.

(1 reply) #21 Posted by Varsity on 12 Jun 2004 - 07:00: They should team up with a uxtheme patcher instead.

#22 Posted by jedimasterk on 12 Jun 2004 - 07:04: No comment!. UNIX/Linux user!.

#23 Posted by aaron901 on 12 Jun 2004 - 07:16: pretty cool if you ask me.

#24 Posted by WitCh-Fire on 12 Jun 2004 - 07:54: Pretty cool to see a Hardware company make in-roads with a software company. Business-wise....thats a pretty nice step. Regardless of what people think, creating partnerships is a good stride for just about any company to take.

(2 replies) #25 Posted by Alien Venom on 12 Jun 2004 - 09:02: This is indeed a step in the wrong direction for Alienware, being partnered up with a company whose responsible for BLOATware.

I mean seriously, ObjectDesktop -- you can get the same functionality with freeware tools and ones that use way less resources.

It doesn't make sense to me, for a company who specializes in releasing massive, OEM machines who are stategically built to maximize FPS in games; I can't see how ObjectDesktop and other software by Stardock would help.

(3 replies) #26 Posted by icexswipe on 12 Jun 2004 - 10:42: uhhh alien venom, windows blinds uses same resources as visual styles
and i dont know what u mean by 'bloatware', there are many minimal skins and many visual styles are ported to wb, and also theres skin studio, with which u can port them urself easily.

most people on this board are afraid to try windows blinds coz they are afraid it might be better and not as bad as they thought, u can ask this to the people who have actually switched over. just try it, no harm.

obviously the users will be able to choose if they want to use the alienware skin or not, but im sure they would use it, if they had the knowledge that windows blinds uses the same resources as windows visual styles.

#27 Posted by AthleticTrainer1981 on 12 Jun 2004 - 13:31: I posted a similar comment over in a firefox thread, but I think it applies here also:

I have been doing a lot of thinking on this matter. And I may have figured out why we have so many msstyles/windowblind fans here.

It is because it is something different, something that we chose to use. Since there is little choice in choosing the OS (and I by no means dislike the alternatives), we want a choice in how the OS looks and feels

Just my thoughts. It's not whats faster/better/easier to use/more stable....it's what appeals to us. So for some it's windows classic, others it's Luna, and for some it's a complete alternative.

#28 Posted by stncttr908 on 12 Jun 2004 - 14:05: Eh, good for them. Still shouldn't really give anyone a reason to buy an Alienware.

#29 Posted by V_F on 12 Jun 2004 - 14:53: Great to hear this for Stardock, Alienware and The SkinsFactory, I do hope its a big success for them which I'm sure it will be.

#30 Posted by nanackle on 12 Jun 2004 - 15:27: bloat bloat bloat

(3 replies) #31 Posted by Frogboy on 12 Jun 2004 - 16:24: The whole bloat thing is just bizarre.

So Windows XP with Luna isn't bloated. But change the visual style to somethign else and it magically becomes bloated?

In the bigger scheme of things, there's nothing bloated about visual styles and skinning. Heck, my last Dell came out of the box with so much crap being loaded into my system tray that if it didn't hide most of them my system tray would be bigger than my taskbar!

#32 Posted by gawdflesh on 12 Jun 2004 - 20:43: Ok...could someone tell me where exactly the idea that Alienware will be including a crippled or shareware version of WindowBlinds, as some of you seem to be inferring? Because I sure as hell can't find anything in the above two paragraphs that would lead me to believe that. Yeah, it says "Additional new themes will be made available for Alienware fans as either free downloads or for a small fee, depending on the theme.", but that doesn't mean that you can't add themes you download on your own. I get that they mean Alienware-created themes from Alienware might cost something. However, I'm not saying that I believe either way, because honestly I don't care, since I'm (#1.) not big into theming, and (#2.) I'll never own an Alienware. I just find it really crazy that people read something a certain way, come up with their own details out of the blue, then freak out about it. Wait until more details about this deal come out, then bitch to your hearts content if you want. But at least get your panties in a wad over something factual that has been confirmed.

And the whole concept of bloat is retarded. We're talking about systems in excess of $4k in some cases, with outlandish, garish-looking cases and system stats pushed to the limits. I don't see the problem with a little skinning app taking up 10-20 megs of memory out of the probably 1.5-2 gigs they'd have available.

(2 replies) #33 Posted by jack_canada on 13 Jun 2004 - 00:22: they need a cool skin to match a cool computer!!!!!

#34 Posted by TasT on 13 Jun 2004 - 03:06: Jeeezh folks, I have used WB since Ver 1.3 and yea 1.3 was kinda buggy.

Now with version 4.3B running I have experienced no proformance degration or any other problems. However just like with msstyles a bloated theme could slow things dowm a tad. 99 percent of the time I use skins that I have developed myself and have had no problems. and by the way did anyone notice that Stardock is now a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. I know MS is the devil and all but why would they certify a software maker that "slows down their OS?"

As far as the Alien ware thing goes I think it pretty cool and definatly good for both parties.

#35 Posted by Valkyre on 13 Jun 2004 - 08:52: And this is why I build my own computers. No bundled crap.

To be fair, I purchased WindowBlinds and I like it, but I always want third party stuff to be OPTIONAL.

(1 reply) #36 Posted by sorlag on 13 Jun 2004 - 12:41: Stardock should fix that bug that blacks out scrollbars when resizing windows...
Uninstalled it, cause it has blackout bugs and it crashes min once a day...

#37 Posted by smoke on 13 Jun 2004 - 20:33: I think it's cool that they are doing this. But whenever someone even mentions stardock in a news post there usually is a ton of comments mostly arguments. I think it's ridiculous... it's as if there is a group of people who have a vendetta against stardock. I myself use what fits my requirements best and that means a mix of freeware and stardock stuff. I use litestep (barebones) with desktopX, objectbar and mobydock as my desktop, and then windowblinds to skin my windows. This whole thing about stardocks products being bloat though is not true. As I should know because I run all that on a comptuer MUCH less powerfull than an alienware. With as much money as you spend on Alienware computers and how they tout them as the most high perormance systems you would think that you could run any customisation program even if it's bloated and not get a performance hit. I'm sure with an alienware you can afforrd under 2mb of usage for a WB skin and pretty much 0 cpu utilisation.

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