Object Desktop
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| Developer(s) | Stardock |
|---|---|
| Stable release | Object Desktop 2008
/ 2008-04-10 |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Type | OS Customization |
| License | Shareware |
| Website | http://www.objectdesktop.net/ |
The Object Desktop Network (OD or ODNT) is a software subscription service created by Stardock. Users pay an initial fee for access to the software and one year of access to the Object Desktop Network to download updates to their components. They may also download new components that are released during their subscription period. After their subscription expires, they can no longer download updates until they renew. It differs from some subscriptions in that users do not lose the use of released (non-beta) software that they have downloaded, nor is it necessary to renew immediately after expiry. Renewals also add a year of access from the date of renewal, not the expiry date.
Object Desktop is composed of most of the graphical user interface customization and productivity products offered by Stardock, including WindowBlinds, IconPackager, ObjectBar and DesktopX, with notable exceptions like ObjectDock and CursorXP (sold under the WinCustomize brand) and the ThinkDesk components, which are oriented more towards professional/corporate users. New components may be added, and old ones that are deemed to have become less relevant may be removed, or left without updates.
Pricing
Historically, the initial subscription fee for the Windows version of Object Desktop has been $50, while a year's renewal has been $35. OS/2 versions were sold in the classic "initial version and upgrade" manner, and cost more than the Windows versions due to lower volume. With Object Desktop 2008, there are now two tiers, with the lower tier at $49.95 and the higher tier at $69.95.
Components
Components are typically released in beta form on the Object Desktop Network before being released to other users. Some non-Object Desktop users have said that this creates a double standard and forces people to upgrade to Object Desktop in order to get the latest features, while Stardock says that the policy is due to too many standalone users expecting beta versions to have the same reliability as release versions, and the increased ease of releasing a build on Impulse over a separate installation package.
Impulse
Impulse [1] is the main interface for registering, downloading and updating components, and can be used to download components by both ODNT and standalone customers. It is roughly equivalent to a package manager. It was preceded by Component Manager and Stardock Central.
OD components
These are the components available to Object Desktop subscribers as of 2008.
Deskscapes
DeskScapes [2] is a extension of Windows Vista Ultimate's DreamScene animated wallpapers. It allows users to have animated video wallpapers or dynamic wallpapers. For example, a dynamic wallpaper will change its' sky color along with the time.
DesktopX
DesktopX [3] is a widget engine for Windows 2000 and above. First released in 2000, it is available in four versions, two of which are able to create independent executables.
IconPackager
IconPackager [4] is an icon package manager. Users can create and apply icon packages that will replace the windows icons, file type icons and folder icons. It was the subject of controversy when competitors TGTSoft filed a lawsuit against Stardock over the rights to the IconPackager file format.
SoundPackager
SoundPackager [5] is a sound pack manager for Windows. It allows users to replace the entire set of windows sound effects with sound packs.
WindowBlinds
WindowBlinds [6] is a program allowing the alteration of visual styles for window borders, window controls, the taskbar and (on Windows XP and above) the Start panel and other areas. The first versions of WindowBlinds were released in 1998 for Windows 95, and it has been under continuous development ever since, quickly becoming Object Desktop's most popular component. WindowBlinds technology is also the basis for DirectSkin, Stardock's ActiveX/COM skinning component.
MyColors
MyColors [7] is a theme manager that allows users to apply a theme without having to worry about the underlying software. It supersedes Theme Manager.
OD Ultimate additions
Object Desktop Ultimate is a new package first offered in 2008. Some of the non-core software are moved to this new tier, with all existing subscribers being automatically moved to this tier.
IconDeveloper
IconDeveloper [8] allows the creation of icons from existing pictures, as opposed to software designed to create them one pixel at a time. It also provides for recolouring icons or icon packages.
IconX
IconX [9] provides antialiased resizing, transparency, and mouseover effects/animation for desktop icons. Initially a part of DesktopX, it was split out into a separate product in August 2004.
Keyboard LaunchPad
Keyboard LaunchPad [10] creates keyboard shortcuts that can be used to launch applications, control media players, or insert clipboard snippets. It can be expanded through the use of plugins.
LogonStudio
LogonStudio [11] is a free program that allows users to change their Windows XP or Windows Vista logon screens.
ObjectBar
ObjectBar [12] is a highly customizable shell add-on, oriented around "bars". It has been most popular with users of Windows who wish to have the Macintosh menu bar, for which it provides an effective emulation. It has been superseded by WindowBlinds on more recent versions of Windows.
RightClick
RightClick [13] offers an expanded right-click menu for the desktop, going so far as to offer plugin support for menu items. Many features work in a similar way to ObjectBar, from which it is derived.
SkinStudio
SkinStudio [14] (previously known as BuilderBlinds) is a utility offered by Stardock to create skins for several of its applications. There are 3 tiers of SkinStudio,
- SkinStudio Free, which allows basic editing of WindowBlinds, ObjectBar, WebBlinds, PocketBlinds and Koala Player skins
- SkinStudio Enhanced, which offers extra features such as pre-made widgets, skin colourization and importing parts from other skins
- SkinStudio Professional, which includes the ability to create Windows Media Player skin creation
TweakVista
TweakVista [15] is a utility that enables users to optimize the performance and behavior of Windows Vista. The program has been designed to allow both casual, non-technical users to safely use it as well as contain a host of advanced features for power users to dig into the internals of Windows Vista. This program supersedes TweakShell.
WindowFX
WindowFX [16] is a program that adds shadows to windows, and provides window transitions.
OD tools
These applications are not included in the official list, but are still available through Impulse.
Enhanced Dialog
Enhanced Dialog is designed to enhance common dialog boxes, allowing users to customize the places displayed at the side and to add "quick launch" buttons to the area above the folder view. It reached version 1.0 in July, 2006.
Stardock Virtual Desktops
Stardock Virtual Desktops [17] integrates into the taskbar, adding virtual desktop capabilities. It replaces the component known as BandVWM.
Tab LaunchPad
Tab LaunchPad [18] was a popular replacement for the OS/2 LaunchPad, adding tabs to allow the storage of more shortcuts. In recent years it has been eclipsed by other components, most noticeably ObjectDock, which added a tabs feature to its Plus version.
Theme Manager
Theme Manager [19] (previously known as WinStyles) allows the creation and application of theme suites, which change the skin for various applications, including all Stardock applications that support a skin.
TweakShell
As its name suggests, TweakShell allows the modification of several elements of the shell, although the Windows PowerToys now provide a more complete solution.
Obsolete components
Component Tray
The Component Tray is a satellite applet of Stardock Central that sits in the system tray and checks occasionally for updates to components.
ControlCenter
ControlCenter [20], provides virtual desktops, folder shortcuts and statistical displays. Its importance has diminished since the release of DesktopX, which allows the creation of equivalent objects with more sophisticated graphics and customized functionality.
DriveScan
DriveScan (previously Object DriveScan) is a utility to allow visualization of the file contents of drives in pie chart, bar chart or list format. It also shows a folder-by-folder breakdown of used space.
Object Edit
Object Edit [21] (previously Text View?) is a text editor that supports syntax highlighting.
ObjectMedia
ObjectMedia is Stardock's media player component based on DirectMedia. It can be run standalone, but is most often used with the DXPlayer plugin for DesktopX.
Object Sweeper
Object Sweeper [22] clears out temporary files and web caches, as well as removing empty folders from the Start Menu.
ObjectZip
ObjectZip [23] (previously known as Object Archives) provides basic ZIP, RAR and CAB support, including Windows Explorer shell integration. This is now obsolete since newer versions of Windows already provides folder view for ZIP and CAB archives.
SpringFolders
SpringFolders [24] was created to ease folder reorganization - it opens folders when other folders are dragged onto them, in Explorer windows or on the desktop, and then closes them after the drag operation is complete.
Retired Windows components
These components have either been withdrawn from service or did not make it past the beta stages.
Association Wizard
Association Wizard [25] managed file associations. It was superseded by improved support in Windows 2000 and above, and was withdrawn in 2004.
SmartIP
SmartIP offered users the ability to create dynamic DNS entries of the form username.stardock.net with a system tray applet. It was withdrawn ca. 2002, although the service remained running for existing users until the end of 2003.
TreeView
TreeView adds a "Tree" option to the list of View options in Windows Explorer folders. This functionality is similar to that offered by Mac OS. It is still available in beta, but CEO Brad Wardell has indicated on the treeview newsgroup that he does not consider it a viable component at this time. New subscribers to ObjectDesktop will no longer see it available on their software list.
WebBlinds
WebBlinds [26] was an early demonstration of DirectSkin, Stardock's ActiveX/COM control version of WindowBlinds. It allowed users to skin Internet Explorer with WindowBlinds skins, as well as to change the toolbar icons. The icon functionality was merged with WindowBlinds.
Retired OS/2 Components
These components were not brought forth onto the Windows version of Object Desktop.
Desktop Backup Advisor
The Desktop Backup Advisor was used to provide the option of packaged desktops (useful for corporations wishing to roll out a standard desktop layout to users) as well as to improving performance by repairing OS/2 INI files, which tended to fill with invalid entries over time.
Object Navigator
Object Navigator was an advanced file manager for OS/2. It displayed long filenames on FAT partitions, and the professional version offered a view pane that displayed most types of file.
Object Netscan
Object Netscan displayed a bandwidth usage graph and other statistics relating to network usage. It was made redundant by DesktopX desktop widgets with similar functionality.
Object Inspector
Object Inspector allowed users to inspect and modify OS/2 Workplace Shell objects.
Object Package
Object Package was used to back up the desktop and other shell objects.
Object Schedule
Object Schedule was a folder-based task scheduler.
Object Security
Object Security provided basic desktop-level security.
Object Viewing
Another OS/2 component that allowed the display of numerous file formats in applications, as well as in Object Navigator. This was the equivalent of Quick View for Windows 95.
Criticism
An occasional complaint with the subscription model is that a subscriber's favourite component has not been updated recently (updates are not guaranteed for any particular component during a subscription period), or may be left in beta for a long time. On the other hand, popular components such as WindowBlinds tend to be frequently updated, with beta releases every week or two, release versions with new features every few months, and major version changes every year or so.
History
OS/2 (1993 to 2001)
The initial version of Object Desktop was developed over three years by Brad Wardell and Kurt Westerfeld after Stardock's success with OS/2 Essentials, a pre-registered set of OS/2 shareware.
The initial concept for Object Desktop was entitled The Workplace Toolset/2. Object Desktop 1.0 was a success, and 1995 and 1996 were good years for Stardock, with 1.5 and Professional versions following in short order.
However, by 1997 the OS/2 ISV market was flagging, and many customers were switching to Windows NT 4. 1997 OS/2 revenues were 33% of those in 1996, and they fell to 25% of 1996 levels in 1998. This led to their decision to switch to Windows in mid-1997.
Nevertheless, Stardock remained an OS/2 ISV until February 2001, when they stopped selling Object Desktop for OS/2.
Object Desktop 1.0
The initial release of Object Desktop was both praised for its functionality and criticised for performance and compatibility issues.
Object Desktop 1.5
Object Desktop 1.5 was released on 2 May 1996, fixing many problems, and adding the following components:
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Users of 1.0 could upgrade for $37.
Object Desktop Professional
Object Desktop Professional was (as the name suggests) aimed at professional users of OS/2. It was released on 24 August 1996, priced at $179; users could also upgrade from OD 1.5 for $69.95, or from OD 1.0 for $119.
In addition to the features of OD 1.5, the package included:
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Object Desktop 2.0
Object Desktop 2.0 was an update to all previously-released components, and an integration of the Professional features into the main package. It was priced at $99.95; users of Object Desktop Professional could upgrade for $39, while other versions could be upgraded for $69.95.
An upgrade to 2.02 was released at the start of 2000, but it was made clear that it would be the last release.
Windows (1997 onwards)
Early Experience Program
When it became clear that OS/2 would not remain a viable platform, Stardock decided to move to Windows. This required rewriting old components and writing new ones to replace those which were not appropriate for Windows. This would take time, but Stardock needed money immediately to sustain development.
To cope with this cashflow problem, Object Desktop users who had switched from OS/2 to Windows were asked to purchase Windows subscriptions in advance of the actual software, on the understanding that their subscription period would only begin when the software was reasonably complete (which ended up as December 1999). This program was called the Early Experience Program. Due to significant goodwill built up over the previous years, many signed up, and Stardock survived.
Changes in focus
Initially the new Object Desktop package was closely related to the OS/2 versions, with old favourites like Object Edit, Control Center and Task/Tab Launchpad being ported over. However, as the userbase expanded from its traditional core of technical users into the wider Windows market, newer components shifted to focus on customizing the graphical user interface. The flagship component of Object Desktop became WindowBlinds; other popular additions to ODNT were IconPackager, ObjectBar and DesktopX.
References
- Object Desktop, a history
- Stardock's OS/2 history
- 10 years of Stardock/Stardock's 10-year Anniversary