Stardock Announces the Creation of Stardock Design

Published on November 13, 2006 By Zoomba In WinCustomize News

For the past few months, Stardock has been working hard to create a whole new team dedicated to bringing you the best content for your computer. You may have noticed the recent upswing in premium content like the Argos suite, Texas Hold Em and Fortune to name just a few.

This new division also has the goal of working with companies, universities, sports teams and more to deliver extraordinary, custom branded looks for Windows Vista and Windows XP. This new Stardock team is called Stardock Design, and claims some of the world best skinners among its team of artists. Many of these artists are long-time members of of the WinCustomize community, whose skins, icons and gadgets you've enjoyed for years.

"The formation of Stardock Design is an entirely strategic move for Stardock," stated Stardock President and CEO Brad Wardell. "Corporations are looking to further their presence on the desktop as traditional advertising and marketing wanes in its effectiveness on the consumer and we have provided a one-stop-shop solution to all desktop branding needs."

Keep an eye out for us; you’ll be seeing a lot more of Stardock Design in the future! Stardock Design: Where Unique Technology Meets Breakthrough Design.


Argos Suite	Texas Hold Em Suite	Fortune Suite

Comments (Page 1)

vStyler

on Nov 13, 2006

haha..nice work, Ive actually been dealing with the front office of the New Orleans Saints after designing an NFL theme for them for quite some time now.

Good to see commercial theming is taking an upward turn! Great news!

Lantec

on Nov 13, 2006

Oh Nooo! A FSU Seminoles theme. I hope no one in the office finds out. I've bragged on you guys too much....The SHAME.....

ZubaZ

on Nov 13, 2006

and claims some of the world best skinners among its team of artists

I checked my email TWICE and haven't been contacted. Stardock, please check your email system.

blackcat77

on Nov 13, 2006

...it's all about the Benjamins.

Kind of sad, IMHO, as I'm sure more and more creators will be lured to the profit side with less and less quality material available for free. So we buy a subscription in order to buy skins. What a deal.

Flame me if you want, but I've been on this site almost since the beginning and I really hate seeing it become so commercial rather than a community.

ZubaZ

on Nov 13, 2006

I don't think the community has lost anything. We are gaining visability.

Good luck team!

Zoomba

on Nov 13, 2006

There's still a ton of free content out there. In fact "pay" skins are still pretty rare. Stardock Design is working with larger companies such as ATI, NVIDIA, Nintendo, and organizations like the Florida State University to provide themed desktops for their user-base. This is something that doesn't actually take away from the community.

Even the skinners we've hired or contract with to work on projects still put out quality content for free. MikeB has recently put two new skins out (Parsec and Fett) on the GUI Champs. Essorant has his khado icon set up for download. The free goodies are still flowing and a good rate.

SirSmiley

on Nov 13, 2006

While I admire Brad's entrepreneurial spirit. After checking the site, my stomach became a bit queezy. Initially it appeared you are/were targeting the commercial market but, it seems you are also targeting the consumer market as well?

Could this be why some of the questions haven't been answered regarding desktopgadgets.com? I've been working on a Slot Machine gadget for sometime and have been considering desktopgadgets as the potential marketing avenue; so, when I saw the Texas Hold Em Suite for $8.95 you could imagine my concern.

Obviously, who's going to pay $5 or $6 bucks for a gadget when they can get an entire suite for practically the same price? Also, after the significant wait for placement is an updated suite or new suite going to appear containing similar gadgets to those developed by independent developers? Is the inside team going to get newer development versions ahead of the market? Just a lot of questions, concerns, and worries.

The reason I bought DesktopX Developer Edition was for the eventual creation of gadgets that could earn me a little cash.

Zoomba

on Nov 13, 2006

DesktopGadgets.com is something completely separate from the SD Design effort. There are some ideas about it going forward, but at the moment we're focused on projects like WC2k7 with it's master skins storefront (Master level skinners will be able to sell content via WC).

CerebroJD

on Nov 13, 2006

Is the inside team going to get newer development versions ahead of the market?

No. The most that the team would recieve would be the beta versions that are available to anyone with an Object Desktop subscription.

infideldawg

on Nov 13, 2006

Call me "Mr. Glass half-empty", but it just doesn't seem to make much sense for a Texas Hold'em suite (poker theme) to have a BLACKJACK gadget.

Maybe it's just me???

whiterabbit007

on Nov 13, 2006

I think this is a good thing for the community overall. It gives more exposure to WindowBlinds, gadgets and skinning in general and it gives more credibility, in the eyes of some people, by making it more "official", i.e. taking it from the realm of a niche product used by few hardcore fans to a commercial product with, what will hopefully become, wider distribution and consequently wider exposure and adoption by the general public. Well that was droll... Stardock rules! WindowBlinds FTW!... that's better

vStyler

on Nov 13, 2006

Theres nothing "sad" about this.. fact is the skinners that have invested years in learning this trade deserve an opportunity to make a living at it, some of these guys have delivered dozens and dozens of skins for FREE to the community and now its time for them to reap some reward from it all of a sudden its unfair? Artists in every other field use their talents to sell their works, how is this any different?, as was mentioned this is directed more towards corporate entities and organisation members who more than likey dont even know they CAN skin and shouldnt adversly affect WC community at all, there will still be plenty of non master skinners to provide new content and free stuff periodically from the better skinners. If the newer skinners spend the time and effort needed to becaome a master perhaps they can make some money too.

It all seems fair and makes perfect sense to me.

KarmaGirl

on Nov 13, 2006

Kind of sad, IMHO, as I'm sure more and more creators will be lured to the profit side with less and less quality material available for free. So we buy a subscription in order to buy skins. What a deal.

Stardock Design is not WinCustomize. There will always be free content on here. If anything, the ability to make money off from the work now and then *keeps* people in the community. They make their own skins for fun (and learning) and then are able to get paid for commissioned work.

it just doesn't seem to make much sense for a Texas Hold'em suite (poker theme) to have a BLACKJACK gadget.

Well...I poker gadget would be too hard. So, we stuck to a simply card game.

Obviously, who's going to pay $5 or $6 bucks for a gadget when they can get an entire suite for practically the same price?

Stardock Design is primarily Corporate work. However, we also handle the consumer themes that you have seen come out lately (Logika 2007 on). DesktopGadgets.com isn't going anywhere, and WC is going to have a premium section for Masters and above to sell work through. If a gadget fits a premium theme or corporate use, Stardock Design may approach the owners and commission a custom version (such as Fortune ball). I see it as a success for all involved.

In the end, artists need to make money just like anyone else. If they can turn their hobby into a business, what is the harm? We still get free skins from the people involved (just look at GUI Champs). If anything, I think that the quality of the free skins has increased since the premium skins started picking up momentum. Seems like a win-win situation.

RomanDA

on Nov 13, 2006

I checked my email TWICE and haven't been contacted. Stardock, please check your email system.

yeah, right there with ya bud.. but since I'm not an "artist" its not likely ill be invited.

koolet22

on Nov 13, 2006

Alright lots of new suite coming, but is there any way that you could bring back X-men or Spiderman deskstop suite? Even i pay double for it!

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