No...you won't get flamed...[we try to limit that]...
I know it does look like a double standard...and many disagree with our general approach to this issue.
The idea of 'fair-use' is applied also to, for example, creating a Litestep shortcut to launch Photoshop...by using/altering/adjusting an existing Adobe image to adapt it to something that was not thought of as a needed 'launcher' for Photoshop. Ico files, etc are not often even used in a LS GUI. Skinning a GUI is an extension of the existing OS capabilities...eg MS never had a 'rollup' button in mind when they created the min/max/close ones....so people had to 'extend' the MS style to accommodate the added function.
So....a Photoshop/Adobe - derived image used by a skinner to create a new launcher for that proggy within DX or LS, whatever ....is not a 'problem'....but it may be seen as one if it were advertised/intended as a PSP launcher....because the latter would be seen by Adobe as a mis-use of its image....being associated with a rival product.
The only drama associated with OS Ports is that 2 [or more] individuals may end up using the SAME original source and create virtually identical copies of the same 'ported' OS....then both/all are legitimate...[just some are really redundant]...
Wincustomize.com policy is that OS Ports [emulation of an alternate system to MS but on MS] is OK, as is the extension of use of a product image to new interface/launch opportunities [for that product] is fine....unless or until requested to the contrary by the original copyright holder.
The question/issue of ripping then only comes into play in those instances when it can be shown that the work/adaptation/alteration by one skinner has been used in whole or in part by another.....and without consent....
