Brad's Impulse Launch Review
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 by Frogboy | Discussion: Personal Computing
Impulse is the greatest thing since sliced bread...yada yada yada.
But how good is it really? Ultimately, only you will be able to decide. What I'm going to do here is give my personal opinion on how Impulse stands on the eve of its launch.
The Comparisons
Let's just get this out of the way, Impulse is not Steam or Direct2Drive or Xfire or whatever. It's has a very different design philosophy. So let me just say this: You would have to pry Steam out of my cold dead hands. You should judge Impulse as how well it addresses your problems.
First Impressions
So I double click on the Impulse icon. How fast does it load? On my ThinkPad T60 it's about 5 seconds but YMMV. In its phase 2 edition (August) I think we need to make it more multithreaded so that when you launch it, it comes up like a window. I.e. instantly. But it is pretty snappy (a lot faster for me than the betas were).
My next question would be, how much RAM is this thing using?
On load up, about 15 megabytes which is pretty good given that Internet Explorer uses 84 megabytes!
The Store
From a digital e-commerce point of view, the million dollar question is, how good is the selection in the Impulse store? With Steam or Direct2Drive, I can get a gazillion different games. So what about Impulse? The answer depends on what you're looking for.
The first week of the Impulse launch will be spent handling the logistics of getting hundreds of gigabytes of games, utilities, and applications up on the servers. So what is available at say 1pm on the day of the launch will be different from what is available at 5pm of the same day with each day adding more and more stuff.
But by Christmas, I suspect it won't be selection that makes one choose one digital store over another but rather the features and services that these things provide. Impulse, for instance, supports refunds for users having technical issues. That's a pretty big deal IMO. As far as I know, that will be unique to Impulse.
Community Features
So that we're all on the same page, Impulse isn't just a download manager ala Stardock Central. It is a full blown digital distribution platform. The platform comes in the form of Impulse Reactor which is a server-side virtual API set for developers.
A developer could, for instance, using the free Impulse Reactor SDK (which will be launched in mid August) type into their game: CVP.SaveGame() and save their game to the player's virtual drive. Or CVP.LoadPreferences() to get a game's preferences.
The first game to make use of the Common Virtual Platform will be The Political Machine. Unfortunately, The Political Machine v1.1 wasn't ready by the Impulse launch so we had to hide the "Games" button from the community area for multiplayer match making. As soon as it's ready, the button will come back and players will be able to find games either there or within The Political Machine itself. Other games that will be using it include Sins of a Solar Empire, Galactic Civilizations II v2.0, and Demigod. We are also working with a number of third party developers to begin using this.
Blogging
I am very biased in favor of non-website whenever possible. I just find website stuff slow.
The blogging and forum behavior on Impulse is pretty fast but I'd like to see it much faster. As in, instantaneous.
I think in the coming weeks you'll see a lot of improvements to performance across the whole thing as the initial launch was largely about just getting stuff in there.
My Friends
The friends stuff is a pretty big deal for me as both a user and as a gamer. It's only in its beginning stages really. Eventually, you'll be able to easily get games going and filter by friends or friends of friends to help improve the multiplayer experience.
When I play on-line, my biggest gripe is the griefing and such I run into. I'm 36 years old, I just don't have time to waste in a multiplayer game with some 15 year old whose out to "max their ranking".
Features that didn't make to the launch that make me sad
There are 3 big features that had to be put into phase 2 (August) that make me sad. The Impulse side was done but we just didn't have enough time on the game side to make use of them yet.
Those are:
- Multiplayer Matchmaking. People could start and join games right from Impulse.
- Achievements.
- Game Rankings.
They'll get in there, we just have to update The Political Machine and other games to make use of them so that we can show off what's possible to game developers.
The same is true for NAT negotiation and such. One of the biggest pains in the butt on the PC is getting ports and firewalls set up right for a game. In Impulse phase 3, the Impulse back end will be set up to act as a kind of back-up for games that use our platform. So a user could connect to another user without knowing anything about routers and what not. We're hoping Demigod will be the first game to make use of this.
Getting Updates
So right now, there's a tab called "Updates" that shows up if there are updates to ones programs. I'd like to see an option put in asap that simply has Impulse download these updates automatically.
My other request is that when downloading updates, I want to see my actual bandwidth speed. I realize this is cosmetic but somewhere, techies should be able to get some idea of how fast their connections are.
Getting to my stuff
Impulse lets users add new categories to their applications and move things around via the dock (we'll talk about that more soon).
If there's an update, an exclamation point shows up next to it.
What's not in the launch version are forums for every application or a chat channel. Eventually everything will get its own forum and chat channel.
Registering your stuff
Users can associate various programs with their account. Right now, the only commercial programs that you can associate with your account are Stardock ones and programs you bought from Impulse. But the next step is to let you be able to associate any program with your account regardless of where you purchased it.
This way, when are setting up a new machine, you can just let Impulse download and install all your stuff (freeware, shareware, games, whatever).
Preferences
Clicking on the orb in the top left opens up additional options. You can set up where things install on a per category basis:
The Dock
Impulse is designed to customizeable. The initial launch doesn't have the skinning selection features in. That's coming "real soon now(TM)". But you can add and edit your own categories:
Extending Impulse
When you press the minimize to dock, Impulse launches the dock:
Impulse Dock
The dock displays the same content as the Impulse client. By default, it is set to auto-hide so it will hide to the taskbar edge with the user able to bring it up by moving their mouse to the bottom edge of the screen.
The dock is pretty powerful and yet light weight.
We plan to release later on an Impulse Tray applet that users can optionally use to stay in touch with friends, posts, updates, etc. It will not be part of Impulse itself as it will be designed to be as tiny as possible.
So what's next?
I think most people will find Impulse pretty compelling. Initially, its game content is not on par with Steam or Direct2Drive but that should change over time. Obviously on the non-game software side, it enjoys a tremendous advantage.
Impulse itself is pretty snappy but I found the forums and blog services be a bit on the slow side. This will be something Stardock will need to improve.
Download speeds of new programs, by contrast are fast. Faster than anything I've ever used anywhere.
The customization features, while decent, could be a lot better. I.e. I'd like to be able to select from a list of skins. Stardock's the leader in this area so it's something that it will be adding and supporting through its skinning site, WinCustomize.com.
It will be important that Impulse show off the features of Impulse Reactor as quickly as possible. Getting the Multiplayer matchmaking in should be up by the end of the month. Achievements, rankings, etc. are all going to be crucial as well.
I'd like to be able to filter out programs that are available but not installed. I'm an extreme case since I have a ton of things linked to my account but still.
I think people will be pleasantly surprised at how fast and memory efficient the overall program is. Given how pretty it is, on might expect it to be slow and a memory hog but even in its first release, it's really snappy.
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Reply #82 Wednesday, June 18, 2008 9:44 PM
I hear you totally and empathise. Another analogy (Alert: I'm in wax lyrical mode tonight 
). When the whole genre of Web Host/ Personal WebSpace was first being postulated - geez was it THAT long ago - *scrabbles for me Will* - my reaction was:
*hands off my private data, I'll keep it thank you very much - mutter mumble rant and rave 
*
Then embarassingly, the penny dropped as to why the WebHost Provider and all that genre was needed, not just nice to have, NEEDED. Opppsss..... frankly I should have twigged it earlier, I had a few bad hair days! I guess what I am trying to say is "Joe Soap" like us cant have a total vision of whats coming, however much we might like topursuade ourselves that we do have that vision. In the World of the Vendor/Providor, the future Vision looks wholely different as they will have an inside track on future capabilities coming down the track. That enables a different Vision of whats needed, that initially seems wierd to us.
It boils down to trust at the end of the day. My EA checkbook is slammed shut until they get back the trust, that'll take a loooooong time. My Stardocks chequebook is wide open with blank cheques. Well, maybe not blank ones ......
Regards
Zy
Reply #83 Wednesday, June 18, 2008 9:59 PM
Everyone seems to look at the glass half-empty. Try look at it as half-full. I think that the way Impulse is handling patches as DRM is a much better approach then EA with must active every tenth day or so, Steam with is required to be connected to Steam, etc. As many stated before, and I will again, you can only use it to install patches. When you are done, you close it, and start it once there is a new patch. No need to have it running in the time between patches.
I totally respect everyones view on this topic, but please consider to look at the upsides of it, and not some sort of a EA/Microsoft monopoly. Stardock is doing the best they can, and with Impulse as a competitor to Steam, this can only mean better products for the end-users.
Birger
Reply #84 Wednesday, June 18, 2008 10:30 PM
Thanks,I've been called an analogy before,I just don't remember the -ogy part.
Imo,MyColors was part of this forward thinking on Stardocks part,something anyone at any level of expertise can use and enjoy.Before you do,give the dock a try,you may change your mind.
Reply #85 Wednesday, June 18, 2008 10:42 PM
Again, it's not that I think Impulse is bad or useless or anything like that. In fact, I have no idea what it's supposed to do - besides the updates. Until a couple weeks ago, I'd never even heard of a platform
Reply #86 Wednesday, June 18, 2008 11:02 PM
That comment, in context, is about freedom (freedom based on class even [and a bit of research would indicate that Brad's "class" came from hard work]) and is an accurate acknowledgment of options.
That comment appears virtually every time someone criticizes something online. It's not context-dependent.
The substance of criticism is not that someone dislikes Impulse, but what exactly, why and what can be done about it.
I like the ideas of Impulse. But I don't like the idea of making it mandatory for the reasons stated above. If it's that good and useful, shouldn't users adopt it without extra compulsion?
Reply #87 Thursday, June 19, 2008 9:05 AM
Nothing is mandatory. It is a distribution platform. After the product(s) are distributed, you are free to delete the application. Do you complain that you are "forced" to use a web browser (usually Internet Explorer) to download game patches, then "forced" to use a unarchiver such as Winzip or Winrar to extract the files before finally being "forced" to use Windows Installer, WISE, Installshield or similar to install said patch?
Reply #88 Thursday, June 19, 2008 11:35 AM
The point is that there are many other uses for a browser, winzip and windows installer. Impulse is a single use application. In fact it's an indirect single use application. The only point of it's existence from my point of view is to update one single application that I own. Other than that it is overly complex dead weight.
Also simply deleting this distribution platform or even uninstalling it can have unknown consequences. For example uninstalling SDC has the consequence of deleting all your serial numbers from your registry without telling you. The end result of this caused me to be unable to submit a game I had spent 6 weeks on plus the additional time it took me to debug the problem.
I simply don't wish to spend the time installing the platform, figuring how to use the platform, deleting or uninstalling the platform and then figuring out how my system has been damaged by this process. To me the updates are not worth this effort.
Reply #89 Thursday, June 19, 2008 12:33 PM
You've stated numerous times that people are saying your opinion is invalid by trying to offer up their suggestions, alternatives, and opinions. But to every response here you have basically had the same response just put in a different way. Sometimes not even put in a different way just restated again and again.
Isn't that pretty much dismissing all of their attempts at alternatives and opinions as being invalid?
Somewhere along the line you stated how gaming is such an inconsequential part of your life that it doesn't warrant using this platform.
How then does letting people know you won't be using it and going on and on about it once you've stated that warrant so much time?
I'm not trying to be a jerk about it but it comes across to me as you want to have your opinion and choice and you want to make it public but then if anyone disagrees or tries to offer an alternative you don't feel they are entitled.
Reply #90 Thursday, June 19, 2008 2:33 PM
At this point I have to say that I support the idea of Impulse. I think that it is a good idea that will be good for Stardock, and probably for the gaming industry as a whole. But it's not good for ME. There is no feature in there that I would ever use. I'm not the chatty type, I don't blog or read blogs, except for the occasional Stardock news blog.
I don't like that fact that it installs a new item to my desktop. Dock? I don't need no stinkin' dock. What many people think of as enhancement, I think of as clutter. I keep my desktop and my computer in general, lean and clean.
Again, I support Stardock and Impulse. It is the right idea at the right time. But please give us minimalists a simple way to get these small (and after 1.92) mostly insignificant updates to the one single Stardock program that I use.
Reply #91 Thursday, June 19, 2008 2:53 PM
The Impulse dock is optional
Reply #92 Thursday, June 19, 2008 3:04 PM
It's just that their alternatives and suggestings are basically that it's not so bad you could just use it and ignore the stuff you don't want or you can use it and delete it or uninstall it. Basically no one has suggested any alternative that did not involve essentially using Impulse as is. As to why I say that all of these suggestions essentially deny the validity of my personal preference to not install Impulse is because every single one of them says OK then why don't you install Impulse and then do such and such. The point is I don't want to install Impulse. Period.
I defy you to point out a single suggestion in these 91 replies that doesn't involve installing Impulse. If you can't then where are these alternatives of which you speak? I haven't seen a single one that doesn't involve installing Impulse.
The only reason I've gone on is to refute arguments that imply that there is some kind of alternative. I had intended to shut up 25 posts or so ago but felt compelled to respond to Instant's post where he likened Impulse to a browser or Winzip or windows installer. Again the point he is making is how can you object to Impulse if you don't object to your browser or Winzip or windows installer. His point is that I'm being unreasonable by objecting to Impulse if I don't also object to these other things which is again denying the validity of my personal preference.
My response pointed out simply that his argument is incorrect in that I have many other uses and in fact a need separate from Stardock products for everything he mentioned whereas I have no such need for Impulse.
I have not disagreed with anyone that has said they want and need Impulse.
I have not disagreed with anyone that has said most people probably want and need Impulse.
The only people that I've disagreed with are the people that are telling me that I'm somehow wrong and that I should want and need Impulse.
I don't want or need Impulse and if people will stop trying to convince me otherwise then I will have no need to discuss this further.
Reply #93 Thursday, June 19, 2008 3:28 PM
Alternatives have been offered (install, update uninstall Impulse; do without the updates) but none that meet your criteria. People have tried to help. They've tried to convince you that this update method is good and fine. They failed. Oh well.
And for what it's worth, no one is forcing you to discuss this further.
Reply #94 Thursday, June 19, 2008 3:52 PM
What precisely makes this any different from adware?
To me this is the answer to a problem that doesn't exist. All I want is to get an occasional update for Galciv2. That's it. None of these other features interest me. To me this is all overblown hype.
I'm a minimalist with no interest in skins, customizations, docks or any other such stuff. I'm far more interested in trying to remove a whole bunch of what I consider to be crap that is already on my machine as opposed to installing another whole support system for what is to me the ability to update a single game.
I simply don't understand why anyone would want this. With all due respect of course.
These 2 quotes are from your last reply.
So people answered the question you originally asked. Which basically boiled down to "Why should I want this?". And yet you were surprised by their responses and regarded them as trying to tell you what you should do and how you should think.
My thought would be that no matter what anyone else had to say your mind was made up right from the start that you weren't going to use Impulse. Which is less a thought really and more repeating what you've already stated.
So my question to you would simply be: WHY?
Why ask why so many times in your original post if you didn't want people to state what they (in their own opinions) considered to be good answers to your questions?
Why not just simply state in your original post:
I'm a minimalist with no interest in skins, customizations, docks or any other such stuff. I'm far more interested in trying to remove a whole bunch of what I consider to be crap that is already on my machine as opposed to installing another whole support system for what is to me the ability to update a single game.
I simply don't understand why anyone would want this. With all due respect of course.
and leave all the whys out of it?
Maybe then you would have gotten the responses you apparently would be happy with. Either (a) I agree with Mumblefratz or (
I disagree with Mumblefratz. Maybe then not so many people would have responded to the questions you yourself asked and you therefore wouldn't have had to waste all the time you have reiterating your point that you don't want it.
What it basically comes down to is this.
You have 2 options open to you.
1) You download Impulse and use it. You're entire argument is that you don't feel you need all the extras in it. Open it the first time get it set up leave it on the games tab when you close it and anytime from here on that is the tab it will open on and you can update your game and close it out never to see or worry about it again until you feel like checking for updates.
and then there's the choice you'll obviously go with
2) You don't install Impulse and you forgo any future game updates.
Either way it's up to you. It affects only you. And it's obviously what you planned to do before ever asking "why?".
Most likely you'll have something to say to this which is also your right/freedom. But, being that you will not stop posting the same opinion repeatedly until absolutely noone else responds to your comments in this thread, I will no longer be responding to your comments or questioning your reasons, because really ...Why would I care if you use Impulse or not?
Reply #95 Thursday, June 19, 2008 4:22 PM
I was a gamer of old. the software managers/platforms, the new requirements in downloading managers, anti cheat software.punk buster, etc. took away from the games "to me" for a while. I grew to realize the managers etc help the game devs help combat hacker/ glitchers and thieves selling off their account to multiple people to play on. Any more it is a necessary evil of sorts. Impulse allows for update managing as well as I suspect, allows the game servers to validate your games validity, thus keeping the unscrupulous at bay. Dont quote me but I know thats how EA does it. Impulse may not need to run while playing, I dont know for sure* A dev could offer up if im wrong with Impulse*
I understand your thoughts and opinions that to the casual gamer it may seem a bit much to deal with. But the majority of the casual gamers out there realize these extras are typically to prevent all the balloney that comes with online gaming. the days of simple gaming are gone my friend. now theres so much to deal with at times its almost silly. I blame the hackers and harasser's for the issues we face today playing games as well as trying to listen to a song we bought. DRM,anti hacker/cheat progs etc.. SD is just moving along with the times.
I remember a time when I logged in to the net.. and I didnt need a firewall,a antivirus program,a anti spyware program, popu blocker, script blocker,etc running just to go online. As times change we follow or fade away.
SD has taken the software manager concept of the old SDC, took the best parts of it and built a new platform. One that is awesome by comparison. it still does most every thing SDC does and tons more. I trust SD to keep it in top form and running as smoothly as can be. I use it strictly for updating my software and it sits there the rest of the time.. As I get more familiar with the ins and outs of it I probably will grow to like it as I have SDC. I think in time if you eventually try it it may grow on you.
I hope this reaches you in the light im meaning as I understand your feelings, I was once there.
Sincerely HG
Reply #96 Thursday, June 19, 2008 4:40 PM
In order to fix a product we just bought from a company, we had to install that company's newest product.
I'm new to these platform things but if deleting Stardock indeed did do to Mumblefratz what he said it did, then I am hesitant to uninstall either Stardock or Impulse. Now I have two programs where I would have none if TotA did not have one mildly upsetting bug to begin with or if I could have fixed TotA without installing Impulse.
All that being said, I will leave all these platforms on my computer until such time that I no longer wish to play GalCiv --which is not in the forseable future.
There are NO other options for those of us who like TA (and who want the bug addressed) so I and Mumblefratz and others will just have to deal with it.
But don't be surprised if we were unhappy with it and voiced our very mild objections to it. I've tried do so with as much respect as I could; since I certainly do respect the GalCiv group for their efforts in their games and their rapid response to those with issues arising from those games.
Reply #97 Thursday, June 19, 2008 5:49 PM
Your desires are perfectly acceptable. You can decide you hate and dislike Impulse all you want.
However, if I get rid of Windows because I hate it, then I'll have to face the fact that I lose the ability to run most of my applications. The ability to run software with no dependencies at all died in the early days of DOS. Windows is a much larger dependency than Impulse is.
You can have your opinions - that's great. However, realize the world does not revolve around your opinions. Don't expect people or companies to change just because you have an opinion. That's not the way things work. If you want change, you'll need a lot more than an opinion.
Reply #98 Thursday, June 19, 2008 5:53 PM
Having said that, the thought of having ANYTHING else on a computer with 100k worth of software on it would have me flinching in horror every time I started the game, expecting a "someone has set us up the bomb" window to appear at any second
If I didn't have a second computer, I'd be doing without as well.
Cobra - the difference between those is that Impulse is an avoidable dependancy. To an extent, so is Windows, depending on what programs you are using.
Reply #99 Thursday, June 19, 2008 6:09 PM
Reply #100 Thursday, June 19, 2008 7:29 PM
Oh I see now. Thanks for showing me the error of my ways. Impulse is wonderful, wonderful.
I don't know how I can live without it. I know it's free but I would really prefer to pay for it.
My check is in the mail.
The Porsche is paid for.
It's only a cold sore.
I'll pull it out if it hurts.
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Reply #81 Wednesday, June 18, 2008 9:19 PM
In the middle of all this comes Wizard1956, arguably an anology for what is to come, not into PC games, likes what he sees, bingo new convert, new potential customer. Impulse is not about us now, its about who we will be in 2-5 years - and if Wizrad1956's reaction is anything to go by, they could well have got it right.....
Personally, I like it a lot - but thats just me, an opinion, not a declaration of war on who is Right or Wrong. The "sea change" in the digital world is happening right now to meet the needs of tomorrow, not today. Using todays values and needs to judge tomorrows product never works.
Regards
Zy
Certainly a large group of people will love it. I would never deny that there is a market for computer-savy individuals with a love for these things. It just would have been handy to not have HAD to download and install it just for a patch for a game that came out before this. Not a patch that gives extras - but I guess there might be some - but a patch that fixed issues with TA that we bought before Impulse came out. We are left with the simplistic, but undeniably accurate,
"If you want to fix your tech bug on the game you just bought, then you MUST download and install our new product called Impulse."
That was why I was upset. But to be fair, I can simply uninstall it just as soon as I get the courage to do so. Somehow I fear that my serial numbers will be lost or my game account somehow corrupted. And, if there turns out to be any more bugs, then I will have to reinstall it. (
edit - that angry face should have been a sad face. I typed it so I didnt preview it.