Object Desktop 2009 Preview
Friday, September 19, 2008 by Frogboy | Discussion: Personal Computing
It's hard to believe 2008 is starting to come to an end. The yearly snapshot of Object Desktop is starting to come together. This year, however, we're doing to do some things differently. First, we're going to release a lot of updates/new features with the snapshot instead of releasing putting things out bit by bit in the months leading up to it. This way, the release is more of an event.
Object Desktop Today
Let's first start off with Object Desktop as it is today:
Object Desktop is a suite of desktop enhancement utilities that allows users to transform their Windows experience. It comes in two forms: Object Desktop and Object Desktop Ultimate. The Ultimate Edition is designed for power users while the standard
edition is designed for everyone else.
The key parts of Object Desktop are:
- WindowBlinds - which can change the Windows GUI.
- IconPackager - which can change the icons of Windows all at once
- DeskScapes - which can provided animated wallpaper
- SoundPackager - which lets users package and share sets of sound schemes
- DesktopX - which lets users create and use widgets and desktops
- MyColors - which lets users apply professionally created themes that completely change the Windows experience. And Object Desktop users get 4 free ones per year.
Object Desktop Ultimate adds:
- TweakVista - a utility for getting the most out of Windows Vista
- WindowFX - a utlity that lets Windows XP users add special effects to their PC
- SkinStudio - an application that lets usres create skins
- IconDeveloper - an icon creation utility
- ObjectBar - let users create and use their own replacement UI elements to Windows
- IconX - Lets users enhance the Windows XP desktop icons
- LogonStudio - lets users create and use their own Windows XP or Windows Vista logons
- Keyboard LaunchPad - lets users assign hot keys to common actions
- RightClick - lets users replace the desktop right-click menu with one of their own creation
So that's where we are today. Anything not listed above is something that is already probably set to legacy already.
Object Desktop Tomorrow
Now, someone who purchases Object Desktop right now gets everything we do for an entire year which includes Object Desktop 2009. Below are the things we're working on for Object Desktop 2009. All of this is subject to change but this gives you an idea of what we're hoping to accomplish/do within the next year when Object Desktop 2009 is released.
Things that are going to go away...
Some programs are going to be phased out (existing users will still be able to download the latest version):
- IconX is going to go away. Sorry. I like this program too but making it work on Vista would be virtually impossible.
Things that are going to go into maintenance mode (no longer updated):
- ObjectBar. This is one of my favorites but we need to rewrite this to keep it up to date and at that point, we would release a new program based on today's requirements.
So there's the bad news.
Things that are going to get attention for Object Desktop 2009
+ DesktopX.
+ RightClick.
+ Keyboard LaunchPad.
+ SoundPackager.
Things that are going to get a lot of attention but may not be available on the release of Object Desktop 2009 but should be released within a year depending on Windows 7's release date.
+ DesktopX 4.0 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)
+ WindowFX 4.0 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)
+ WindowBlinds (Vista/XP/Windows 7)
+ SkinStudio (Vista/XP/Windows 7)
+ DeskScapes 3 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)
Also, anything that doesn't work on Windows Vista 64-bit by the time Object Desktop 2009 ships gets pulled (other than WindowFX). 64-bit is the future.
NEW THINGS we hope to have available either on the release of Object Desktop 2009 or shortly after:
+ Theme Manager 3.0. Major update, everything everyone was hoping for.
+ BootSkin Vista.
+ StyleVista 1.0. (Ultimate Only)
NEW THINGS that are in development
+ Fences (Ultimate only)
NEW FOCUSES IN DEVELOPMENT
We are looking at Windows 7 closely and one of the things we are going to be looking to do going forward is developing more software that improves system performance and usability as well as improving productivity. Keep a close eye out on Impulse. It's not just a download manager, it's a platform. Expect to eventually see a lot of "cloud" features in Object Desktop that help make Windows faster and easier to use.
To learn more about Object Desktop, visit www.objectdesktop.com.
Stay tuned!
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Reply #22 Saturday, September 20, 2008 12:28 PM
+ DesktopX 4.0 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)
WOW!!! 
This is so great that I even don't trust my eyes... When we will see the beta version for testing?
Reply #23 Saturday, September 20, 2008 12:30 PM
Agreed - and the <Windows>-D trick to pop the icons to the top is a rather nice twist too. 
Reply #24 Saturday, September 20, 2008 5:58 PM
Impulse is replacing SDC eventually. Object Desktop is something completely different.
Reply #25 Saturday, September 20, 2008 9:25 PM
Good to hear that DesktopX is getting a look! 
Reply #26 Sunday, September 21, 2008 3:27 AM
Since IconX doesn't work on Vista, I have my desktop icons turned off.
Vista really is shite 
Reply #27 Sunday, September 21, 2008 1:47 PM
ok so i all ready have Object Desktop 08 ultimate......
What will be the diffrence in 09 ultimate it all looks the same stuff there...... 
Reply #28 Sunday, September 21, 2008 5:14 PM
What will be the diffrence in 09 ultimate it all looks the same stuff there....
Reply #29 Sunday, September 21, 2008 7:54 PM
Really bummed to hear about iconx. Man, do i miss that for vista. But really great to hear about rightclick, and windowfx though. Those guys need some love. 
Reply #30 Monday, September 22, 2008 9:21 AM
I know mate..... i'm just messing....
getting a years subscription of OD Ultimate... was a great move.. 
Reply #31 Monday, September 22, 2008 9:42 AM
Reply #32 Monday, September 22, 2008 7:46 PM
Reply #33 Tuesday, September 23, 2008 10:43 AM
Is there somethign wrong with the commenting system too? "Add" comment just turns gray when clicked?
I must say I'm disappointed. All the stuff I couldn't care less like Vista in its name are going to be the core and stuff that sctually is worth using is phased out. Well maybe soundpackage gets to the point when it can be actully used and not having it mess up sounds completely.
Impulse has been a major disappointment, both usability and feature wise. (anyone else have problems with registation count exceeded after only couple of unsuccessfull installs that impulse itself caused? What happened to the 30 or so install before nag - not that my 2 computers would trigger that) Maybe my dislike is also based on the fact that I never use iconview on explorer windows, and that is the only view I get with Impulse. I would continue using SD central but it seems it's getting the updates later than impulse if ever.
Reply #34 Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:11 AM
Reply #35 Tuesday, September 23, 2008 11:21 PM
Not really, but then again I haven't had to reinstall it yet. It'll probably be a year or so when I upgrade to Windows 7 someday.
I am, however, getting lockup issues when it starts. Right now I'm looking at an eternal "logging in" and will probably need to restart it.
Feature wise, I can't complain. The defaults could need some tweaking, though. Too busy, more stuff should be hidden by default.
It's been improving, but still needs tweaking for stability. That should improve with time, though.
ObjectBar is going away? Aww. Any bar programs left?
Totally agreed. In fact, I'm beginning to see news stories here and there saying that more OEMs are installing 64 bit Vista by default instead of the 32 bit one.
How much do we know about Windows 7 so far? Right now, what I've seen is pretty sketchy.
Reply #36 Monday, September 29, 2008 2:01 AM
Seeing as IconX will no longer be made available via Impulse/SDC, I'm wondering if we could have it made available as a downloadable exe file... like for when we have to rewrite XP, etc.?
That would be great for those of us (and I'm sure there's quite a few) who love this app, so please, Stardock, can we have an IconX exe before it goes byebye?
Reply #38 Monday, September 29, 2008 8:43 AM
starkers: I suspect it will still appear as a download in Impulse/SDC for those customers who have older OD accounts. It will just not show for people who purchase OD after it has been officially removed.
Reply #39 Monday, September 29, 2008 12:21 PM
That'll be great if that's the case, cos IconX makes desktop icons on XP so much nicer/better to use, but the way I read it....
... Brad was saying that it would no longer be available... period. I hope not (or if it does we get a downloadable exe file) so we can reinstall IconX after reformats/rewrites.
Reply #40 Thursday, October 9, 2008 6:39 PM
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Reply #21 Saturday, September 20, 2008 10:48 AM