Young,Gifted and "545 Studios"

By Migellito

-The Classical civilizations were large, complex and expansive. The vast populace got from them all the things they needed, or nearly so, and they stood confident in the stable history of the society within which they lived.

-Decadence and corruption, in one form or another, caused them to collapse in upon themselves, continuing only in a remnant of their former glory.

-A period of confusion, chaos and uncertainty followed, as people searched for a reliable system that could provide for them.

-A period of remarkable creativity and expression blossomed, with re-inventions of Classical thought and an explosion of new experiments on the systems of society. Grand benefactors encouraged new developments, new ways of life sprang up and flourished, and across all Europe people tried things they would not have attempted before, when their comfort and satisfaction had precluded any desire for change.

Well, the internet tends to speed up processes like this. 545 Studios has been online for quite some time, but new plans for skin and freeware hosting, as well as prolific work in their familiar areas, is a recent development. The founder and driving force behind 545 was kind enough to share some information about the dynamics of his site in this vibrant time, as well as voicing some opinions on the state of this little civilization.

Tek: Do you see 545 Studios as your personal website?

jier: Starting off with a tough question eh? :P Yeah, I think so, I put more time/work into it than any site I've ever had.

Tek: :)

Have you run a lot of sites?

jier: I've helped out on almost every major skin site at some point, as well as having a dozen personal sites over the past few years. I've either ran, or helped run at least 25 sites.

Tek: Impressive. Have all of your personal sites involved GUI work?

jier: Not at all, in fact...545 is my first, and skinnable.net ( in the works ) will be my second.

Tek: What were most of the other sites like? And what turned you toward skinning?

jier: My other sites where related to off line hobbies like cars, girls, graffiti...etc.

I was turned onto skinning when I downloaded eFX, then later MyPad.. and decided I wanted to make my own skinnable programs. Interests, rather than hobbies.

Tek: What did you want your first program to do?

jier: My first program ( MemoPad,) was my attempt at a skinnable notepad, After realizing MyPad wasn't being updated anymore..I decided to make my own program, With some features I really wanted.

Tek: What features are most important to you as a programmer?

jier: I like everything minimal, I try to pack as much as possible into the smallest of spaces, So mainly.. I want it to be small, fast, and usable.

Tek: Sounds like a good set of standards :)

Which of your applications are available right now? Are they all available on 545?

jier: All but my older apps, Custo'O Clock and MemoPad. Custo'O Clock was made for Low Dimension, and MemoPad is long lost..I don't even think I could find a copy of it if I wanted one.

Tek: Could you take us through a quick list of your current programs, with a little about each one?

jier: Mine personally?, or all 545 apps?

Tek: Well, yours personally first, then the rest of 545's if you like.

jier: The apps that I've released recently...

GreyBook (currently the most popular,) is a minimal address book.
Xtract, still in really early stages, Planned to completely tweak the start bar by allowing it to be dissected.

I have at least a dozen apps in development, and em ( the other developer at 545 ) has a few in the works as well.

Tek: Can you share any of the details with us? What type of apps are they?

jier: A few I can share...IRC client, Web Browser, A few games. And, xiOn2 (a shell)
Those are the main ones. :) All fully skinnable of course.

Tek: That's quite a wide range, pretty much all of the standard daily application types.

Will they all be freeware?

jier: All I've listed will be totally free, so far.. we only have a few apps planned for shareware, even though shareware is evil.. We all have to eat. :)

Tek: What is your philosophy on free vs. shareware vs. commercial?

jier: Well, obviously you can't beat freeware, But I think that some things are worth paying for. I don't really think shareware is that bad, as long as it's reasonably priced, and worth every penny. 

Even so.. It's still evil :P

Tek: How about commercial apps? Is Photoshop, for example, worth the price? Do you think people are justified in doing an 'end run' around the 'pay-only' apps?

jier: I personally have paid for every program I use daily. Such as Photoshop.. I think it's completely worth it. I guess it all depends on the user, and how much they put a program to work for them.

jier: basically, Any program that I use daily.. is worth paying for.

Tek: Would you like to be producing those big apps someday? What are your plans for your future?

jier: I'm starting to make my apps bigger and bigger as I go.. So, who knows what will happen.

My plans for the future are to be able to make free programs, and get paid for it. Who knows.. :)

Tek: Some companies now offer a few of their products for free, but mostly in support of their pay applications. Do you have any ideas of how a system like the one you mention might work?

jier: I get paid doing contract work for other companies, but we're planning a subscription service, which will offer some of our current programs with more features and full support, as well as access to download programs before they are released to the general public. 

We're hoping by doing that, we can keep making our free programs for the skin community, and offer more features to those who are willing to pay for it.

Tek: That sounds like an excellent system. How many programmers are involved?

jier: Just me and em. He just joined the team a few weeks ago, and has already released 3 programs for 545: Swoop, Verve, and ActiveDimensions 2.0

Tek: You are the only two coders? What other people are involved in the site?

jier: Me, l0c, and Attila do the site. Me and crumbut do the graphics. Me and em do the programs :)

Tek: I assume l0c is doing database coding. What is Attila's specialty?

jier: I do more DB coding than l0c, He mainly helps with idea's and will be greatly involved with skinnable.net :)

Attila helps admin the site, as well as tech support.

Tek: Have you been associated with them before?

jier: l0c I met when I made MemoPad, Attila I worked with on deviant art, Crumbut has always been a loyal skinner of our apps... :)

Tek: Crumbut has been in the skinning community for a long time now.

jier: Since 98 I think.

Tek: Did you know his work before he started skinning your apps?

jier: Yup, I was a skinner before a skinnable programmer :) He has always been one of my favorite skinners...and he's getting better as he goes

Tek: I agree about Crumbut.. his latest WindowBlinds skin is amazing.

jier: :)

Tek: What was the first program you skinned?

jier: MyPad

Tek: About how many skins have you done? Do you still skin now?

jier: I've made a dozen skins..I skin whenever I get a chance.

Tek: I had seen you before at the Skinz.org message board. Were you a regular at that site?

jier: Long before 545 was around, I was a skinz and custo regular. Well..not much longer, I found skinz when I found eFX, so...ever since I knew what skinning was, I had a skinz account :)

Tek: What are your thoughts on the whole Skinz debacle?

jier: My opinions on Efront are no secret..I cant wait till those bastards get what they deserve... but as far as skinz being dead, its kind of sad to see the site that put me where I am go down. It's not like there's a void anymore, there's almost too many skin sites to help fill it in.

Tek: A lot of people, I think, will be watching what happens to the Efront Svengalis.

You bring up a good point. It's almost like a renaissance, with a downfall bringing about a new explosion of creativity and purpose. Do you think it's too many? Will they begin to collapse as people settle in on new options?

jier: Skinz brought about lots of programmers, websites, and tons of attention to the entire skin community, a lot of the sites popping up now don't seem to have any real creative ideas.. besides the bigger ones, like DeskMod and Deviant Art...I think they are all feeding off each other far too much to make any difference. 

Tek: What do you think the near future holds for them?

jier: For..the smaller sites?

Tek: Yes.. 

jier: I don't really want to make it seem like I'm putting down the smaller sites, but I personally don't think they have a change to survive...A lot of sites are falling on their knee's left and right. I guess we'll all have to see.

Tek: What do you think it takes for a skinning site to survive right now?

jier: Creative ideas and strong community seems to be more important than anything else.

Tek: In your opinion, what qualities would identify a strong community?

jier: DeviantArt would be a perfect example of a strong community I think. Always friendly, and have constructive comments, and feedback.

I know when you upload a skin there, you can count on at least 2 or 3 helpful comments.

Tek: Comments were always a point of contention at Skinz. I remember people actually going on the message board to beg for comments on their work.

jier: haha... it seemed to be almost shocking to see a comment at skinz. But then again.. message boards are a major part of a strong community too, and everyone knows that is something skinz never lacked.

Tek: True.. usually if a skin was good, few people really said anything. Generally it was reserved for either something that needed some tweaking, or something that, well, needed deleted.

jier: I never really uploaded my skins there, but that's where I went if I was looking to download them.

Tek: It's still an extremely busy site, although it's joined the ranks of the living dead.

How important to your site are the casual downloaders?

jier: I think they make up 70% of our visitors. We never have had many visitors who hang around.

We have really strange hit stats. One day we could have 1,000 visitors, and the next day... 60,000.

Tek: There's no discernible pattern you've seen?

jier: Not at all... but I know that when we release something, it jumps dramatically. That tells me people are interested in the programs we make, and that's all that matters :)

People seem to think I pay too much attention to our website as it is, seeing that we are here to make software, but I think our site helps get our name out there more than anything.

Tek: When you first started 545 Studios, what was your vision of it's purpose?

jier: Its purpose...

Tek: The reason you decided start it in the first place. What moved you to make that call to Network Solutions?

jier: I left LDI ( lowdimension.net ) to start up something of my own to have a place to release Tyme. It later turned into something much more serious.

I never made a call to network solutions...they charge too much :P joker.com ($12.00) ...that's our secret :P

Tek: whoa.. I didn't realize rates like that were available. Maybe I'll start up a site!
lol

jier: :)

Tek: Where does the name 545 Studios come from?

jier: 545 is my graffiti crew, its the minimum fine for graffiti in my area :)
Studios is just....for looks

Tek: hehe.. Has your graffiti ever gotten you in trouble?

jier: It has tried, but it has trouble catching me when I'm running from it. hehe

I'm not much into it anymore, I stick (to) the legal stuff.

Tek: lol

For those who haven't visited your site yet, can you take us on a quick tour? What areas do have?

jier: Let me load it up..I'm not sure myself :P

Basically.. lots of information! :)

Tek: All your apps are there. Are there skins for them as well?

jier: Products: just about everything you need to know about our programs, with user comments..public ratings, download counts, file size..etc..
news: software related news and articles, ranging from status updates to news about other sites.
forum, links, store, awards page... the usual stuff I guess :)

We used to have a skin listing that was provided by DeviantArt, but when we moved to Deskmod's server a few days ago..we lost that. So, we're working on skinnable.net to provide it for us.

Tek: Could you tell us more about skinnable.net? Is it the freeware skin archive mentioned in your news?

jier: Yup..freeware only.

It will be like the sourceforge of the skin scene..giving developers webspace for their programs, and skinners too, as well as a full archive and community.

Tek: What an excellent resource. It will be somewhat revolutionary in offering both programs -and- their skins. That's a recent development.

Will it be a perfect match? No skins without the accompanying program available?

jier: It seemed like a good idea to only have freeware, and l0c and matrix helped add to their idea's ..it should turn out well :)

Tek: Do you have any time-frame for a debut date?

jier: We are still in the planning stages, but things are starting to fall into place.. I'd say a month to 2 months we should be up and running. Maybe less, I just want to be safe :)

Tek: Excellent :) Do you plan on offering -every- skinnable freeware program?

jier: No, just 545's! :P Seriously... every single program we find useful.. and free will be there.

I don't think programs like hotbar will make the cut though. Or icq+ :P

Tek: Why not? What will your choices be based on?

jier: Hotbar is pathetic :P

Icq+ and hotbar are photo skins.... they're evil! :P

Tek: Have you seen some of the latest ICQ+ version 3 skins at DeviantArt or WinCustomize?

jier: DeviantArt or..what? :P

I don't really have anything against icq+ ...but I hate Hotbar. I could make a program like hot bar in 30 seconds....it deserves little to no respect in my opinion.

Tek: Who will decide which applications get covered? Will it be a team effort?

jier: Not sure yet...it wont be by personal opinion that's for sure. It may be a vote in type thing, or just whatever goes on. It's better to accept any program than reject every program, obviously :)

Pretty much.. if it's free, its welcome, no matter what. If it's not free, it wont have a chance in hell of getting on. Not even ad-ware, or nag-ware.

Tek: Keeping it specific that way will keep it focused.

What prompted the server change from DeviantArt to Deskmod?

jier: We got the boot.

Tek: Really? How did that happen?

jier: Along with a dozen other sites...we were sent an email by the Dmusic owner 
saying we had to move, with no prior warning...that's about it.

"Dear Webmaster,

If you are receiving this notice, we regret to inform you that
DeviantArt.com / DMusic Network can no longer host your website. Due 
to market conditions and the decline in ad revenues, it is difficult for 
us to offer FREE hosting going forward."

<sarcasm>as you can see.. it was a very personal letter, and let us know in detail what was going on.. </sarcasm>

Tek: What do you think this says about DevArt's future?

jier: I love DevArt, its my favorite site.. but I think Dmusic will have no problems pulling an Efront on that.

Tek: What sort of relationship do Dmusic and DevArt have?

jier: Dmusic owns DevArt.
Jark works at Dmusic.
Jark runs DevArt.
Close relationship..

Jark is cool guy, and has supported 545 from the start, but I have nothing good to say about Dmusic.

Tek: How much vested interest do you think Dmusic has in DevArt? Would any decisions be left to Jark, in your experience?

jier: I'm not sure what is going on ...I couldn't say.

Tek: It will be interesting to watch. Other than the abrupt letter, what have you seen from Dmusic? How had 545's relationship been with them until then?

jier: Jark helped a lot, provided hosting when we needed it.. and was helpful when we had to move. I have a lot of respect for him, but beyond that, Dmusic only stepped in to take the credit for Jark's help.

Tek: I see..

jier: :)

ah..em is online now. He's an Aussie..he's only on when I stay up late.

Tek: ah.. heheh... There seem to be a lot of Australians in the customization field.

jier: What's with that? :)

Tek: Canadians as well... we'll have to explore that sometime :)

You mentioned earlier today that you're 17 years old. Does it surprise you to be involved in so much at your age?

jier: It seems to surprise others more than it does me...I just turned my hobbies into money :) Other 17 year olds do the same thing I do.. don't they? :)

Tek: That's a great way to start a career :)

Do you see this as the beginning of a career for yourself?

jier: I hope so, I've taken the year out of school to do what I'm doing, so if it doesn't pay off...I may be in school longer than I want to be :)

Tek: I'm sure it will turn out to be the right decision in the long run. You'll go back for your Senior year in high school next year? Or are you headed for college next?

jier: Depends how well things are going next year, and how much time I have to work and go to school at the same time I suppose.

I've never thought about going to college..everything I've learned up to this point I've learned on my own..it seems to be the best way for me to figure things out.

Tek: Where in Utah are you? Some people might be surprised to think of a skinner/webmaster/graffiti artist living there ;)

jier: Salt Lake City... I've met a few skinners from here, Funk.. and Pabo.

Tek: Really?! You're one of the few who have actually met other skinners in person. Even Doreen in L.A. doesn't know another one.

jier: ohh..I've never met any in person..skinners are freaks, everyone knows that :) Funk ran a radio show at the campus in the area, and Pabo sent me an email wanting to meet, but I didn't see a point.

Tek: aha..

jier: But I have talked to some skinners on the phone..does that count? :)

Tek: Actually, I think that's more than most. It reminds one of the early Twenties American writers, corresponding about their projects, collaborating, but never meeting.

jier: Yeah..exactly :)

I talked to Gorman, Matteo, l0c, and a few others on the phone..mainly about projects and stuff.

Tek: Matteo has had his site for a long time, but rarely appears in the skinning realm. He's an interesting artist.

jier: Interesting is a good way to put it, I've noticed a lot of great artists have a thing with drinking beer and talking on IRC. Maybe beer is their secret? :)

Tek: hmmm... Is he old enough to drink beer? ;)

jier: I don't think I'm old enough to do an interview..who knows? :) Lowen likes his beer too.. he makes some of the best skins I've ever seen.

Tek: What projects have you worked on with Matt?

jier: I was an admin at DevArt for a while there...and we had some stuff planned with some other unnamed people, but never got it going. A lot of underground plans going on in the scene lately..I'm surprised :)

Tek: You've just mentioned 2 of your favorite artists. Could you share with us some of your other favorite artists and skinners, and a few of your favorite sites?

jier: Sure..

My favorite artists: Lowen, Crumbut, and Treetog

Favorite sites: www.DeviantArt.com , www.deskmod.com , www.joecartoon.com , and www.545studios.com ! :)

Tek: You started to talk about the abundance of underground plans lately.. what are the reasons for this, do you think?

jier: The reasons: to make money. Everyone wants to make money doing things they like to do :)

Tek: Do you think the underground plans will spell big changes for the skinning scene?

jier: No real visible changes..I think they will help more than anything.

Tek: Strengthening the infrastructure..

jier: Money is good for the community, it helps things grow...I think over the next few months skinners and fans of skins may be seeing themselves spending money to help do what we all want to do.

It's all for the community..I see no problems with it personally.

Tek: That sounds good. It's always been true that something done strictly as a hobby can never quite attain the level of the same thing done by a person doing it for a living, or at least not doing it strictly on their own time. Just simply a matter of more time put into already good work..

jier: Exactly.

Tek: To use your earlier example, imagine what Lowen could accomplish if he could put 40 hours every week into skinning..

jier: Lowen gets paid for his skins... he rarely skins for free, or for the fun of it.. that's kind of disappointing.. he doesn't make too many skins.. but when he does.. they're amazing.

Tek: I thought I'd finish up with a look at your coding style. What language do you use?

jier: vb/php

Tek: Do you have a rhythm or frame of mind you need to be in before it starts to work out, or can you sit down anytime and start hammering away?

jier: I usually seem to get the most done in the dead of the night with a 12 pack of mountain dew and a few packs of cigarettes.. I guess I have to be in a calm mood.

Music helps too :)

Tek: What's your music of choice?

jier: Strictly hip hop :)

Tek: Cool :) Some band names?

jier: outkast, twista, do or die, alkaholiks, xzibit, gang starr, too short, epmd, nas, and.....lots more :)

Tek: Well, that'll fuel some Napster searches :)

jier: Ewww.. How about I recommend a better program than napster? :)

Tek: Be my guest..

jier: www.musiccity.com <- download "Morpheus" ...its the best app out there.. I promise.

Tek: hmm.. non-nap servers?

jier: 30,000 + users online almost every hour of the day, audio/video/text/software, pause, resume, etc... It's the best :)

Open nap servers, I think.

Tek: We'll have to give it a try... freeware?

jier: Adware..but its well worth it. It's worth paying monthly for.. I swear to god its the best app out there :)

Tek: Thanks for the music tip! :) And thanks for taking the time to speak with Teknidermy tonight!

NOTE: Crumbut, mentioned here by Jier, is featured in this months "SPOTLIGHT"