Style XP Expired :(


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Here's some info from TGT regarding this issue.

http://www.themexp.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=499

Posted: Dec 18 2001 14:41 Post subject: Don't cough up anything just yet...

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Just so everyone here knows, you won't have to cough anything up until we release, which is months away.

All of the betas have hard expiration dates in them, but we promise to release an update before any date hits.

Please enjoy the free beta period.

Once we do release Style XP or StyleBuilder, then it will have a 30-day trial period built in.

If you really want a StyleBuilder key, but don't want to pay for it...

Just make an awesome skin, post it here on ThemeXP, and if we really like it, then we will send you a free key.

Maybe even put it in our download.

Imagine that!

--

ee

aka Tony Stratton - tony@tgtsoft.com

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Winamp has been made by less than 6 people and they sure wouldn't constitute proper in your mind either.
That just proves my point... a group of programmers can get together and produce a great program and NOT charge for it! TGTsoft is MORE amateur and has an inferior product [i'd pay for WinAmp... but not StyleXP]. Don't try and spin what I'm saying though... my point is I think TGTsoft is an amateur company [just from what I've seen... I can't describe it, and as always it's my opinion].
paying for style builder is ok, but why should we pay for stylexp ?

Yup, dead on... and not giving any visible warning is bad for customer relations and just bad... people object to installing it and not even knowing it was time limited!

I can't be bothered arguing... most people here agree that TGTsoft is being lame, 'nuff said.

People respected TGTsoft for 'helping' the community, and now it is effectively screwing that community. StyleXP should be free and StyleBuilder charged for. I don't blame them, BUT I don't like what they're doing.

Oh, I'm bored now.

Quote from the Linux penguin: "TGTsoft come bite my ass, you suck" :p

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Just make an awesome skin, post it here on ThemeXP, and if we really like it, then we will send you a free key.

Sounds nice... but they won't just give it away easily . Yes, they're trying to build up the community, but it won't stop people from disliking TGTsoft [the dislike is already evident in this ONE topic].

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- Removed Beta 4 from ADD/REMOVE.

- Removed Beta 3 from ADD/REMOVE (had them both listed)

- Installed Beta 3. Things were funky at this point, not working right.

- Rebooted my box. Everything was fine - Beta 3 is back and running!

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Originally posted by BigBoy

- Removed Beta 4 from ADD/REMOVE.

- Removed Beta 3 from ADD/REMOVE (had them both listed)

- Installed Beta 3. Things were funky at this point, not working right.

- Rebooted my box. Everything was fine - Beta 3 is back and running!

:D you guys are killing me...the lengths people will go to save $20.00.

This is hilarious!:D

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Well hell, thanks to that DLL I'm not even using StylesXP at ALL now, but I can still use Community / StylesXP themes. Those aren't any different from any other themes, really. Coughdrop too.

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this is y we have cracks/demo *cough* sites

No... we have them cos a lot of people are broke, or think they deserve to use programs illegaly [me being one of those people :p].

PS - The pages seem to take DAYS to load. :(

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To whoever mentioned Winamp because it is great and free, don't forget it wasn't always that way. It used to be $10 shareware before Nullsoft was acquired by AOL and it has been free since as they have funding.

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It is not that I will have to pay for StylesXP that makes angry, but it is the fact that I am paying for NOTHING. All that StylesXP does is unlocks the ability to use any Visual Styles in Windows XP. I would see paying for StyleBuilder, but not for StylesXP.

Like I said earlier, what makes me angry about StylesXP is that it was not clearly explained that it would be a commercial product upon its release. It began as one dll file; it can be used separatly. The current version is more complex and more bloated, but it still uses the same method for unlocking the ability to use any Visual Stlye in Windows XP.

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StyleXP gave me some problems, some icons on the systray weren't appearing anymore at each boot. Anyway i installed beta 4, applied the theme i wanted, uninstalled StyleXP and keept my Theme untouched :D Works good like that and my systray is back to normal (and yes i know WinXP hides some systray icons after a period of inactivity, but it's not that ;P )

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a couple of facts

1. tgtsoft is a business

2. you should of known that eventualy the free ride would be over

3. styles xp makes winblowsblinds look like ****

4. switching to WB is just wrong

5.if you don't want to pay to enjoy the new themes just use the beta :)

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Wow,

I didnt think this topic would get this many responces.....

As Cody has said, I too am upset at the fact that they havent clearly mentioned anywhere that Style XP was going to be shareware. I knew about Style Builder being shareware from the beginning, and I bet I was one of their first beta testers... Granted I was new to beta testing :) so maybe I wasnt thinking along the same lines as them. As far as I knew Style XP was to be free, so it could allow EVERYONE to use XP skins, like common it's a patch, wether in memory or on disk, it's not worth $20 (me being Canadian, thats really $30). I tweak many programs on my HD, but never re-distribute them.. so could I change a program eg. maybe make a patch so you can use protected wma files on any computer, and then charge for that? No, because thats not right.... at least imo :( Anyways I am just a little displeased about the fact that they are charging for it now, and I think I am going to ask them to take my skin off their site, because I DO NOT agree with their tactics, and I dont want to be associated with a product that you have to be "tricked" into buying.

P.S. I just noticed they released logonui today from their site aswell... is this also going to be a freeware turn shareware? :ermm:

We'll see what happens.. :)

Chris

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Originally posted by freek

a couple of facts

1. tgtsoft is a business

2. you should of known that eventualy the free ride would be over

Heh. Well, yeah. But you know, TGTSoft never actually mentioned that. They never corrected the supposition that they were charging for the builder (which is reasonable - it is quite impressive at what it does) but not for the crack. Of course, now it's a program . . . wait, wasn't the problem with WB that it was an extra program, loaded alongside the DLL?

3. styles xp makes winblowsblinds look like ****

"1337"? I can name, offhand, at least five cool features that set WB apart from .msstyles - Button animation, *window* animation, being able to place arbitrary titlebar buttons, scripting and having a format that is not only text-editable, but which users can actually have some control over (how likely is it that you can chat with the MS theme developers - the people who, after all, control the .msstyle format - about bugs or new features in IRC, then see them fixed/added a few builds later?). These are the things you're paying for - new features, not just new colours. Of course, if you want new colours, the registered version of WB can change a skin to any colour you want.

4. switching to WB is just wrong

I suspect this is what TGTSoft is hoping. However, the supporters they have courted may suddenly decide that, now that it's going to cost them money to get what they were glad to get for free, they're not all that interested any more. Or they may not. Judging by the current state of the boards, I suspect support will dwindle, but it's early days yet.

5.if you don't want to pay to enjoy the new themes just use the beta :)

Yep. But by the same token, if you don't want to pay, just use the free version of WindowBlinds with one of the 1300 skins out there. ;-)

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Originally posted by Binary

P.S. I just noticed they released logonui today from their site aswell... is this also going to be a freeware turn shareware? :ermm:

We'll see what happens.. :)

Indeed. Of course, Stardock announced a program you can use to construct your own logonui (and it's certainly not vapourware, I've used it). Like WB, it's based on distributing bitmaps and skin instructions rather than .exe or .msstyle files - and Frogboy's declared that it will be freeware:

http://www.wincustomize.com/news_comments_....asp?NewsID=564

[go to www.wincustomize.com 's front page and scroll down for the preface announcement]

A simple thing, but significant. I think you can take him at his word, don't you? ;-)

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Originally posted by BeLGaRaTh

Where they pre-empting all of this? :smart:

I don't know, but you certainly got me . . .

Frogboy did say it had been in development for a month, which seems reasonable - programs don't just spring up out of nothing.

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