Object Desktop Ideal
Monday, August 25, 2008 by Draginol | Discussion: Personal Computing
I have a vision for Object Desktop. I have always had an idealized vision for it. What stops it from becoming a reality is that my vision involves a lot of work that is not economically feasible.
Part of the problem is that what I think is super cool isn't necessarily what other people think are super cool.
Let me outline things in Object Desktop that bug me today:
- I want to see Theme Manager massively updated. I'm not talking about MyColors. I don't want to see MyColors replace Theme Manager. I want people to be able to take a snapshot of their desktop and I want to see MyColors themes that don't use licensed IP include a .suite file option.
- I want a consistent user experience between all the programs.
- I want to see TweakVista get a LOT more features so that I can do a lot more surgery on my computer.
- I want to see more productive features integrated into Object Desktop that extend the OS.
- I'd like to see DriveScan re-introduced,
- I'd like to features that extend the windows shell to be more useful but without having to get rid of explorer,
- I'd like to see Object Package (from the OS/2 version) brought back so that I could press a button, get a big giant .package file and take it to a new machine and press unpackage where it reinstalls all my stuff.
- I'd like to see features that speed up my system. Why isn't anyone doing anything that can speed up perceived performance of Windows anymore? If I have 2 gigs of RAM, why can't Object Desktop have some feature that better manages the swap file or something like make sure all shell related stuff stays in memory or whatever?
- I'd like to see a feature that better handles my Windows start up. It's crap right now. I'm not talking about something that lets me kill off stuff that loads up, I mean something that lets me get to my desktop quicker and has an explicit loader for all the other crap that can load later in a low priority state?
- For that matter, why doesn't Object Desktop have features that make Windows use the priority settings for processes better?
- I want to see DesktopX re-imagined completely so that I can build fantastic shells and user experiences using .NET, WPF, etc.
- I want to see cloud computing features integrated into the Windows shell. If I have multiple computers, on a high speed connection, why should I give a crap where a folder physically resides? Let it invisibly sync everything together. I don't even want to know it's doing it (other than at a technical level). Just make sure I have my stuff wherever.
So why don't we do this? This is where the vision and reality collide. A lot of the coolest features rarely get used and sell terribly. Keyboard LaunchPad, for instance, is insanely useful but it's not very popular. Same with RightClick.
A lot of cool features are hard to market and get people to understand or not be afraid of.
And a lot of cool feature are simply very difficult to develop and there just aren't a lot of developers capable of making this kind of stuff well at any price.
But the above are some of the things I'd love to see make their way into Object Desktop.
Reply #2 Monday, August 25, 2008 6:33 AM
As for #4, Enhanced File Dialog is awesome, definitely a must-have.
Reply #3 Monday, August 25, 2008 9:37 AM
- TM - Agree
- Interfaces - Would be nice - hard to do (I've tried doing mock-ups)
- TweakVista - Would be nice
- Like what?
- Try SequoiaView - Free and beautiful. Not really a customization or a productivity tool. Might fit in TV
- Like what?
- ObjectPackager rocked!
- Another TweakVista enhancement?
- The start-up manager in KeepSafe was pretty good. Again, TweakVista.
- See above
- DX extended - No market. But would be nice
- Windows Home Server is perfect for this.
Reply #4 Monday, August 25, 2008 12:35 PM
#2 Also a great idea,or at least as much as is possible.
#13 A Stardock equivalent to CCleaner to keep my system cleaned up and improve install/uninstall operations.(possibly a function in TweakVista,but usable with XP as well)
#14 A single ,unified location for all SD apps and data.
Reply #5 Monday, August 25, 2008 12:45 PM
Reply #6 Monday, August 25, 2008 2:54 PM
+1 x2
Reply #7 Tuesday, August 26, 2008 11:02 AM
How about a screen capture program? So that we could easily show off what we have. Have it upload to our persoanl pages or save to desktop?
How about a video capture applet?
Reply #8 Tuesday, August 26, 2008 11:24 AM
Amen. I also like the "Expanded TweakVista" idea. Identification of the "processes" would be great as well as their prioritization....sort of like BootCop.
Great thread, Draginol!
Reply #9 Tuesday, August 26, 2008 11:27 AM
Reply #10 Tuesday, August 26, 2008 12:32 PM
A lot of cool features are hard to market and get people to understand or not be afraid of.
And a lot of cool feature are simply very difficult to develop and there just aren't a lot of developers capable of making this kind of stuff well at any price.
But the above are some of the things I'd love to see make their way into Object Desktop
I figured there was a reason you didn't add certain features or programs to Ultimate. Not to mention the current price had many screaming in fear, I'm sure adding such programs like OD and CursorFX would have raised the price making people scream to the point of being able to hear it from Mars. But I would still be willing to pay a bit more to have all the programs install at once, to a single folder and making adding the skins from WC a piece of cake.
Reply #12 Tuesday, August 26, 2008 1:06 PM
Reply #13 Tuesday, August 26, 2008 1:41 PM
Something like Rumshot would be a nice fit though. (and while we are here . . Nubs is a fun little app.)I used Debut today and it worked fairly well but was not easy.
Reply #14 Saturday, August 30, 2008 6:18 PM
Brad, I'm just a user but looking at MyColors gave me a thought. Stardock apps largely fall into 2 camps - How it Looks and How it works. Windowblinds and IconPackager are in the first whilst Right Clik and Keyboard LaunchPad are in the second. DesktopX is a bit of both.
I think most users are content with changing how their desktop looks as its "safe". When asked to change how it works they baulk. I'm sure many people see a great DesktopX Screenshot load it and then leave it alone once they realise they have to configure the menu items. That isn't hard but I must say some people are pretty lazy. The world of Windows is largely of wizards and setup assistants where ease of use has become synonymous with "where's the button I click for that?"
I have always feared that economics would result in Stardock dropping some of its best but least 'popular' programs.
Please just keep a vision and work towards it. With no offence meant and whilst acknowledging the programming achievement that MyColors represents it causes me concern. Does it represent the start of a one size fits all appraoch to customisation?
I used to use best of breed software for my PC security - a Firewall, Antivirus, Antispyware etc. That world is now one of Security Suites where you take it or leave it on an all or none basis.
Customisation goes beyond icons and blinds I like your ideas that look at the system optimisations as being equally as valid, useful and worthwhile.
I certainly think that they are.
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Reply #1 Monday, August 25, 2008 3:24 AM
Back in the late 80's when the 1MB MS-DOS limitation was constraining system performance, different strategies were used to provide relief. The best I found back then was a fast memory card with an excellent cache program.
My system today I think could be faster given I have 2GB's of memory on an XP SP3 based system and most of the time 1.5 GB's are available. While a fast load option enables one program to run faster an intelligent caching program might improve overall system performance even better.
I'm not sure how Windows manages it's built in cache but, it sure doesn't seem to do much to utilize available memory. If I'm opening various programs during the day these programs should remain idle in cache memory waiting for the next time I open it and then, instead of the .5 min or so to read from disk, .5 sec to read from memory.
I don't know if such a thing is feasible but, a good cache program would load once and then prioritize what stays in memory based on cache hits.