Bad news... Bant has stopped theming

By RoP
in Tips, Tweaks & Customization

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Rising Star

yebo yes

Posted
Posted
Not to be a total dork but what does GODSPEED mean? I hear it but I don't understand it. Thanks.

:laugh: i think it's wishing someone success, didn't mean to cause misunderstanding, sorry dude....

by the way, has bant seen this yet? :huh:

Rising Star

Pas

Posted
Posted

mko, that was one of the most ridiculous posts i've seen in ages. bant made one wb skin. 1 skin, dude! kindly explain how stardock makes money off of his one skin. when bant, or any other skinner, posts his/her work on the web, he/she does so with the knowledge that the skin will be used in a skinning app. correct? somebody has to make that skinning app, right? some of the posts being made concerning this stardock and tgtsoft makin gmoney off of the people making the skins is just plain stupidity. if people don't want to support starock or tgtsoft by purchasing their apps, fine. use the hack instead. these posts being made that say the skinning apps and their parent companies are ruining the skinning world are preposterous. there would be no skinning community if it weren't for stardock, hoverdexk, litestep, tgtsoft, and the others.

Grand Master

Iain

Posted
Posted
"Bant"! I have not heard of you, but before you go, please, please, PLEASE, let me have all of your visual styles first! Please! I missed your visual styles, and I'm now regretting it! Please, give them to me! I'm on my knees! Please, oh please, "Bant"! :(

LMFAO! They're just themes.

Collaborator

Davebo

Posted
Posted
"Bant"! I have not heard of you, but before you go, please, please, PLEASE, let me have all of your visual styles first! Please! I missed your visual styles, and I'm now regretting it! Please, give them to me! I'm on my knees! Please, oh please, "Bant"! :(

Good Gawd... :rolleyes: :D

Later, Bant. Take care and have a great summer... :)

Mentor

X Statik Process

Posted
Posted
lol i swear 4 other tthreads have this title but they'er all totaly diff :s :|

Yes there were!

"Bad News" was a thread about some guy's father dyning from Toxins in Afghanastan... that's what I thought this thread was about. Ooop!

Anyway, sorry to head about "bant" his themes were indeed awesome....

:cry:

Mentor

X Statik Process

Posted
Posted
umm... he does all those visual styles, you know? I just wrote it in a previous post. If you don't customize at all, you don't know him. sorry but if you do customize your desktop, and you don't know about him, then you really aren't too interested in it.

besides, kinda rude to ask who he is, when this is more of a 'thanks for hanging around/making themes' thread... please respect that.

What? It's not rude at all.... he wasn't disrespecting Bant.... get off it.

Mentor

erp

Posted
Posted

It sounds to me like Bant is discouraged because he FEELS he did not receive the kind of recognition he deserves. Let's face it, the criticism that comes from these forum members is often immature and unwarranted. Maybe he got tired of comments like "what, no compact taskbar?", or "can I have a small Start Panel?", "I don't like the gradients", "why not just buy a Mac?", etc.

This site is quickly turning off really talented skinners. I'm not one, but if I was, I would never release anything on this forum. I couldn't take the criticism. Many of the brightest are young, and do not know how to handle criticiism yet.

It is always easier to criticize than it is to compliment.

Rising Star

greenreaper

Posted
Posted
but as far as any legal issues go, i doubt there is any concerning distribution.. sure, he can dictate how he wants his work distributed, but not much can be done to try and actually stop the distribution..

Legally, he has the right to say exactly what happens. If someone distributes his work, it has to be under his license, or it is illegal. That includes copies to friends, posting it on the web, putting it on filesharing networks, the works. That's what copyright means - the right to make copies. It's not something you magically lose once you upload something on the web. :-)

Practically, there's not much to stop anyone giving it to anyone else personally, but then there's always a difference between what the law is and what can actually be practically enforced. Putting it up on a web site might be enough to get the website take down if he complained, though (that's why permission is required when uploading derivative works to the skin sites). Not that I'm saying he would.

This was a case of freeware artists/themer vs. the money making corporation and unfortunately Bant had to bow out of this fight. For a skinning forum I'm ashamed a lot of you are so ignorant in not noticing how especially Stardock has ripped many skins from freeware skinners just to promote and sell their own products.

Almost every other program you can think of has a freeware alternative, but it seems Stardock and TGTSoft have had a stranglehold on the market, patenting a lot of their 'ideas' just in order to block any competition. The idea of nagware/shareware just disgusts me and I'm sure Bant is on the same parallel.

You make strong claims, there. Let me call you on a few of them:
  • To the best of my knowledge, every skin that has gone into a WindowBlinds distribution has had the full permission of the author(s) involved. I had one go in myself (Blackcomb), and I was proud that it was out there being tried by the hundreds of thousands of people who use WB. I didn't ask for money for it, but I know some people have done skins commissioned by Stardock especially to be distributed with WindowBlinds. And they got paid with real money, not free copies of software. Stardock isn't cheap, but they're not responsible for reimbursing people who make skins and distribute them of their own free will.
  • I find your patent claim frankly insubstatial. I do not know of any patents held by either Stardock or TGTsoft relating to this. Much of it is non-patentable simply because it's already been done. If you do actually know of any, pray tell, otherwise please stop making unwarranted assertions. The fact is that Stardock and TGTSoft make money and their products are popular. This is why they are a force in the customization industry.
  • You don't like the idea of having to pay for software or being told to do so? Fine, but look at the alternatives CustomEyes, eFX and others are still around, but they have not progressed, and therefore they are not popular. There is nothing stopping you making your own software other than the fact that it's hard, technically - and that's why it costs money, because hard coding takes training, and every hour you spend adding features or solving problems when people use your program is another hour you have to have food and a house to live in.

Stardock especially go s**** yourselves because I will never pay for your software. And for all your stardock fanboy's out there say your peace here, I don't care. But if you really love your themers, then you will support their movement against these corporations.

I am a themer. I have chosen to skin with WindowBlinds because its flexibility and developer support for changes (try asking TGTSoft if they can add resized borders or animation or menu support sometime . . . just don't expect a reply ;-) means it the best skinning solution that you can get. Even if you do have to pay for it.

And that's why they're the market leader - they make good software that people are willing to pay $20 for and for which skinners are willing to skin for. It's that simple.

Grand Master

Bearded Kirklander

Posted
Posted
Godspeed to you Bant.

And to re-emphasize this - THE MAN SAID A FEW PAGES BACK THAT YOU CAN CONTINUE DISTRIBUTING HIS THEMES.

Actually read the whole thread, he just does not want praises/bug reports/questions.

Thats is all :).

I guess if he still says people can distribute them, it is kind of silly not to package them up for download with a disclaimer saying they are as-is with no support. But to each their own. Nobody said people had to conform or make sense. :p

Grand Master

cpu killer

Posted
Posted
guys, i really didn't want to post in any goodbye threads, as this isn't goodbye. i'm just tired. tgtsoft and stardock are only a small piece of the reason i've called it quits. theming just isnt for me anymore. I don't want people to get my themes from my DA page anymore because i don't wan't to have any part of that creeping back into my life, i don't want to hear about your bugs, or your praise...i'm done with it all. i've taken a step to remove my name from the customization community, and believe i can only do that if i stop distributing my themes. That's not to say i don't encourage you all to pass whatever you like around to your friends, i themed for myself and for you all, and i did it with the intention of providing it free. You are more than welcome to pass my themes around.

this is no big deal, stop making it one ;) there are plenty of good themers still around, and plenty just waiting to find their pixel paintbrush.

call me what you want.

Just to make it clear for those too lazy to read the whole thread :).

Enthusiast

ludeboy

Posted
Posted

cpu killer, I was starting to get ****ed off with all the retards asking him to allow downloads of his skins as well. Just send each other the damn skins and stop being little girls about it. He doesn't like TGT Soft and Stardock anymore so he's not going to skin anymore. Yes, we've lost a great skinner but in the end it's still his opinion and his beliefs. So sit down, shut up, ask for your skins if you want them, and stop being stupid and begging him to do something he already did. I swear no one even bothers to finish reading all the comments before they post anymore. They read one page and reply right away.

"I guess if he still says people can distribute them, it is kind of silly not to package them up for download with a disclaimer saying they are as-is with no support. But to each their own. Nobody said people had to conform or make sense."

Who cares? He's not theming anymore. Why does he have to re-package anything? We all have the skins. His obligations to us are none. You want the skins? Go search for them or ask someone for them. It ain't hard.

And for the love of God, READ before you post, people. There've been too many damn threads with people not bothering to read, reply, and end up giving the wrong advice or saying things that don't even make any sense. Enough already

Enthusiast

ludeboy

Posted
Posted
For those who are asking "Why TGTSoft/Stardock" don't let these people pull a rug over your eyes.

This was a case of freeware artists/themer vs. the money making corporation and unfortunately Bant had to bow out of this fight. For a skinning forum I'm ashamed a lot of you are so ignorant in not noticing how especially Stardock has ripped many skins from freeware skinners just to promote and sell their own products.

Stardock especially go s**** yourselves because I will never pay for your software. And for all your stardock fanboy's out there say your peace here, I don't care. But if you really love your themers, then you will support their movement against these corporations.

I'm not for or against Stardock, but get your damn facts straight before you post stupid crap like that. Stardock hasn't done anything illegal. They have permission from authors to bundle their skins with WindowBlinds. And I don't think they give a flying rat's ass if you purchase their software or not. I doubt you even purchased the Windows you refuse to install Stardock software on.

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