While customisation may be hot, Microsoft's response to the concept has been distinctly cool, as Angus Kidman reports..

Published in The Bulletin, August 21, 2001

If you work in an office, the chances are you've personalised your cubicle with photos, plants or posters. Many PC users like to apply the same logic to their applications, and software developers are increasingly making that possible.

Take WinAmp, a popular free software package for playing MP3 music files. Central to WinAmp's appeal is the ability to develop custom "skins", which change the appearance of the player and which can be freely exchanged online. Choices available range from sport star themes (Tiger Woods) and literature (Lord of the Rings) to politics (Bill Clinton on the Clintanic). The idea also has been taken up by other products, including recent releases of the Netscape browser.

While customisation may be hot, Microsoft's response to the concept has been distinctly cool. Windows XP, the next major release of Microsoft's flagship OS (set for release on October 25), pays lip service to the idea of skinning by introducing two distinct "themes", which change the appearance of elements such as icons and buttons.

However, calls by developers for a "theme development kit", which would allow them to create their own variations on the (ahem) theme, have gone unheeded. "The theme file formats are not public; Microsoft retains the design control for themes, to allow a consistent user interface and ensure design continuity," explains a posting on Microsoft's developer information site.

Indeed, Microsoft is cracking down on the ability of users to change other aspects of the Windows XP interface. While current Windows users can change the colour of windows, on-screen text and other items to any hue they choose, XP offers just three colour schemes: silver, green and blue. According to Kyle Marsh, a developer working with the Windows XP evangelism team, the restrictions are designed to reduce user confusion. "For instance, we use red to indicate something critically important, so we don't want the colour showing up in other places," he says.