The customization EXPLOSION!

from WinCustomize Forums
The old guard (people who have been around for many years) represent about 1/5th of the respondants with veternas (people who have been around over a year but less than 3 years) making up the rest.

The reason for the explosion in new users and activity is open to debate.

My personal opinion is that every person who gets Windows XP from Windows ME/98 suddenly finds that all these customizing programs suddenly work really well for them and that they can then mold Windows into the design they want.

What's your view?
10,331 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think it is due to more young people getting a computer of their own (read: 2nd computer in the family home).

Of course, for this hypothesis to be tested, WinCustomize would have to make a poll for the same people asking their age. Is an email poll an option?
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think the survey is self-selecting. i.e. Most users of WinCustomize will either be in the first flush of an infatuation with skinning or will be people for whom that first flush turned into an obsession. The latter are necessarily a subset of the former.

The former will not return to this site to anwser the survey once the infatuation wears off.
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I didn't respond in the poll, but I've only started customizing recently. I love skinning-I've bought WindowBlinds, and plan to get Object Desktop as soon as I can afford it (college students have no money). I just now have gotten into it because I got a laptop as a graduation present. I had tried using WB a year or two ago for my 366Mhz computer I won in a contest a while back, but it was slow and buggy then. WinXP + WB advances=a stable, great program!

BTW, if it had not been for this site, I probably would not have gotten into skinning. Hope that StarDock continues to support this site for a long time to come.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Then there's that sub-subset of geriatric skinners who missed the poll entirely...

I'd say it's just an 'epidemic' thing....multiplication of 'infection' exponentially...the more that 'do it', the more that can tell others about it, ad infinitum...
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I am an OldGuard

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Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'am not a skinner and I generally work under the KISS system or if it ain't broke don't mess with it. But when I found this site my old ways kind of gotten thrown out. Us old people need a his and hers computer, saves on the fighting.

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Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
mmm, lots of new people. You can see it happening on all the skin sites, easily identified by posts like:

HEY!! WHERE FOR ME TO GET A THEME TO MAKE MY COMPUTER TO LOOK LIKE OSX? IT IS CRAZY SEKSAY, MAN, HELP PLEEEEZ. OH, WAIT, I FOUND IT, NOW I PUT IT WHERE FOR TO MAKE THE WINDOWS CHANGE? OH, I FIX IT BUT NOW MY COMPUTER SLOW... I NEED MORE THAN 32 MEGS OF RAM?

...there's growth, and then there's growth...
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hey, don't forget about us poll_ignorers!

How about this question: "I've gotten into skinning because..."
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well some people need to realize that they need more than just a Pentium for this. They need that Pentium PRO! Wohoo!
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
interesting results. I think that is due to the Internet penetration (in computers and bandwidth) around the World, specially on Europe, and the release of WindogsXP (lots of people knows, thanks to this 'spectacular' OS, what thjeir computers can be customized!).
"I've gotten into skinning because..." because i don't like the Win 95/98/98se/Me/2000 squared Windows!
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I agree with Frogboy. Now, more people are realizing that with WindowsXP, the programs used to customize a desktop, and OS for that matter, are more stable and work alot better than old versions. I got into skinning because I enjoy the time and effort people put into their designs (read: I change my wallpaper daily)