For years I've read how two big problems have kept skinning from becoming truly mainstream.
The first problem was that the myriad of programs necessary to get adequate results was too complicated, too unreliable, too bloated, and too hard to keep up to date.
The second problem was that actually getting quality themes was too difficult, that even after people managed to get the combination of WindowBlinds, IconPackager, and other such programs cobbled together that it took too much effort to find stuff they liked.
And that's why I wonder if MyColors is going to be the future of skinning in the mainstream?
Right now, a user can buy Object Desktop for 50 bucks or so and has access to thousands and thousands of skins and themes out there to choose from. But many feel that only power users can navigate the maze of software updates and skin galleries to get something put together that's good.
By contrast, MyColors works in the opposite direction - the software is free but the themes cost money instead. And the software automatically self-updates.
Here is a screenshot of the latest internal MyColors build:
The user opens up MyColors and the software detects if something has been updated, updates itself and voila, new version. No worrying about versions.
Moreover, if a given theme has been updated, the theme automatically updates (the apply button changes to update).
For example, I have the "beta" of the Chicago Bulls NBA theme installed. But the final version was released so it changes to saying:
When I click on it, the user interface isn't interrupted with some obnoxious dialog downloading the update. Instead, it's subtle and multithreaded:
The theme listed simply changes slightly with the % download complete. The rest of the program is still usable to apply a different suite.
Then when applied you get something like this:
Where the icons, wallpaper, and of course user interface reflects the new theme. One can imagine this expanding over time to include animated wallpapers and logons and boot screens and such to provide absolutely complete experiences.
When someone wants to check out more they just click on "More themes and see"
Which lets them browse hundreds of premium suites.
Stardock's concern has been making sure that it ensures existing customers can benefit from this massive undertaking. After all, to create these hundreds of suites (MyColors themes) Stardock hired a significant portion of the skinning community as full time professional artists (SkinPlant and Pixutdio now are all part of Stardock Design along with Essorant, VStyler, Pixel Pirate, Voo, and others).
So in 2008, Object Desktop users will simply get MyColors along with some free inspirational themes as part of their subscription.
Which reminds me, another really cool thing is that the program automatically knows what themes you have rights to. One annoying thing about the premium suites of the past is that if I reinstalled or something, I had to manually go and get themes. MyColors simply lists them all for download once it knows who you are. More themes are added just by putting in a serial # and it will grab that too within the program. No links. No special instructions.
We expect that within the next 5 years, most PCs will come with this kind of capability in some form. As long as the quality and usability is there, people will want the ability to personalize their PCs just as they do everything else.