So I got WinCustomize magazine done. It took quite a bit of work. The work not only derives itself from the actual writing but the research for it. Two big things I do in the magazines is sift through all the...well crap that gets submitted and have to narrow things down to highlighting 30 or so skins and themes to show off. That means I have to skip over a lot of good stuff too which is a bummer but I have to focus on things that casual users will want, not just power users.

With >800,000 WinCustomize users now, a good chunk of them receive the magazine so I have to put a lot of care into making sure it's useful and relevant. I also can't have it be just a Stardock advertisement or else it becomes just more crap people spew through the email. That sometimes means highlighting programs that compete with Stardock's to varying degrees.

For instance, in this issue I highlight Rainlendar, Workshelf, and Samurize. This will probably be the single biggest marketing hit they've ever received. These are good programs but not likely ready for PC Magazine or anything yet. So hundreds of thousands of people seeing their stuff will be a big boon for them.

Those of you reading this may not realize how demonized Stardock is by the "hard core" of the skinning "community". They think we're just out to monopolize the whole customization thing which isn't the case. I wish these guys could think straight and see that it's US that helps promote the smaller players in the market more than anyone else out there.

If you want to see what I have done so far visit https://www.wincustomize.com/wcmag/jan2004 Just remember that it's not just what's in the magazine I had to write, the magazine regularly links to articles at Joeuser.com which I also had to put together.

So got that done. Took care of a lot of email, put together the plan for this next week. Read through the boards and news groups, tested out software. Got to have some fun though, went bowling today and yesterday played Warlords IV and my mom visited. So all in all a pretty good weekend.