| An attempt to stop skin ripping |
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Willz
Senior Member
Posts: 953
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Joined: Jul 2006
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O.P. RE: An attempt to stop skin ripping
Yeah advanced watermarks..... don't think its going to happen  its like technically impossible with what we have.
I think people are expecting that I will be releasing a skin where all to work has been done. Its not really like that, all I am doing is keeping the WLM default look but removing the dependency on MSNRLE and adding in simple things which most people know how to do with ease already.
If people are thinking that its going to be like advanced with things you see in Zero-G or WAM well I'm sorry to burst your bubble but its not going to be like that.
For people to do something unique they will still have to work for it. The default WLM look is all the skin will be with things edited to be in a more meaningful way (e.g one window border that is used in every window rather than two).
Like I've said before, this will be aimed at those who don't know css and xml and don't want to learn. It is mainly those people who rip. If experienced skinners don't want to use it its their choice, nobody is forcing them to use it. |
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| 04-06-2008 09:11 AM |
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Aardvark
Full Member
Waterfall! :O
Posts: 280
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Joined: Jul 2006
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RE: An attempt to stop skin ripping
quote:
Originally posted by ResourcE
I have an IDEA !!! 
If we can only make somehow the
<Name>xxxxx</Name>
<Description>yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy<Description>
<AboutUrl>http://zzzzzzzzzzzz</AboutUrl>
non-changeable,then,the ripping would be stopped about 90% and the name of the author will be still there so the ripper can't release it
The problem is that would (most likely) be in the xml file - but the person who is ripping the resources may just extract them from the skin and insert them into the one they are building, rendering the xml file that's been "copy written" useless.
If watermarks are impossible with what we have, what if the skinning engine was updated to provide these watermarks on the files - then again would it really be worth it? And how visible would these watermarks be. I personally Don't want the words "Willz - designevolved.net" written all over my conversations. It would be some good advertising though!
This post was edited on 04-06-2008 at 09:51 AM by Aardvark.
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| 04-06-2008 09:45 AM |
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stuartbennett
Senior Member
Posts: 952
Reputation: 1
43 / / 
Joined: Nov 2003
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RE: An attempt to stop skin ripping
quote:
Originally posted by ResourcE
I have an IDEA !!!
If we can only make somehow the
<Name>xxxxx</Name>
<Description>yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy<Description>
<AboutUrl>http://zzzzzzzzzzzz</AboutUrl>
non-changeable,then,the ripping would be stopped about 90% and the name of the author will be still there so the ripper can't release it
well if your going to do that why not give us some way to password protect the entire skininfo file, messenger can read it, but to actually read the file in an editor or change the code you would need a password to get into it that way if they wanna change your skin they are restricted to the limitations of the skininfo as they could only then change images and uifiles.
i personally think it would be hard to modify my images as although my original images start out with objects on different layers etc like for example in my summer theme, the background which is the big gradient stuff is a seperate object from the sun and the dolphins etc, now when i use xnview to compress the filesize of my images it forces all elements back into a single layer so cant be edited seperately, this has given me the unintentianal bennifit of making it harder for rippers to change my images, yes if someone took the time to get the gradient to match up with mine then can put custom elements on top of my bases but that involves the rippers actually doing a bit of work so hopefully deters them from ripping my skins, however other images like the few animations i have i can just go in and use a filter to change the colour of the image making for fast developement of new colour packs for my graphics pack option, now those images are obviously easier to be ripped but hey i cant do anything about that.
perhaps another way round the problem is to lock down the actual folders so that while messenger could read any folder in the plus skins directory you could only open folders yourself that you yourself created for your own skin creations, a folder created by a skin downloaded from the database etc would require a password in order to get into it, just a thought. |
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| 04-06-2008 09:54 AM |
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mynetx
Skinning Contest Winner
Microsoft insider
Posts: 1175
Reputation: 33
36 / / 
Joined: Jul 2007
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RE: An attempt to stop skin ripping
What does indeed lead us to what Willz suggested before, that is, have skins compiled into a closed-source, non-disassemblable plsk file (using some sort of Skin compiler), and have Plus! run the skin directly from this file.
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| 04-06-2008 09:56 AM |
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ResourcE
Junior Member
ResourcE
Posts: 22
Reputation: -1
30 / / 
Joined: Mar 2008
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RE: An attempt to stop skin ripping
Or,if we can make somehow when we end the skin,to make the .xml file un-openable,and save a copy of it into our hard drive for the upcoming updates  |
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| 04-06-2008 09:56 AM |
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Aardvark
Full Member
Waterfall! :O
Posts: 280
Reputation: 5
32 / /
Joined: Jul 2006
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RE: An attempt to stop skin ripping
See I don't agree with that because by looking at the skininfo.xml file you can actually learn how to skin yourself, they are a valuable resource to novice and developing skinners.
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| 04-06-2008 10:00 AM |
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ResourcE
Junior Member
ResourcE
Posts: 22
Reputation: -1
30 / /
Joined: Mar 2008
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RE: RE: An attempt to stop skin ripping
quote:
Originally posted by Aardvark
See I don't agree with that because by looking at the skininfo.xml file you can actually learn how to skin yourself, they are a valuable resource to novice and developing skinners.
Well .... you're right 
Everybody can learn pretty much from the skininfo.xml file of other skins ..
But ... Ripping is the problem |
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| 04-06-2008 10:02 AM |
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stuartbennett
Senior Member
Posts: 952
Reputation: 1
43 / /
Joined: Nov 2003
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RE: An attempt to stop skin ripping
well in microsoft office you can set a read only password on your files so people can view them but cannot save the changes they make, so maybe plus can do something along those lines
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| 04-06-2008 10:10 AM |
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Basilis
Veteran Member
Olympiacos CFP
Posts: 1366
Reputation: 46
30 / / 
Joined: Dec 2007
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RE: An attempt to stop skin ripping
They cannot save but they can copy to another file. So simple as that. It is difficult to stop skin ripping. Only if Plus could implement a password in the .xml so that only the creator and everyone else having taken permission from him would be able to open it. That is my suggestion
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| 04-06-2008 10:15 AM |
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Willz
Senior Member
Posts: 953
Reputation: 52
36 / /
Joined: Jul 2006
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O.P. RE: RE: An attempt to stop skin ripping
quote:
Originally posted by Aardvark
quote:
Originally posted by ResourcE
If watermarks are impossible with what we have, what if the skinning engine was updated to provide these watermarks on the files - then again would it really be worth it? And how visible would these watermarks be. I personally Don't want the words "Willz - designevolved.net" written all over my conversations. It would be some good advertising though!
Watermarks just annoy the hell out of me I would never resort to that even if it was implemented. It's just like DLL's, if I wanted to protect my work a bit better I would use dll's but yeah it defeats the purpose of plus skinning imo.
Ripping isn't looking at skininfo code. Look if people are stuck on how to structure an xml (e.g how to declare shaped regions) then its fine to look at another persons xml as long as all you are doing is just seeing how its done and then making your own code to suit whatever you are making.
I consider someone to have ripped when they just modify a couple of images and try to release it as their own work. If you can still see the core of the original skin then it is ripping (in graphics terms).
In coding terms, if you just take another skins UIFiles without asking first then that is ripping (unless of course its like minor things like button removal which in that case who really cares )
I have suggested in adopting the winamp style of skin files where the contents of the skin package are not extracted, but of course to see that happen we will probably have to wait till the next version of Plus.
@Resource, I don't think its technically possible to lock out an xml file so nobody can edit it.
This post was edited on 04-06-2008 at 10:17 AM by Willz.
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| 04-06-2008 10:16 AM |
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