I don't hate it at all.. It's just not all its hyped up to be imo and the presentation of it is somewhat deceiving. Not showing the badly designed and missing parts of the theme to me.. is wrong. Then when pointed out publicly, the owner blocks comments and blocks futher access to post in the thread?

Seems to me that is just about bad enough behaviour to warrant me at least speaking my mind where I am not censored.

I suppose yeah it bothers me slightly for someone to claim they are 'the best' when half of the theme isn't even skinned or skinned in a lazy manner.

Folks may call me a lot of things but lazy isn't one of them, neither is sneaky.

When I put a theme up its fully skinned and almost every aspect of the theme is shown in the screenshot so the good folks paying their money know up front what their getting.

No toolbar icons? one of two reasons, Hyperdesk doesnt support it (more work\development time)..as it is possible in VS..al la StyleXP.. or 2. Refer to answer 1. (more work)..60+ more toolbar icons to provide per theme.

Either way, its more work for them, This also applies to the system icons missing in the iconsets.

If Jesh want's to come and critique my work he's more than welcome. Just don't ask to be my Art Director   

I usually stay away from all the bash and fights but I have to reply in this one.

@ vStyler: I think you made your point that you don't like the theme, It's ok, not everyone is not going to like it. The theme was created that way, we made the outer parts, like taskbar, start menu, windows black 3D and the inside, controls and colors, we made it more flat 2D "web 2.0" look. I think the combination works well and it's super usable. I used that theme for about 7 month without changing it. With all the colors included it goes well with almost any wallpaper you use.
If I want I can make a heavy 3D theme but I wont. If you look at all my themes I have made, Msstyles and WBs, they are always clean and easy to us. I like to create themes that looks good and that people can use for long periods of time and that is what I'm doing with Hyperdesk themes.

Btw you would like to have Jeff as Art Director. In these past 2 years that I've been working with The Skins Factory I have learned a lot from Jeff and Billy.

Sorry if I disagree with you there, looking at fully saturated orangey yellow buttonface inside solid black graphics is just a shock to the senses and in no way can be described as super useable. Nothing wrong with minimal graphics but to have a theme hyped up this much to find that the majority of it is single pixel buttons and mouseovers was nothing less than shocking to me.

Honestly KOL, I have respect for your past work, have mentioned you in the past several times as an initial inspiration of mine from WAY back, however, I was surprised when I saw this that you had done it.. must be something to do with the over the shoulder art direction because this is not up to your usual standards.. IMO.


I totally agree, The site is excellent.

Well KOL, its becoming a competitive business, I'm just calling it as I see it from a fellow designers point of view.

While some are of the opinion that hyperdesk themes arent worth the asking price, then so again im sure that some people are not satisfied with themes put out by stardock.
Its just one of those things

To each his own?   

That above WHAT!? was totally sarcastic but only about 2 people might acually have gotten it...  

  how do you get that across   

WHAT!!

might work but doubt it

or

Competition is one thing...but making all this hype and then claiming to "completely" skin Windows and not delivering is another. The graphics look great, icons are superb, but no toolbar icons? Flat, unskinned system buttons? I'd expect more from a pay theme.

Wow, I'm shock at how stardock guys implicitly refuse competition.
I want to say some things,
1. System Icon Missing ? Who cares ? How many ? Most people do usual and common activities. What matters is overall impression with combination from skin, icon, widget, etc.
2. How much do you guys pay for WB, Icon Packager, and the remaining transforamtion application ? And not to mention the additional price for the additonal content. From what I've seen, Stardock application so called technology doesn't apply much in the preinstalled content. It's the additional content that matters and that means additional price. HyperDesk price is good enough with its all around content.
3. It's cool. Every skin application is cool, but at the later times people get bored. However, it will be less boring if there is combination. Combination compensates what others lack.
4. Bugs ? Error ? Old technology ? What is sure is even WB has graphic corruption (I've above decent computer 4 WB requirement). It's unstable in long term use of PC. What people want is how beautiful it's not the technology who gets boring at the later time. After all, every skin for WB has one fact, underneath it's all the same with variation this and that. XP is old too.
5.Keep your manner WB guys, I've taken a serious misinformation and disregard here. Competition is good and please be fair in assessing. Don't hide facts and just give little detail or direct what people think in the wrong direction. Good comparation gives value to customer.
6.Media player ? Winamp ? Itune ?
Most people nowadays use Media player and media player classic not Winamp. Itune in fact doesn't offer much either. I see the reason why WMP is chosen. It's simple and spacious and not too much complicating features. After all people just want to hear song from their library while catch the eye. Not many peole want to install additional softwares (u know the reason from simple to advance). The decision for WMP is appealing. Oh, winamp skin is included.
7. It's elegant, the hyperdesk and simple.

Ah, ok then.

GeekRulez, I've never had a problem with any Stardock products, and I run a lot of them and have been for 4 years now over 2 machine builds, no instabilities here. And I also exclusively use Winamp, always have, always will.

As for #2: Hyperdesk would only really be a competitor to MyColors, which is also a theme manager that applies a Windows skin, icons, wallpaper, and gadgets. They run $20 (or $10 for ODNT subscribers), and come fully skinned and work for XP AND Vista.