MSStyles=clones, clones and more clones?

-or- where is the originality?

Published on December 16, 2004 By BlueDev In OS Customization

This is a geek rant. Yes, by writing this I am totally revealing to the world that not only do I care about the subject, but that I think enough about the topic to decide to write a rant about it. So, yes, this is a geek rant, by a geek, and will probably only be relevant to other geeks. Geeks freaking rule.

It isn't any surprise that I enjoy customizing my computer. I love downloading and trying to goodies, widgets, icons, cursors and most of all visual styles. And lately I have enjoyed working on my own a bit. My fascination with OS customization really started when I stumbled across Windowblinds (back when it was early version 3.something, so I am still pretty new to the whole scene). Being able to change how my OS looks is very appealing to me, and to be honest I can't imagine just using plain old Windows or even being limited to one of the Luna themes XP came with. They just bore me.

But at the same time I don't like to limit myself to just using Windowblinds skins. As I mentioned previously I like to use Skin Studio to convert themes that are in MSStyle format to use with Windowblinds. I am not a fan of using a hacked uxtheme.dll myself, so I opt to convert. Then I can add even more goodies to my visual styles. But my use of visual styles is becoming less and less frequent.

I like to stop by Neowin on a semi-regular basis. I peruse their Completed Visual Styles section to see what is coming out. But it seems that lately all that is coming out is the same old thing. Sure, they change a color here and there, perhaps change the buttons from a box to a circle, maybe just make them lines. But they are clones and clones and clones. Someone comes up with a great idea (like Stefanka's Inspirat visual style) and you get 30 other monkeys who change a color here, make it lighter/darker, and then release it and let the MSStyle lovers over at Neowin heap the praise on them.

Guess what robots. I can do all that with the same skin in Windowblinds. And I can do even more without much effort with Skin Studio.

And when an original Windowblinds visual style comes around there the robots all jump on it with brilliant comments such as "fugly". I think the collective IQ of the whole bunch is probably lower than the measly points this article will earn. They deride the visual style for being too bulky, too busy, to big. If it isn't completely minimalistic, and limited to about 3 colors they rip it to shreds. To illustrate my point let me offer mormegil's elegant, colorful, festive Christmas Time skin. When the news regarding this Christmas suite was posted over at Neowin it instantly met with comment after comment about how it was fugly, bloated, hideous, and so on. One person even had the audacity to say that "Somebody needs to take a couple design courses!" Yet, just look at the page over at Wincustomize. It has well over 250,000 downloads. Over 250,000! And it has an average rating of 5/5 stars. But because it isn't another minimalistic Luna clone it gets shredded. The myopia displayed on that thread alone made me see red.

I love minimalistic styles myself. But not every stinking day. I like some changes, some creativity, some unique looks to my skin. I have seen visual styles that I honestly couldn't have told you what the difference was between them without doing a close, side by side comparison. Yet each one gets praise heaped upon it for being so slick, so sleek, so smooth.

I just want to see some originality. I know there are great artists making some stylish and even stunning visual styles out there. But the second you see one of their works released, be prepared to see 50 clones of the same thing. Me, I am just getting tired of seeing the same visual style, time after time. Perhaps it is the community, perhaps it is the inherent power of Windowblinds over the MSStyle format, but I just don't seem to see nearly the same degree of cloning going on with the Windowblinds skins. So thanks to all of you out there trying to break new ground, to make something a little different that will look great on my screen.

The robots? Let them stew in their own pot of mundane similarity.

Comments (Page 6)

Jafo

on Jan 03, 2005

Citizen colossus72 ...post-moderne minimalism is soulless and heartless....that 'style' in your link looks like it was created by a nihilistic scientologist. It has no character.

Certainly, download count is NOT a measure of 'quality', but it certainly IS a measure of popularity/popular acceptance.

The problem with 'modified' MS-Styles is they tend to be boring as they do NOT provide sufficient scope for creativity in genuine alternate thinking.

They are the equivalent of a situation where all cars MUST have front engines and rear wheel drive....in a world like that boredom reigns supreme.

WB means mid-engines are an option.

Your link depicts an 'engineer's solution', not an 'artist's solution'.

3 decades of Architecture has allowed me to differentiate between imaginative thought, simple problem solving, and Gaudi....

BlueDev

on Jan 03, 2005

and snotty articles like this

And ridiculous comments like yours that completely miss the point of the article are hardly worth the time to reply. But I am bored, so what they hey.

If you actually read and grasped the point of the article you would have realized that I was addressing the complaints over quality of the work. I have no problem with the fact that you don't like the Christmas suite. Heck, it isn't really my style either (though you certainly assume to know what I like, funny given that you don't know the first thing about me). But I can see that the artwork and design of it is excellent. While I may not care to use it on my desktop, I have complete respect for the artistry and talent involved in making it.

But I suppose you will continue in your sense of superiority and miss the boat entirely. That is fine with me. Whatever keeps you happy.

colossus72

on Jan 03, 2005

"let me offer mormegil's elegant, colorful, festive Christmas Time skin."

I assumed that meant it was your bag. Sorry.

I did read your original article. The point was sort of hard to grasp, other than you don't like what I like. And i was pointing out what you see as a lack of quality and what i see as bloat are just differences in taste. I SEE YOU FAILED TO GRASP THAT THOUGH.

I don't think my comment came off as superior at all. I was just saying let's agree to be different.

Your comments are kind of snotty though, and that's why I called 'em "snotty".

"Robots, blah blah"

colossus72

on Jan 03, 2005

Jafo:

"Your link depicts an 'engineer's solution', not an 'artist's solution'."

That's where our opinions diverge. I know that's not what you like. My opinion is that NANO is elegant and beautiful.

Just because we are a minority doesn't mean we are wrong. Just because you think modernism is soulless doesn't mean it is, and because I think most wb skins are ugly doesn't mean they are.

I know enough about Jafo to respect his opinions on modernism. Doesn't mean I will ever agree with them. See what I'm getting at? i'm sorry the Neowin kids disrespect wb themes, I'm sorry they get dissed on custo sometimes too. I don't see how articles like this change it or make it better.

"but it certainly IS a measure of popularity/popular acceptance."

Well, yeah. That was my point, really. Popular does not = good. In fact, it often seems quite the opposite to me.

The NANO vs author targeted me and my tastes, and I appreciate him and his work very much.

"3 decades of Architecture has allowed me to differentiate between imaginative thought, simple problem solving, and Gaudi..." but you cannot claim (and you do not, I know) that you are the ultimate authority on what is "good" and what is not? Only that you feel you have an informed opinion. I think I do too.

BlueDev

on Jan 03, 2005

Your comments are kind of snotty though, and that's why I called 'em "snotty".

Yep, in this article they sure were. You see, this was (as it was clearly marked at the beginning) a rant. When I wrote it (over two weeks ago) I was fed up with the whinning, bitching and infantile comments I saw over on Neowin at every single WB release. So this was sort of a gut reaction to that, written on my blog (which just happens to get syndicated over here to WC). I never meant for it to change the skinning world (a world in which I am a mere infant). I was venting. That it turned into more than that surprised me as much as anyone else.

There are a lot of great visual styles. But I have grown tired of different colors of the same series of thing bars, little boxes and such. I would love to see some more originality in visual styles.

So if this came off as snotty that is probably because I had every intention of writing it that way. Certainly doesn't mean everything I write is. Sort of similar to the notion that every post of yours I have read over here carries with it a tone of superiority. But it would be unfair of me to judge you based strictly on that, so I won't. And if I have previously I apologize.

BlueDev

on Jan 03, 2005

you see as a lack of quality

Sorry, just forgot to address this in my previous reply.

No, not a lack of quality. A lack of originality. I mentioned many times there are talented artists making beautiful visual styles. But there are also many more copycats simply modding the work and releasing it to the praises of the community.

So, quality aside, the issue was from the very beginning regarding the originality (or lack thereof) in the work.

colossus72

on Jan 03, 2005

I certainly don't see problems with originality, maybe you mean not enough work that suits your particular tatse? To my eye a lot of wb skins look "samey" because the general style just does not suit me, therefore I never bother to really investigate them. Not to mention I no longer use wb. But if I saw skins I liked, maybe I woul

BlueDev

on Jan 03, 2005

I certainly don't see problems with originality, maybe you mean not enough work that suits your particular tatse?

Perhaps, but I have a hard time reconciling it to simply that. In an effort to do a little non-scientific research when I wrote this topic I actually went to the "Completed Visual Styles" section on Neowin and looked that the most recent 10-15 visual styles. They all boiled down to derivatives of one or two basic designs. There were color changes here and there, but that was really about it. By comparison, at the same time I looked at the most recent 10-15 WB skins (excluding VS ports) and saw much more diversity, even in the skins I didn't care for.

Tory Larson

on Jan 05, 2005

Response to the article: AMEN! That's half the reason I stopped perusing NeoWin.

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