kthxbye

Reply to Windowblinds or Style XP in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Digital_k said it best - well, along with myself, and Frogboy - and many others. windowblinds + hacked uxtheme.dll is the way to go. There are even multiple easy to use uxtheme patchers out there that make the install MUCH easier. (I don't recommend doing like I did with my desktop and simply turning off WFP and leaving it off. I make regular backups with ghost, so I don't mind if I kill something.) (Yeah, yeah - basically this post is so I can type UXTHEME.DLL correctly. G

Reply to The End of .ZIP compression as we know it. in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

So - is this more of a "'secure' zip files would be a Good Thing (tm)" deal or is it more of a "Windows XP's nearly seamless zip file handling is cutting into our profits." type of deal? Notice how they're keeping the existing .zip extension. Or maybe Winzip's feeling the crunch from faster, more feature packed archives out there such as WinACE? (Love my WinACE.) Anyway, if I want to encrypt the contents of a zip file, I'll stick to using PGP, thanks. Sure, it's an extra ste

Reply to Who in the world grades these ScreenShots??????? You Decide : Fair or not in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Keith - you forget the -most- important thing about your desktop too... do -YOU- like it? Yes? Then who cares if you get a 10 or a 1? I'm sure my desktop shots would get quite low ratings - they're not quite minimalistic enough to be truly minimalistic - but many would find them to be quite boring. I don't care. I like 'em. ^_^

Reply to iTunes: Who should be making money? in Consumer Issues JoeUser Forums

There are too many relevant news links to point out (and at 3am, I'm simply not awake to do so.) Mostly, in a nutshell, the recording industry has a history (going back to at least the 50's mind you,) of being anything /but/ fair to artists. A large number of artists wind up in /debt/ to the labels for making a record. The labels have (or had? I don't remember the results of the CA hearing,) no responsibility to provide /any/ accounting/accountability for royalties paid to artists.

Reply to DesktopX 3 documentation in Press Room JoeUser Forums

Too tired to say much of anything tonight - and my head's freakin' pounding - but... I have to admit, I didn't know this: "This is the same Red Cross that charged fifty cents to front line soldiers in WWII for coffee. " (Though all of my looking only said they charged $.05) So, I did a little looking - I was curious - didn't know if it was true or not, because I hadn't heard it before. Still, it didn't take long to find an explanation. http://www.redcrossblood.com/coordnews.htm#

Reply to iTunes: Who should be making money? in Consumer Issues JoeUser Forums

"Stop laughing - you're already paying it on blank CDs" Only the ones with the 'audio' label on them. The government, yes, considers the two differently labelled CDs to be two different beasts. I've read many different articles on flat-fee licensing - and I admit I didn't read /that/ link as well as I could have (BAD headache at the moment - trying to keep it from becoming a migraine, whee!) and while it -was- a flat-fee licensing article, yes - the article didn't state anywhere th

Reply to TONZ AND TONZ OF INFO ABOUT LONGHORN in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

"They want developers to start making Longhorn apps now, so that 3 years down the road, there are Longhorn optimized software out there as an incentive forthe public to buy it. " To which I imagine developers to reply "No thank you." Why would you develop something now, or start doing so, so that a year or two later (a year or two given for development time, of course,) you can release something? Would any software house want to sit on something for that long? They can develo

Reply to How many skinners does it take to change a light bulb? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

"13 will claim they invented electricity.....so someone is gonna pay bigtime." And then SCO will come in... Ooops - wrong forum. SCO's made no claims to skinning. Yet.

Reply to DesktopX 3 documentation in Press Room JoeUser Forums

Well, the last time I checked, the Italian Red Cross is still the Red Cross - and northern Iraq was still Iraq. I fully admit that I'm terrible at geography, but the last time I took a class Baghdad + Basra != Iraq. But, I know - it's rather silly of a civilian aid orginization to close their offices over something as silly as a car bombing and a couple of people dying (along with whatever lack of security there may be,) isn't it? Cowards. They should stay and willingly get b

Reply to DesktopX 3 documentation in Press Room JoeUser Forums

Uhm... even according to the article you linked to, they aren't "leaving Iraq.", Anthony. "We are temporarily closing our offices in Baghdad and Basra," "But we will remain present in northern Iraq." " The Italian branch of the Red Cross said its 32 doctors and nurses who have been in Iraq since April would continue work at Medical City, a sprawling hospital in northern Baghdad" " "The Italian Red Cross will stay in Iraq, but this is not contrary to the decision by the in

Reply to How to keep Windows XP stable in Personal Computing JoeUser Forums

"How does one go about gaining some of the basic understandings of the inner workings of XP without needing a graduate degree in CS?" Reading. Reading. And more reading. The last issue of Maximum PC had a good article for people wanting to learn the basics of what service does what, for example. Very basic, but it provides a good start for a list of "Services I need and services I don't need." Books. They're those paper things you find in stores (Not trying to sound conde

Non-RIAA affiliated Music in Music JoeUser Forums

Aside from being a collective of all of the 'major' labels in the US, I think one of the reasons the RIAA's been able to run it's racket in the music industry for so long is because a lot of people simply aren't aware of the alteratives out there. So, I thought I'd simply take a few moments this morning and present a small list of wonderful sources. <a href=

Reply to BootSkin ALPHA available for trying out in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

Yup - works great so far. Original boot screen didn't even stay on screen for a full second with my Toshiba. About half a second sounds right. (Satellite 1415)

Reply to BootSkin Alpha now available! in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

*chuckles* Yeah, my boot screen isn't a -huge- priority either, Phoon. The last time I turned my desktop off was when the power supply died and I had to swap it out with another - so I'm sure the next time I actually shut it down, or reboot it, I'll have totally forgotten that I even installed BootSkin on there! At least I -do- turn off my notebook - so I get to see it on here!

Reply to Death of a Superpower? in Politics JoeUser Forums

Having a blacksmith in the family - I get to see factors of the steel industry a bit closer than many folks (since, instead of buying steel products, you know - I'm used to receiving truckloads of -raw- steel at the house, when I lived with them..) Pricing may be a big factor, but another big problem (to many blacksmiths at least,) is -quality-. Simply put, in certain areas, US steel simply can't compete quality-wise. There are certain types of steel (high grade steels,) that my stepf

Reply to iTunes: Who should be making money? in Consumer Issues JoeUser Forums

Hrm... Fortunately, my solution is simple: I do not give any money, in any form whatsoever to the RIAA or to any of their agents. That's what you can choose to do with a company whose business ethics or practices you don't agree with, see. But - I'm a bit lucky too, due to my musical tastes - I can only name 1 or 2 RIAA labelled artists who I actually listen to - and most of those aren't even on an RIAA affiliated label anymore (but were in the past.) I have over 300 CD

Reply to God on Trial in Philosophy JoeUser Forums

As I've commented before... Yes! Please! ^.^ Heh, this isn't the first post of yours I've wanted to sit down and read - but I just can't. I can't track the text when it's not broken up at all.

Reply to Update in Blogging JoeUser Forums

I feel your pain... While my car wasn't anywhere near in the same league as a 'vette from any year, up until a couple of moneths ago when it died (broken timing belt,) I had to endure the same thing. '89 I-Mark. Nice, small, efficient and compact little car... that also thought it was a sports car and had the rock-hard suspension to prove it! Intentionally. I've driven that thing all over the country - and while it was fun - I was also rarely able to walk when I'd get out

Reply to Pic in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

The others all gave good advice, TGN - but, I want to give you credit too. You don't have your name, or your URL, or any other 'tagline' plastered all over it. Keep -that- up! ^_^

Reply to Windowblinds or Style XP in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Let's not forget the fact that if you also get Skinstudio, with a little (okay, sometimes quite a bit,) of tweaking, you can get those msstyle skins working in Windowblinds too. The -only- advantage I really ever find to an msstyle (I use the hacked dxtheme instead of StyleXP - alongside Windowblinds, of course!) is that it has better control for defining your own fonts in any given skin that you're using - it lets you apply standard Windows font settings rather than the global font-ove

Reply to Thoughts on the OTHER Matrix Revolutions Movie... in Movies & TV & Books JoeUser Forums

No! No! It's neither the third part of the trilogy, nor the sequel to the video game. It's the -prelude to the MMORPG in development-.

Reply to My moment of pride (sorta.) in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

"I'd like to live close enough to be able to sit un and watch the making" It is beyond cool to watch - whether he's working at the power hammer, or doing work by hand over the anvil. Definitely too cool. It's too bad I can't do that anymore really.

Reply to Doing what you love in Art JoeUser Forums

It's a dying art, for sure (though, also a really well paying one - though, of course, that isn't the reason he does it, just a nice little perk.) At the same time however, interest in it, from a art-buyer's standpoint I mean, is steadily picking up once again. In all sorts of areas - I'm finding 'modern' as well as more traditional styles out there when you look at blacksmiths now. So, it's a dying art - but I don't think it will be one to ever /truly/ go away. Sorta like poetry.

Reply to My moment of pride (sorta.) in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

*chuckles* Thanks Brainiac. I wish they'd brought a photographer along with him to show off some of the items he's working on. Some of the things he's made are simply /amazing/. I keep trying to tell him he needs to set up a website, to expand his potential customer base. Sounds like they're considering it now, too. ^_^

Reply to Thoughts on the OTHER Matrix Revolutions Movie... in Movies & TV & Books JoeUser Forums

Geez. I want to see your version - it sounds /enjoyable/.