RSSStardock Delivers Object Desktop 2007
By Nate Mook | Published August 1, 2006, 4:28 PM
Stardock on Tuesday released the 2007 version of its popular Object Desktop suite of Windows customization utilities. The package of tools enables customers to completely change the way Windows looks and functions to suit their personal tastes.
Included in Object Desktop 2007 are the latest iterations of WindowBlinds, IconPackager, DesktopX, WindowFX, RightClick, Keyboard LaunchPad and more. Enhanced File Dialog is a newcomer to the suite, providing a much more expansive Open and Save dialog window than that offered in Windows.
Stardock has posted a video highlighting the functionality in Object Desktop 2007.
Although Object Desktop has been primarily designed for the tech savvy computer user, Stardock is targeting the new release for everyone. The company has designed a simple Object Desktop Launchpad that provides a central location to configure and run the included utilities.
In addition, Stardock has updated the Object Desktop applications to more seamlessly work together. "Object Desktop has always been popular with power users and leading edge computer makers and companies," said company CEO Brad Wardell. "With Object Desktop 2007, our goal is to bring in a wider base of users who are interested in customizing Windows but aren't 'techies'."
With Windows Vista on the horizon, Stardock is offering Object Desktop 2007 customers a free year of complimentary upgrades to the product, which works on a subscription basis. The company is promising a number of updates that will take advantage of new capabilities coming in Windows Vista.
"While we can't talk about our specific plans for Vista, know that there is some pretty cool stuff coming down the pipeline," said Wardell.
Object Desktop 2007 is priced at $49.99 USD, and is available for purchase immediately from Stardock's Web site. Customers who purchased Object Desktop in the past can renew their subscription for $34.95 USD.
i don't really like or feel the need to use most of these tools but i bought and am very happy with WindowBlinds... i also like ObjectDock but thats about it!
good stuff though... i tend to stay away from all-in-one mega suites though...
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When they say "Stardock is offering Object Desktop 2007 customers a free year of complimentary upgrades to the product", is that in addition the normal 1-year subscription that you already get when you purchase OD?
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I'll have to give a lot of thought to continuing my use of Object Desktop. There are a lot of free options available and my LAN is going to Gentoo Linux.
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WB5: Just Too Slow. It is too much slower than X compositing or Xgl/compiz on linux (stack 10 IE windows and you will see!), and probably than vista as well. Sometimes I wonder if there is any accel at all. Not to mention the effects it can do are the least impressive. (I'm using nvidia fx5100)
IconPackager: It can only change those already-customizable icons, which are not even meaningful for general applications. What it should do is to stop hacking simply registry entries and do real work - change the embedded icons in system DLLs. I did this manually before on shell32.dll and the result is much better.
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If you're using that kind of graphics adapter I'm not suprised that you're getting slow WB5 performance. The nVidia GeForce 5100FX is not a very powerful graphics card when it comes to demanding graphics tasks. It can't even run Windows Vista's Aero Glass interface.
I've used WB5 on my desktop computer with an nVidia GeForce 6800GT AGP 8x graphics adapter w/256MB GDDR3 memory and had no slowdown whatsoever even at 1600x1200 32-bit color resolution.
Here's my system configuration I used with WB5:
Asus SK8N motherboard
nVidia nForce 3 Pro 150 chipset
AMD Opteron Model 240 processor
1024MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM
nVidia GeForce 6800GT AGP 8x graphics w/256MB GDDR3 memory
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I know that FX5100 is a very low-end gfx card. The point is: xgl/compiz and x compositing are much faster than WB5 on the same hardware.
I tested it and the results are very clear: with x compositing, stacking 10 firefox windows (all translucent), and moving window is smooth and as fast as when there is only one. With WB5 it passed out with only 3 IE windows.
Also, the old xgl demo published is on an old ati card, probably with only 32MB RAM. That means all our gfx cards today should have been much more than enough.
I thoguht nvidia driver on windows is better...
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It's looking really good! I was a user of Object Desktop for some time while using XP but have bit the bullet and am using Vista bugs and all for now.
If I stick with Vista in the future I'll get myself Object Desktop again but Linux is starting to temp me away.
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Object Desktop is well worth the investment. Windowblinds alone is worth the cost alone.
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Is it alone or is the cost alone? ;)
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I have been a Object Desktop subscriber for 5 years. Unfortunately they have tied their product with Windows.
My last subscription will be my last as I'm linux bound.
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if you go with one of the major desktops you will most likely find that most of the stuff from object desktop is allready provided there.
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This december I will have been a member of Object Desktop for 10 years. I love it, great eye candy and so well written that on most modern PCs the processor overhead isn't noticable. In addition there are real productivity gains to be made from some the great utilities in the collection. It iw a wonderful combination of function and form.
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Object Desktop 2007 is junk. A loose collection of glitchy programs when it should be a single smooth do-it-all program by now. Caused me nothing but headaches, Windows Explorer crashes, and lockups (OJ components freezing, that is.) The uninstall procedure is a joke, you have to do each component seperately, requiring many restarts. And it STILL leaves crap behind. Recycle bin icon remained even after uninstall AND system restore. Now I have to fight to get my money back thanks to their asinine return policy (i.e. wait 3 days for response from "tech support", if they can't help, MAYBE then you'll get a refund). I am seriously P.O. 'd. I want my money back but I doubt I'll get it, they just want to keep trying to "make me satisfied" with their junk software. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. There are plenty of free ways to change your desktop looks. Stupid me for paying 50 bucks for this junk...
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