Today we are announcing that we will be retiring the Master Skinner’s program on Wincustomize. As we continue to modernize our platform and services, this change is required to help us move more efficiently forward.
What this change means is that any of the community skins on Wincustomize will continue to be offered for free. Any premium skins offered by our Master Skinners program are being removed from the site starting today.
If you have previously purchased any skins from Wincustomize, you will still be able to download them from your Stardock account. And if there are skins that you would like to purchase, we recommend reaching out directly to the Master Skinners.
Going forward, you will continue to see Stardock support WindowBlinds and the community. A few weeks ago we released a new skin for WindowBlinds 11 called Fluent Luna and expect to release several more in the coming months.
Glad to hear you got your money back Paul, I just finished opening a PayPal dispute too. Hope I get my money back!
I had something go on with PayPal awhile back myself. Wasn't really PayPal but somehow someone in California was able to charge stuff using my PayPal. I had a PayPal card then, PayPal took care of me. No complaints.
I am sorry you had trouble getting that Web site going. I hope you can get your money back!
FYI, We (Master skinners) Were actually contacted privately prior to this Post.
You can certainly continue to skin and can attain Master skinner rank. That has not been eliminated.
Master skinners were offered the choice of leaving their Master skins on WC as unpaid skins, or to remove them without any consequence to their rank, as they saw fit. There are Masters who advertise their skins here, with alternative payment arrangements/private sites, and another chose to stop skinning for the time being.
All that changed was that Stardock found it couldn't continue the Master skin program.
I think it's time for a huge THANK YOU to all the Master Skinners who have contributed so much to WC and the skinning community, not to mention their gorgeous artwork in a challenging medium. AND a huge THANK YOU to all the non-Master skinners who have done such beautiful work as a labor of love or simply a hobby and shared it with us over the past 23 years.
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Absolutely. I (for one) still remember "Granular"...so thanks, Daiwa. 🌟
yes, very poorly thoughtout...
yet we...the members/customers/subscribers....were not....
and yes... a huge Thank You to all the Master Skinners who provided so much fun and magnificent desktops for us all to enjoy over the years... X however many Master Skinners there are...
This was confidential communication between contractual/commercial partners. The General User has no input and should not expect to be included in such discussions....
BTW...anyone beyond the rank of Master [Wizop, Admin] is by definition already a Master so was also notified at the time...
of course we would not expect to be included in those discussions... that would be ridiculous... I obviously did not explain myself extensively enough for the legal-eagle Jafo...
My point was...that while Master Skinners naturally had a heads up as to the demise of Masterskins.... we, the community...did not.
We could have been given a week...2 weeks... a month heads up...for those who drop in sporadically... to purchase what Masterskins we wanted....or, if you didn't want the further accounting... just leave the Masterskins up with a notice on them... one indicating that the Masterskin is now free courtesy of the Master Skinner... or remove the Buy button and inform that the Master Skinner now has to be contacted directly to purchase the skin or showing a link to their new/alternative site. That would have enabled the Windowblinds gallery to continue displaying the cream of the crop skins that showcased Windblinds to the best.
Even just doing that for awhile would allow community to sort through and note down the skins and Master Skinner's names to be able to contact them....
As it is now... we are just..
You've left the gallery devoid of it's best artistry that also served to look back on the evolution of Windowblinds.You could have even displayed them in a separate gallery, although inactive, to serve as a history record of Windowblinds skinning... it's such a shame to have them all gone... poof!..nothing, nada, zip...zilch...
Thank you Kitty & Mike for allowing your Masterskins to remain on WC free...Thank you Neone for supplying in your Shadowglass thread an alternative to purchase your skins so speedily... impressive site!
Tom... I hope you manage to get a site up and going again for yours and v's skins you have so diligently updated.
While it's naturally Stardock's/WC's prerogative to do as they wish, and we understand Master Skin sales are past the height of their glory days, it could have been so much better handled giving it some thought and perhaps consultation, thus giving consideration to the community that supports it.
C'mon, Syd. Many of the non-master skinners have also produced beautiful work in many apps.
Moreover, there are many other masters whose work remains here, not just Mike's and Kitty's.
How about 2of3 and retiredmaster as well as all the others I haven't named and who are equally part of the history of skinning? Their work (2of3' and retiredmaster's as well as all the unmentioned masters) is any superlative you choose to employ and regularly populate the monthly desktop screenshot thread [shameless plug there].
Even the Masters who've removed their art will be displaying it elsewhere, so it hasn't vanished, and it can still be purchased.
I'll just quote whoever it was who noted, "No telling what tomorrow will bring and it ain't over till the fat lady sings.
Yeah, well ALL my stuff is available on WWW.WINCOSMOS.NET
I won't because the phrase is attributed to Dan Cook, a sports broadcaster from San Antonio, Texas, who was reporting on a playoff game between his hometown Spurs and the Washington Bullets in 1978.
WHY?????
Half a gold star, Reap...it does sound like Yogish, I must agree.
It doesn't really matter, because the Masters who wanted their skins to remain as free ones got their request, and the masters who created their own methods/sites to sell their skins removed them from WC to sell there.
Either way, all the skins are still available to you.
Where will all you great skinners keep your master skillz skins so I can continue to support your work??
Not sure of others ccourtade, but I should have my own web site called LightStar Design up and running in August.
'The suspense is terrible. I hope it'll last.' -Willy Wonka
I look forward to being able to still support you all of the master skinners when I can.
My new site is up and running now: LightStar Design – OS Customization Designs
I've noticed a lack of skins for the last month or so but didn't realize what had happened. Checking the forum provided me the answer. I registered on your new site as most of my skins are yours! Will your skins continue to work with Windowblinds?
They sure will continue to work, I am checking them all again, making some adjustments for Windows 10 if needed, and Windows 11, and then uploading them on my site, Premium or free. Glad to hear you're on the site!
Still missed my point. I was looking forward to possibility of earning some $$ for my work. I am not sure that i will post anymore work here.
That's your perogative. From the beginning, everyone was free to try and sell their own art on their own or whichever site, just WC had the rank system in place.
No one ever tried to stop that. Folks just found the community and system in place on WC convenient to them.
When skinning wound down as a function of MS OS changes, and attrition from other reasons, SD finally no longer found it worthwhile to continue the Master skin program. Only dA, Lightstar and adni18 continue commercial sites (I could be wrong), and folks aren't doing enough to help Lightstar keep his site alive.
One more thing remains to be said, though. The skinners/artists always maintained that folks should first skin for themselves...and that will always remain true.
*edit: Lightstar correctly noted I forgot neone6. Sorry, Andy! It was an honest error. Thanks for correcting my oversight, Tom.
Don't forget neone6 (Andy) Doc.
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