Stardock’s Tiles reimagines the Windows task metaphor
Thursday, March 10, 2011 by Frogboy | Discussion: Personal Computing
Over the years, Stardock’s Object Desktop suite of utilities has been the source of many innovations on the PC. It is where the concept of “widgets” and “gadgets” was born. It is where ZIP files being treated like folders came from, it’s where GUI skinning came from, it’s where animated desktop wallpaper came from. And more recently, it’s where the popular icon organization program, Fences came from.
This year, Stardock is proud to add Tiles to the list of new Object Desktop programs. Tiles is to tasks what Fences is to desktop icons. It is designed to allow users to more effectively manage what they are working on.
“The current PC task management metaphor hasn’t really changed in over 18 years,” said Brad Wardell, President & CEO of Stardock. “In recent years, mobile devices have been able to introduce users to more modern metaphors of arranging their digital life. Tiles has been designed to update that metaphor to the PC experience.”
Tiles works by taking advantage of the wider aspect ratios of today’s desktops. On the right side of the screen, a page of tiles is displayed. Users may have multiple pages that they organize as they see fit or make use of several sample page filters such as displaying only active windows or only web pages. Users can then switch between pages either by clicking on the page title or on touch systems by sweeping their finger across the page to “turn the page”.
Users add tiles to a page through either holding the shift key down and dragging a window onto a page or by dragging an icon onto the page. When the tile is active, it is displayed as with a thumbnail of the window. When the tile is inactive, only the program’s icon is displayed. Users can configure Tiles to be different sizes, automatically maximize the windows selected tiles, automatically hide and show windows based on the tiles on a particular page as well as dozens of other options to enable users to customize Tiles to their work style.
Tiles is currently in beta exclusively on Stardock’s Object Desktop software network. Users can get Object Desktop at www.objectdesktop.com. It is expected to be generally released this Summer.
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Video:
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Reply #22 Saturday, November 19, 2011 4:30 PM
What a concept....Stardock giving away free, full versions of all it's software. Man, that would be so cool!!! Only drawback....Stardock makes no money, goes belly up, then we're all screwed as far as customization is concerned. I say this because OS Customization and Stardock go hand in hand.
Now that IS laughable. WinCustomize/Stardock represents the lion's share of Windows Customization community and software.
Reply #23 Saturday, November 19, 2011 4:37 PM
Or, were you surprised that some features were not part of the base product? Do you think that there was a mis-communication on what was being offered?
There is a large population of people that think the free version of products like Fences is good enough and there is a population that wants to upgrade for the extra features. Why not market to both, right?
Reply #24 Saturday, November 19, 2011 5:21 PM
Well, if Microsoft was like Stardock, we will have the OS home edition for free and only pay if we wish the professional version...
I am a open source guy who use Linux... basic linux is free but professional version cost thousand of $$$...
In fact a lot of software use similar method... the free avast antivirus software have not all the option of the professional version... same for Teamviewver, winrar, winzip.... take a look at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/matrix.html ... seem that the free Acrobat reader is very limited when compare to the X version... hmmm, maybe you need to remove the acrobat reader from your computer too... same with the Adobe flash player...
Reply #25 Saturday, November 19, 2011 5:35 PM
Or, were you surprised that some features were not part of the base product? Do you think that there was a mis-communication on what was being offered?
There is a large population of people that think the free version of products like Fences is good enough and there is a population that wants to upgrade for the extra features. Why not market to both, right?
Why don't you read this post here at the Windows Club : http://www.thewindowsclub.com/download-tiles-stardock-free?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheWindowsClub+%28The+Windows+Club%29
Tiles is advertised as being fully skinnable and customizable with no mention of any price at the Windows club whatsoever, no price is mentioned until I arrive at the Stardock site, to me THAT is false advertisment.
To me I would have been happy if for instance the skinning part was enabled or at least a few other skins were included, there are a few other skins in the programs folder in Windows Explorer bu there is no way to enable them through Tiles, I am sure if I hacked the program I could get the other skins to work but as far as changing skins through the right click menu under "configure stardock tiles" there is no option, in the free version at least.
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea and it is very useful. I just hate when companies use the old bait and switch to get people to buy their stuff and heaven forbid Stardock loose any money and offer anything full blown for free what with all the other software they have out and such.
I would at the very least make it so that users can change colors to match their own desktop, meaning those that do not use Window Blinds or Object Desktop.
Reply #26 Saturday, November 19, 2011 5:46 PM
I don't see a bait and switch. I see a free, useful app, that can be made more useful if a person wants.
Reply #28 Saturday, November 19, 2011 6:29 PM
I installed Tiles, but didn't find it that useful and removed it.
I kept reading reviews by users who said it was in fact really handy so I thought I must be missing something. I reinstalled, and now I can't imagine using my computer without it.
The ability to scroll through my (categorized) shortcuts by simply bumping my mouse up against the edge of the screen is very handy and time-saving. It completely decluttered my desktop, and slides out of sight when not in use.
I look forward to future improvements.
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Reply #21 Saturday, November 19, 2011 4:28 PM
And your source for this information is...?