The opinionated ramblings and muses of a weary web victim.
A Quarter Of A Century
Published on March 1, 2026 By Jafo In WinCustomize News

March, 2001.  Wincustomize.com went live.

This week marks One Quarter Of A Century that Stardock has hosted the longest-lasting  Community-oriented skinning site and related Forums.

 

I remember getting the message while on Skinz.org to log into Wincustomize and create an account, so I did.

The first 20 User IDs were reserved for Stardock themselves so my User ID of '23' gives a good indicator I was day one.   Somewhere along the line I was 'assimilated' into the machine and am still here.

OS Graphic User Interface Skinning has evolved with the evolution of the Windows OS.  At the beginning it was relatively straight forward and 'simple' and attracted a huge following, however a dozen or so years into the life of skinning things became a little more difficult to achieve and the excitement waned somewhat.

I highly doubt that the concept of 'Customizing' will ever disappear, particularly as the Windows OS takes some odd detours of functionality.  Stardock's current successes with both Fences and Start 10/11 in particular, along with the original stalwarts like Windowblinds, and others demonstrates where there's a need there will always be a Better Solution.   

 

 

 

Wincustomize.com was [and still is] Frogboy's "baby".  Without his vision, seeing the need for a stable/reliable site for GUI Modding we all would not be here at all.

Thank you, Brad [and the crew with the spanners that keep it alive].  


Comments (Page 2)
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on Mar 03, 2026

MikeB314

Happy birthday, WC ! I didn't join until July 2001, and I got user number 18095. This community grew fast! Thank you forever Brad and Stardock! Cheers to all!
You made some of the finest windowlinds ever, Mike! We're a lot that miss your excellent work and creativity. Nice to see you're still lurking though!  

on Mar 03, 2026

JanOscar


Quoting MikeB314,

Happy birthday, WC ! I didn't join until July 2001, and I got user number 18095. This community grew fast! Thank you forever Brad and Stardock! Cheers to all!

You made some of the finest windowlinds ever, Mike! We're a lot that miss your excellent work and creativity. Nice to see you're still lurking though!  

Subsecret is on my desktop atm. Lol.

on Mar 03, 2026

Happy Birthday, WinCustomize! I'm truly grateful to have been part of the team for so long. I miss it!

And hi everyone lol.   

on Mar 03, 2026

Island Dog

Happy Birthday, WinCustomize! I'm truly grateful to have been part of the team for so long. I miss it!

And hi everyone lol.   

Spencer, we miss you...you did so much here, but tbh what you're doing now deserves our "Thank you!", also. Maybe even more. Glad you're happy doing it. As Sgt. Esterhaus used to say, "Let's be careful out there!". 

on Mar 03, 2026

Island Dog

Happy Birthday, WinCustomize! I'm truly grateful to have been part of the team for so long. I miss it!

And hi everyone lol.   

Hi, Spencer, hope all is well with the new career [saw that video that was going viral...assume the Copper has got his commendation] ...

on Mar 04, 2026

Happy Birthday WC. A Member for 16 Years Plus, Thankyou for bringing me into the world of Customising my PC, Something that i am still hugely into. Seeing Windowblinds for the first time, something went "Boom" in my head, Always Loved Darker Themes From Andy And Vamp, Even commissioned some work From Andy, Money Well Spent.

I think Stealth Drone (Xiandi) was bought for me by the wife all those years ago.  

on Mar 04, 2026

The WC Goblins celebrating 25 Years w/ sound and speaking 

on Mar 05, 2026

AzDude



The WC Goblins celebrating 25 Years w/ sound and speaking 

Excellent, Mike!     

on Mar 05, 2026

AzDude

The WC Goblins celebrating 25 Years w/ sound and speaking 
     Very kool, Mike!!!  

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