[JcRabbit]

I might actually bother to offer a constructive reply if you had even the slightest idea of what you are talking about, KAWSquared, but I think you already made it pretty obvious to everyone here that you don't.

Trying to reason with such a negative and unreasonable person as you would simply be a total waste of energy. So I won't.

[alpha2zulu]

Someone's bitter... Why are you even here, Matt?

KAWSquared;510495 said:

Oh and A2Z, blow me.

LOL that made me realize how long it's been since I said "ew" out loud.
20 posts to 1,000...

[JcRabbit]

Zephi;510494 said:

Donationware would get you more money in the long run. Think about that.

No it wouldn't - and I can back that up with hard evidence.

It would be nice if this were true, though. It would mean people respected and rewarded other people's work more than they do in reality.

Unfortunately, unless you provide some incentive for people to register (be it negative or positive) most won't even bother.

[Timan]

KAWSquared;510495 said:

I think that's what I was aiming for, amirite? Welcome to life. Btw, Christian Rock is the best evar.

I just think it's quite douchebag-ish to go ahead and ask 40$ for a dock (with a serious face). I mean like, is your family that desperate for food? I'm guessing you're an american, amirite?

Oh and A2Z, blow me.

What the heck is up your ass... think you need a short break.

[Phoshi]

Silly kawsie, he might not be selling it for the bare minimum of what he needs to survive, but it's his primary income (I assume), and so he kinda needs to charge for it <_<

JcRabbit;510475 said:

Well, for several reasons:

1 - That's the control icon, the icon you right click to get an extensive context menu controling all the aspects of that dock.

2 - For those who do not like auto-hidding docks, double clicking the control icon is a way to manually hide a dock into a screen edge.

3 - Another feature unique to NeXuS is that you can collapse floating docks (i.e. docks not attached to a screen edge) by double clicking the control icon. When you do that, the dock collapses so only the control icon is visible. Double click it again and the dock expands to normal size.

4 - Branding issues, i.e.; anybody seeing a screenshot of Winstep Xtreme immediately knows what he is seeing because of that 'NeXuS' icon. This is made more important due to the skinnable nature of Winstep Xtreme.

I see what you mean, yeah.
Autohide stuff is nice, for sure.
Objectdock, my current dock, has a little menu in the context menu of any right click on an icon, that could work?
Collapsing floating docks is a great idea, and I think that could really be useful, so keeping it for floating docks is ok.

As for branding... seems to be a much weaker reason to me. Why do people have to know it's from WS straight away? Plus, the person who is looking at the dock the most already knows what it is

Donationware is nice, but like you say - it relies entirely on human kindness, and... Yeah, let's not go there.

[Church Punk]

Hey Rabbit, i do think its a great package, and one i would have bought before, when i was more "active" in this customization, modding area. But i am not anymore, no time for it so i just change a couple of things that dont appeal to me in vista (windowblinds and rklauncher do it for me), so im afraid im not a potential customer... sorry

But nevertheless i would like to encourage this. We dont see good developers be active and actualy listen to what users wants. Keep it up!

[JcRabbit]

Church Punk;510536 said:

But nevertheless i would like to encourage this. We dont see good developers be active and actualy listen to what users wants. Keep it up!

Thanks, Church Punk!

[snuffleupagus]

As a user of customization products for many many years I have known (of) Jorge 'jcRabbit' for a long time. I remember when Winstep was in it's infancy. I remember when he decided to make the serious decision to work on Winstep full time. And by the way he is not from the United States...

I used to be much more involved in the customization/skinning scene circa NextStart version 1 or less, WindowBlinds at around verison 1 as well. I helped the original developer of SkinStudio (BuilderBlinds back then...) in the early versions of that program.

As far as the 'donationware' scene goes... forget it. Point of fact: the original developer of Stardock's CursorFX had a cool little program. He asked a mere $10 for it. When he was 'brought in' to the Stardock family they very generously gave an ObjectDesktop years subscription to all those that had actually registered that program....

That was ME and ONE OTHER PERSON IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!! Thousands of downloads and users... TWO people bothered to register and acknowledge the many, many hours of work put into developing the program.

I don't believe in people's good nature.

Jorge has spent 10 years developing WinStep.... he is fully entitled to every bit of profit he can manifest from his creations. When I work, be it playing professionally as a musician, or building some custom cabinetry, or mowing someone's lawn.... I expect to be paid for it. I'm not financially independent where I can work for nothing. And I dare say that no one reading this is either. Reality is a *****, but without funds, how can you even have a computer to play with and be online to complain anyway ???

2 cents.

[matonga]

I just wanted to give my little point of view:

I work in a private company to pay myself food, university and a single ambient department.

I do free software in my free time because it is what I love to do.

But others, such as JcRabbit, choose to have their income come from their developments, instead of having a job and working for someone else (or live with their parents).

I think no one should discourage shareware or paying for software. I choose to use free software because I don't have money to pay for it but I think most of people who visit this forum is not in such situation.

I respect JcRabbit decision, and I hope some time in the future I can make a profit from my own developments (though I'll also continue to develop freeware stuff).

Also take this into account: what happens when you ask for a new feature for Stacks Docklet, WinExposé, and such stuff of my own? Yes, you guess it: I may or may not implement it. What happens when you find a bug? I may or may not fix it. I do what I want, and I don't do what I don't want to do. Is up to me.

By paying for software, you're at the very least on your very own right to demand for the bugs being fixed (*), and better yet ask for new features (you wouldn't pay for an upgrade which includes none of the features you requested, would you?).

So, please, the next time, think about it.

@KAWsquared:

Answer whatever you want, I know you're not angry. Indeed, I know you're not serious., Indeed, I know you're kidding. Hahaha, no, the whole answer was not for you, just this tiny sentence


(*) BTW this is the main reason I don't publish shareware/paidware yet.

[JcRabbit]

snuffleupagus;510547 said:

Jorge has spent 10 years developing WinStep.... he is fully entitled to every bit of profit he can manifest from his creations.

Thanks, snuffleupagus!

You made a very important point. 10 years is a very long time, and I personally know of NO free software that was first released 10 years ago, is still freeware AND actively developed (much less by the very same person who originally made it).

The real problem is that people these days are so used to downloading and using free software that some have started regarding it as their God given right. By doing so, they are spitting in the face of the very same people who gave them that free software, out of the love in their hearts for what they do. Instead of being appreciative, they have become demanding. They start despising any type of software they have to pay for, although they themselves would never work for free.

It's this type of mindset that led KAWSquared to say that he would rather see someone starve (in this case me and my family) than entertain the thought he might actually have to pay a measly $28.45 for something HE wants, although he probably wouldn't even blink to pay that much or even more for a meal and a movie.

The fact of the matter is that I would not have been able to actively develop Winstep software for 10 years UNLESS I charged for it. Make no mistake, I absolutely love what I do and I would give it away if I could, but I also have to eat. For me it is a privilege to be able to make a living doing what I love the most.

matonga;510566 said:

Also take this into account: what happens when you ask for a new feature for Stacks Docklet, WinExposé, and such stuff of my own? Yes, you guess it: I may or may not implement it. What happens when you find a bug? I may or may not fix it. I do what I want, and I don't do what I don't want to do. Is up to me..

Matonga made another very important point.

Some of you may still remember Sysmetrix, which was a free, extremely functional and very popular, skinnable system meter application. The author, Nick Decker, is someone I can call a friend (although I never met him personally) so I was able to follow Sysmetrix's story from the beginning.

Nick has a full time job, which is one of the reasons why he chose to release Sysmetrix for free. As Matonga very well pointed out, as soon as you decide to sell your creation, you immediately have an obligation to your customers. If you do not follow through on that obligation, pretty soon your software will develop a bad reputation and your business will suffer a miserable and well deserved death.

Nick made Sysmetrix for the same reason most software authors release free software: because they love what they do and want to share their creations with other people. But he considered his bread winner job more important, and therefore did not want to commit to Sysmetrix. For him Sysmetrix was an hobby - he didn't want it to become a full time job.

And this is exactly what happens when you start selling your software, even if you start doing it as a secondary source of income - it becomes ever more demanding of your time and resources until it truly becomes a full time job. If you are not able to keep up, your customers start complaining and your business suffers.

What happens to most authors of free software who do not at some point make a decision to start charging for it is that eventually their free software starts interfering with their true source of income and/or personal time, their attention is diverted elsewhere, or they lose interest, whichever comes first. Since they have no obligation to their users, the software starts getting updated less and less often until it eventually becomes stagnant and naturally dies.

I have seen this happen countless of times, and all you have to do to acknowledge this simple truth is look around you... You don't have to go much further than the very reason this forum exists, RK-Launcher.

An author who charges customers for his software and makes a living out of it, on the other hand, MUST keep going at it. Without frequent updates and bug fixes and new features soon someone else will catch up with him (competition is fierce and ruthless in the PC business!) and he will lose his source of income.

Since he cannot let that happen, everybody wins! The shareware author wins because he is able to support himself and his family doing what he loves the most, and the customer wins because the software he uses is always in constant development and will probably remain so for many, many years.

[Intoxicity]

Best dock = Free dock. Кошмар какой, и на этом деньги делают (reputation is not for sale).
You at all don't understand an essence of dock for windows. The dock is not reflexions of icons for money. The dock is a convenient management and convenient access to the shortcuts, mail and music. I do reflexions in Paint. NET
It occupies some minutes of my time.
Good example of development of free dock with the necessary functions - MacXDock. When it will be finished, you will understand me. Good luck!

[Intoxicity]

ps - looks very good!
make a one free-version for russian "student"? LOL

[Phoshi]

I heard stardock also charge for a dock, guys.

Let's all yell at them, Windowblinds should be free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JcRabbit]

LOL Phoshi!

Yes, yes, hear, hear! Then you guys will all get together and pay for the bandwidth bill of Wincustomize, right?!

What do you mean you won't?

Oh. Free suits you fine, but only when other people carry the bill, right? Because when it starts touching your pocket, then it's a whole different matter.

When did this generation become so irresponsible and self-centered?! :confused:

[matonga]

Well... may be they are right... I want a free Playstation 3!!!

Oh and BTW free DiRT and GRiD from Codemasters freeware developers.

I don't mean I want a pirate version of them, no no no, I want a freeware DiRT and a freeware GRiD without limitations!

BTW just to demonstrate JcRabbit concepts, I have had in mind writing a Time Machine clone for Windows, but it would have to be a paid version because I would need to leave my current job to write it.

Edit:

I almost forgot... free Mac OS X! And I want it PC compatible, or better yet a free Mac Book Pro.

[KAWSquared]

matonga;510566 said:

Answer whatever you want, I know you're not angry. Indeed, I know you're not serious., Indeed, I know you're kidding. Hahaha, no, the whole answer was not for you, just this tiny sentence

thank god, someone understands humor. you guys all need to calm the **** down.

[JcRabbit]

And you need to understand the power of words.

Anyway, glad to know you were not banned permanently. :-)

[KAWSquared]

my words are often hollow, you'll know when they mean something.


that was probably my first ban ever.

[JcRabbit]

I think you guys might like to see this as well:



It's a pack of five different NeXuS-only KTEK 4D themes made by Tiggz I just uploaded to Wincustomize (you can download it from HERE. Full KTEK 4D theme can be downloaded from HERE).

Notice how the icon reflections are only applied to the tile surfaces (i.e. do not extend into the transparent part of the dock tiles). You simply cannot do this with Photoshop generated reflections.

A lot of thought and work went into how reflections are rendered in Xtreme 8.9, so that reflections behave like real reflections and not like they're 'glued' to the main icon - this is especially noticeable when using the new bounce, swing and rock mouse over effects you can see on the video.

[Phoshi]

It's... technically impressive, at least )

However, I can (and will) use that screenie to demonstrate my dislike of the NeXuS icons.
There are 4 of them... why? Surely 1 would do!!