I have read posts that mention the position of GPS regarding styling/customization of DO as it relates to Windows themes (and visual styles, not the same thing btw). And I do understand the goal of offering a system wide "theme" to have apps look the same, hopefully act the same, etc..
Here is a bit of feedback which I offer "for your consideration" (to GPS and the powers that be)....
For most users, a consistent theme they select once and all apps conform to is a "feature" and preferrable to spending countless hours/days/etc creating a custom appearance for your workstation.
Those are also the users who are satisfied with Windows (aka File) Explorer.
And usually not people who make their living at the keyboard.
I spent a year testing every file manager out there before I came here. And none of them came even close to the power and functionality of DO. I spent the next year trying to learn just a tiny bit about what is available in DO. That was in the early single-digit versions. CLEARLY this wasn't a tool for casual (or home) users. Although the default/simple setup and configuration - AND appearance - worked just FINE for those users, who wouldn't even need or want to build their own theme.
But people like me who write code 12-18 hours a day and manage multiple large projects with countless thousands of files, folders, network locations - a good chunk of that day is spend in DO making sure our files are organized EXACTLY the way we want, so we can put our fingers on any file, any time, and know where it lives. Other than the IDEs and development tools I use, there is NO other app I spend more time in, than DO.
And like my IDEs, text editor, email and a few other apps - it's imperative that my workstation LOOKS and FEELS EXACTLY the way -I- want it, with colors that don't offend me or give me headaches, and BEHAVIORS that don't piss me off or hurt my productivity.
Look I have NO problem if GPS wants to set defaults for appearance/behaviors, and give all kinds of warnings about altering those defaults. But to put the vast number of options in front of me that DO does, which purport to allow me to achieve that goal, and THEN come out and say you don't want DO to ever side-step the Windows global theme - well - this is just IM[not]HO - that is a huge mistake. And the issue is WHO controls my computer and my software? If I can't make my computer AND all the software look, feel, and behave exactly as I want it - then my job turns from great to suck very fast.
And consider why so many MANY people are coming to HATE Microsoft for Windows 10 - it's because MS now controls their computer. It's why I dumped ALL my Win10 systems and returned to Win7-64. And it's why the DO betas concern me, and reading posts about conforming to the Windows theme instead of allowing the user full control - disturbs me.
Leave conformity to the casual users who are happy with default settings.
But if you start restricting the power users, nobody wins. And really, why even bother putting all those options in the app if the real goal is enforce conformity? Just ship it as a 100% Windows theme based app and be done with it.
I hope someone there reads this and gives is some serious consideration. I've been with DO a lotta years, but my experience in the past couple of years with Windows 10 (and other software) has convinced me that I'd rather go without something than to let others decide how my computer looks, feels and behaves.
Regards,
David Invenio