The Omega Premium Suite, done by Treetog for Stardock Design was recently launched and has been getting great reviews from the community.  For those of you who might have missed the launch or just wanted to see a bit more I am going to take you on a walkthrough of the Omega suite.

The Omega suite contains the following items:

• WindowBlinds Visual Style
• Icon Package
• Wallpaper

When you download the suite you will also get a pack of extras in a .zip file.  These include:

• CursorXP Cursor Pack
• LogonStudio Skin
• BootSkin
• Weather, Calendar & Clock Gadgets

One thing that is important to me, and I know is important to users also, is if the skin is usable on a day-to-day basis.  I have been using Omega for a few days now, and apart from being a beautiful skin, it's also very usable.

When purchased you will receive a link to download the suite.  Just unzip the contents and double-click the omega .suite file to apply it. When you use Theme Manger to apply the Omega suite note that you can specify what size wallpaper to use, if any, and you can choose specific components to use if available for that suite.

Once you are happy with the settings then just hit "Yes" and Theme Manager will download and apply the suite.  Now that the technical stuff is out of the way, let's take a look a closer look at the Omega suite with some screenshots and video.

The Omega Premium Suite is available now, and don't forget that subscribers to Object Desktop get a discount!  To use the Omega suite you are required to have  Object Desktop or IconPackager, WindowBlinds, and ThemeManager to be installed.

• Omega Premium Suite

 

Windows Vista has finally arrived! Many people have been asking us what are Stardock's plans? What can we do to take an excellent new OS like Windows Vista and make it better?

There have been a lot of articles on how users of Windows XP can get a lot of the visual benefits of Windows Vista using Stardock Object Desktop. And while that may be true, Windows Vista provides us a whole new canvas of cool things we can do.

For Starters: LogonStudio Vista

If you have Object Desktop already and Windows Vista, you can now change the way your Windows Vista logon looks with LogonStudio Vista.

We've developed a new format (.logonvista). While existing .logonxp files won't work on Windows Vista due to the significant change in the way logons are displayed, I have a feeling there will be no shortage of logons being made for Windows Vista.

LogonStudio Vista will be available for free when it's finished. If you want it now, you'll need to get Object Desktop.

Availability: NOW for Object Desktop users.

Your GUI your way: WindowBlinds 5.5

Windows Vista's new look -- Aero, looks awesome. I like it a lot. But I also like to personalize my UI to look how I want it to look. Luckily you can -- with WindowBlinds 5.5.

With thousands of different visual styles to skin the look and feel of Windows Vista, along with the ability to change color, saturation, and all kinds of other elements, Windows Vista users will be able to make Windows Vista look however they want it to look.

And for power users -- WindowBlinds cuts battery consumption over Windows Vista Aero significantly. On our internal tests, running Vista with a WindowBlinds skin gave back over 40 minutes of battery life on a Dell laptop. You can test for yourself, it's pretty consistent. And if that's not enough, WindowBlinds is faster too thanks to DWM caching.

Availability: NOW for Object Desktop users (in beta). Public release, February 5th.

Animated Wallpaper on-the-fly: DeskScapes

If you have Windows Vista Ultimate, you will be able to get Microsoft's new animated wallpaper extra called Windows DreamScene. It lets you play video as animated wallpaper.  If you like the computer generated animated wallpaper that comes with it, then good, we made it, including the one shown at launch and the default official one (animated Aurora).

Object Desktop users will be able to get exclusive animated wallpapers not available anywhere else. And they'll be getting our new program that lets Windows Vista Ultimate users have dynamic animated wallpaper. Dynamic animated wallpaper is generated on the fly and it's all done on the video card so even on a mid-powerful computing rig, you'll see virtually no CPU use and incredibly cool stuff.

Moreover, it supports a new format we've designed called .dream.  Amongst the various features it supports, one really straight forward one we think artists will enjoy -- credit. Look at the screenshot on the right and you'll see that we've extended the wallpaper dialog to support author info (which can be a link to a website).  Creating a good animated wallpaper is non-trivial and we figured artists would want to make sure their hard work gets credit and send them traffic.

Availability: As soon as Microsoft releases Windows DreamScene for Object Desktop users.

Gadgets: The Next Generation = DesktopX

Windows Vista includes the Sidebar. That's good.  Making sidebar gadgets is not particularly easy. That's bad.  But sidebar gadgets provide a standard format. That's good. But the native functionality of the Sidebar gadget APIs is painfully low. That's bad.

Enter: DesktopX 3.5. Nearly ready for beta, DesktopX allows users to export their creations as Windows Sidebar gadgets!  This is significant because of the massive functionality and API support built natively into DesktopX.  From a technological point of view, it's a superset of every widget/gadget implementation out there. With 8 years of development behind DesktopX and thousands of widgets, objects, and gadgets out there,  it provides a huge boost to Windows Sidebar gadgets and a great way for users to be introduced to the power of DesktopX.

Because DesktopX doesn't just make gadgets, you can build desktops (we even make an enterprise version of DesktopX for corporations wanting to create secure branded desktop environments).

Stardock also has developed a technology that allows users to create gadgets in .NET (including WPF gadgets). We'll be talking more about that soon.

Availability: Late February Beta for Object Desktop users

Changing Icons for Windows Vista: IconPackager 2.5

Changing the icons for Windows Vista is not quite as easy as previous OSes. For one thing, the folders are done differently -- they have "live previews".  But no worry, we've got that nailed down now and you can now even change the live folder preview icons and still get live previews! 

Availability: Early February in beta on Object Desktop.

 

Your own boot screen: BootSkin Vista

Stardock BootSkin allows users of Windows XP to change their boot screens. So what about Windows Vista users?  On Windows Vista, the default is not boot screen at all!  With BootSkin Vista, you'll be able to have your own high-resolution, high color boot screen of your choice.

Like BootSkin for Windows XP, when completed it'll be released as freeware.  But the initial beta will be on Object Desktop only.

Availability: Mid March for beta on Object Desktop.

 

Tweak Vista with...TweakVista!

We've partnered up with TweakVista.com to bring you a new program called TweakVista.  Designed both for power users and their friends and family, TweakVista lets users get into the guts of Windows Vista but also allows casual users to maintain their systems.

Many people reading this are probably the family "computer guy".  If you are, you'll definitely want TweakVista to hand out to people because it helps take care of the most common problems people run into with a Windows PC. But it also lets you dig into the guts of Vista to change undocumented settings and get more data on your system than..well probably more data than you really need to know.

Availability: Mid March beta.

 

A Dock for Vista: ObjectDock

If you have ObjectDock 1.5, you have the version that already runs on Windows Vista. But the good news is that we are busy at work on the next version of ObjectDock which is due out later this year. If you don't have ObjectDock (particularly ObjectDock Plus) grab it! You can get ObjectDock right now at www.objectdock.com.

Availability: Summer

 

Better Cursors for Vista: CursorVista

CursorXP is the defacto alternative to the Windows XP mouse cursors. On Windows Vista, CursorVista is being designed to make it even more powerful. Thanks to the new DWM (the composited, 3D surface that is the Windows Vista desktop), all kinds of fun should be possible.  We are getting fairly close to having a beta of this available.  If you have Windows XP, you can get CursorXP at www.cursorxp.com

Availability: Early Spring

And now a peek at Stardock's lab!

Working on stuff that's about to get released is very exciting. But the stuff that's just getting cooked up in the labs is just as exciting. When Windows Vista's RTM build was sent to us, we were able to start digging in and seeing what's possible. As video driver quality gets better and we get a handle on what parts of Windows are more easily extended than others, cool stuff results.

My #1 reason I like Windows Vista in terms of customization is that it's free from a CPU point of view.  Now that the desktop is a 3D surface, we can do all kinds of cool stuff without affecting system performance.

For instance, Microsoft's Windows DreamScene plays video as your wallpaper. Now, I've seen people say "You could do animated wallpaper on Windows with <insert hack here>." Please. What is possible and what is practical are two different things.  The only CPU used by DreamScene is in the decoding of video which is not a major deal now adays.  Other effects are completely done on the video card.

On Windows XP, we had to develop a DirectX interface ourselves to get universally good performance with this stuff (which people noticed in WindowBlinds 5).  But on Vista, everything's already on the video card, it's great!

Rise of the Super-Gadgets: Code-Name DesktopVista

With Microsoft providing a standard gadget format, Stardock can then concentrate its resources into what it does best -- making really cool technology.  Not a competitor to DesktopX, DesktopVista is designed to enable the creation skinnable gadgets.  That is, a system in which a standard gadget skin format can be created and used to skin gadgets.  Right now, it's just a technology. 

A New Style for Windows Vista: Code-Name StyleVista

Windows Vista is pretty polished. But it could be polished further. Enter StyleVista. This new program will let users alter the little touches that Microsoft has in Windows Vista that don't quite fit into skinning but also are just beyond what is included. Want a different blur effect? Want to change that Start button? StyleVista is for you.  We're still inventorying what we can and can't do with the DWM now that finalized video drivers are coming out so we'll have more news on this soon.

Build your own 3D desktop: Time for 3D modelers to get their day

For years, a significant percentage of artists were locked out of customization. 3D modelers might be able to make pretty rendered icons but beyond that, things were limited.  But now, thanks to a combination of Windows Presentation Foundation  (WPF) and Media Center Markup Language (MCML) we are exploring letting users take their 3D creations from Maya, 3D Studio (and if possible XAML) and turn them into working, fucntional 3D desktops. Not 3D in the sense that you move around the screen but rather where the objects you interact with are 3D.

What we can and can't do will heavily depend on the capabilities of WPF/MCML and the DWM which we're still exploring (as well as video drivers).  We hope to have something to show late summer.

Other Cool Stuff(TM)

People on Linux have been showing off XGL for awhile.  Anyone with Windows XP should try out WindowFX and know we've been doing window scaling, 3D dragging of windows, and all kinds of effects since Windows XP launched and we didn't have the benefit of a 3D accelerated desktop.  Now we do.  That's all I'm going to say on that.

It's going to be an exciting year! Stay tuned!

I use ObjectEdit allot. For making websites to gadget scripting. I have played around with it allot to tweak it to fit my own preference. I've found that using a white on warm black with subtle colours is easier on my eyes. And of course using a shorter tab indent, like 4 spaces. And I have also rewritten quite a few of the syntax files as well to they include more keywords. And I've had to write syntax files for some languages that didn't come by default with OE.

I was wondering what your setup is?

Should we have a OE syntax gallery at WC?

I have uploaded my current set of syntax files for anyone interested.

It's like being a kid in a candy store. 

Two days from morning to late night meeting with people from Microsoft. Big kudos to Microsoft's Nick White for putting together these meetings as it's been incredibly educational.

See the link below for the latest info.

RightClick is a program that sometimes doesn't get enough attention, but I have to tell you it's one of the most useful app's on my desktop.  For those who don't know, RightClick is part of the Object Desktop Ultimate suite, or available as a stand-alone product.  It will basically let you design your own right-click menu and let you add items such as short-cuts, folders, and even DesktopX Widgets.

With that being said lets run through the basics of RightClick and show users how they can setup RightClick and customize the menu for the way you want it to work.

Now here is your "normal" right-click menu.....

"Normal" Right-click menu

You can arrange your desktop icons, and even create a new folder.  It's very limited to what you can do, so lets fire up RightClick from Stardock and see how we can improve our right-click menu.

Lets take a look at the configuration window which you can access by right-clicking the tray icon and selecting "Edit Desktop Menu".  In the "Content" tab you add/remove items from your right-click menu.  You can add a clock, programs menu, taskbar, shortcuts, widgets, and more!  Just select the item you want and click "Add".  From there you can configure the specifics of the item, such as choosing which DesktopX widget to use, or which shortcuts to link to.

RightClick Configuration

In the "Skins" tab you can choose the skin you wish to use, or you can choose to have RightClick inherit the WindowBlinds skin you are using.  You can even adjust the transparency of the menu.  Several skins are already included with RightClick, but there are hundreds available to download at the RightClick gallery on WinCustomize.  Many of these skins are made to match WindowBlind skins, so it's not too hard to make a desktop with matching skins.

RightClick Skins

With the "Hotkey" tab you can select a hotkey that will bring up your desktop menu.

Hotkey setup

There is almost a countless amount of configuration varieties you could come up with for your right-click menu.  One of my favorite features is the ability to insert the Programs menu, taskbar programs, and even the system tray.   Another really cool feature is that you can add RSS feeds to your right-click menu.  In the screenshot below you can see several different configurations of RightClick showing some of it's features.

RightClick examples

For more information visit the RightClick website, and also see the other applications that are available with Object Desktop Ultimate.

• RightClick
• Object Desktop Ultimate

 

According to my handy little Christmas Countdown Gadget by RomanDA, it is right now 12 days and 7 hours until Christmas.  I don't know about everyone else, but I'm still working on finishing up my Christmas shopping and there are a few people I'm smashing my head against the wall trying to conjure up gift ideas for.  If only they were geeks, I'd have such an easier time!

Well, I'm going to assume some of you out there have friends or family that are of the geeky persuasion, so I'm going to be doing five days of Holiday Gift Ideas here on WinCustomize.  I will be updating this article as additional days of goodies are added.

Day 1 - Give the Gift of Skinning

Today, Gift the Gift of Skinning with WindowBlinds or Object Desktop 2007!

Do you know someone who might be interested in customizing their PC but hasn't taken the plunge by picking up our software?  For those of you who would like to give the gift of skinning this holiday season, think about giving WindowBlinds, or even Object Desktop 2007. 

WindowBlinds, stand-alone, is a great way to ease someone into desktop customization without a heavy investment and isn't as overwhelming as the massive number of choices presented to you in Object Desktop.  It's perfect for the novice user you'd like to start nurturing along down the road of OS Customization. 

Now, for the friend or family member who really knows their stuff and is all about tricking out their PC, go for the gold and get them a copy of Object Desktop 2007!  Give them everything they could possibly need to reinvent their User Interface.  Icons, visual styles, gadgets, and tons of productivity-enhancing utilities such as ObjectBar, Enhanced File Dialogs and RightClick.

WindowBlinds is available at CompUSA, Frys Electronics and J&R Electronics, or you can purchase it online via the Stardock Store for $19.95!

Object Desktop 2007 can be purchased online via the Stardock Store for $49.95

The beauty of purchasing Stardock Software online is that you can order it Christmas morning and have it immediately!  Additionally, you can purchase products for others via the store, so they are sent the registration and download information.  It really doesn't get any easier or convenient.  No boxes, no wrapping, no waiting in line at stores!

 

Day 2 - Fishy Business

Today, it's going to be a little more light-hearted and fun.  One of our more popular products is Aquarium Desktop 2007, an application that adds swimming fish, treasure chests and various other animated doodads to your desktop.  It's a great program to put on a kids PC, or maybe a machine belonging to an older relative who might find this sort of thing fun.

The Aquarium Desktop 2007 application sells for less than $10 (9.95)and would make the perfect stocking stuffer for your PC using friends this year.

But don't stop there.  If any of these same friends have Object Desktop, you could go and grab them the matching Aquarium Premium Suite released earlier this week!  If you purchase it after purchasing Aquarium Desktop 2007, it costs just $4.95.  So for less than $15, you've got a great stocking stuffer for the customization junkie in your life.

• Aquarium Desktop 2007 - $9.95 ($8.95 for ODNT Subscribers)
• Aquarium Premium Suite - $8.95 ($7.95 for ODNT Subscribers, $4.95 for Aquarium Desktop 2007 Owners)

Day 3 - Premium Content

Sometimes, the skinner in your life just has all the software they need already.  They've got Object Desktop, they've got ObjectDock, heck they even have Aquarium Desktop 2007.  Oh dear, whatever are you going to do?  Well, in that case you just have to resort to some pretty extreme measures!  Measures so extreme, they can only be properly dealt with by picking up a few of our Premium Suites!

Yes, that's right, they may have all the software but do they have all the content?  With the recent launch of Stardock Design, we've been putting out a lot of great premium content that's sure to scratch the skin-changing OCD of your favorite skinner at home.  Here are just a few of the great premium content packs we've released this year:

• Argos - $8.95
• Liquidox - $9.95
• Logika 2007 - $8.95
• Fortune - $8.95
• Essorant Skinpack 2 - $9.95
• Paul Boyer's Icon Trilogy - $19.95
• More great content can be found here!

Discounts are available for many of our premium suites to current Object Desktop subscribers.

Day 4 - KeepSafe & Multiplicity

Ever been working on a word document for hours on end?  You know, the project plan for the multimillion dollar project you've been tasked to have finished by 8am tomorrow, or that thesis paper you have to hand to your adviser by 5pm.  Those critical files that, if lost, will make you consider finding the nearest bridge to jump off of.  We've all lost documents before to either drive crashes, power outages, or you accidentally deleted an entire section of a document and then accidentally saved it over the only copy you had.  Trying to recover from that can be insanely stressful and wastes a lot of time.

Of course, no one ever backs their files up either like they're supposed to.

KeepSafe is the answer to people caught in those most dire of situations: a file is gone!  KeepSafe stores iterative backups of your documents in a completely different location on your hard drive, and it does it without you having to lift a finger!  It will automatically backup documents as you save them, keeping several iterations back so you can recover from accidentally overwriting the quarterly financials with a recipe your friend emailed you.

KeepSafe is especially great for any students you know, if it can save them from losing just one midterm project, it will have been more than worth the cost of purchase!

Give the gift of file safety this year!

This next gift is for anyone who runs more than one computer at a time.  You know the type, the person with their laptop setup next to their desktop PC, checking email on one, surfing the web on another, going back and forth from keyboard to keyboard.  Or there's the type with more than 2 machines sitting on their desk that they're constantly flipping back and forth between them all.  I'm sure their desks are littered with keyboards and mice.  Imagine how happy they'd be to clear that all of, and just have to deal with one set of input devices.

That's where Multiplicity comes in!  If you've got multiple PCs with multiple monitors, you can control them all from just one keyboard and mouse, moving between them seamlessly.  Just install Multiplicity to all of the machines you want to control, set one as primary and the rest as secondary machines, and presto!  Put all those extra keyboards and mice away.

Multiplicity is perfect for power users and gamers who have to use multiple PCs at the same time.

Multiplicity and KeepSafe can be found in retail at CompUSA, Frys Electronics and J&R Electronics, or can be purchased online through the Stardock Store.

One of the benefits of being a member of WinCustomize is the ability to create your own personal site.  Your site will have its own address such as http://islanddog.wincustomize.com.  I put this url in my signatures on e-mail, online forums, etc.  It directs people to my site where they can view my gallery, articles, and my photo album, which we will talk about more.

Your personal site includes a photo gallery where you can upload photos for you to share.  I used it this weekend and realized some people might not be aware of this feature. 

Here is my photo gallery on my personal site at WinCustomize.  Please note that my site is currently switched to the wc2k7 test site, so yours might look different, but should operate in the same fashion. 

So on my site you can see me standing in line for a Wii early in the morning, or the pictures from when I met RomanDA.  It's an easy way to post your pictures which you can share with anyone you wish.  You can upload your pictures to your WinCustomize site, and send the url to your family, friends, or anybody you want to view your pictures. 

Once your personal site is setup, you need to go to the "Photo Management" page in your photo gallery.  From there click "Add Album", and now you will be able to create your photo albums where you can organize your images.  Enter the title and description of your new album, and click the "Add Album" button.

       

Now you should be ready to add some photos to the album you just created.  Click "add photos", and you will be taken to the photo upload screen.

Just browse to the location of the photos you want to upload, select the photos, and click "send" to transfer them to your WinCustomize photo album. 

       

Now your new photo album with your images will be shown on your WinCustomize site.  I can just send the the url to anyone I want so they can view my pictures.  It's a great way to share your pictures!

This is just one many benefits of subscribing to WinCustomize.  You will get your own personal site, no ads, no download limits, and much more!

 

One of the things I do on a daily basis is check out all the new skins people submit to Wincustomize.  I also check out countless other desktop customization sites and I am going to post some of the skins that have caught my eye in the past week or so.

Be sure to click the artist name and check out other creations they have submitted.

 

LightHelix (CP) for CursorXP
by Artur Berk

I'm still amazed at some of the just plain cool cursors that come from the galleries sometimes.  Now you can browse the CursorXP
library at Wincustomize and find things like Guitars, Lightsabers, and everything in between.  However, something
always catches my eye and this is it.

There are 3 different neon colors in this set, and the animation is smooth and easy to work with.

Download

 

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Fett in DX Themes
by mcackerson

It's Fett.  It's Star Wars themed, do I really need to say anymore?  Well probably not, but this is a great theme that is based on the great Windowblinds skin by MikeB314.

Download

 

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iTunes 7 in ObjectDock Icons
by Havell

I'm not a big fan of the icon that comes with iTunes, so I was glad to see Havell step up and create one.  Havell has a very impressive gallery of icons, so be sure to stop by his site and check out all his work.

Download

MP3 Player Icons
by deleket

While we are on the subject of music I found this great set of some of the popular music players available.  The design is very well done, and he has some other packs in the same style.  Head over and check out his page for the others sets. 

Download

 

 

 

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Coastal Living in Wallpapers
by Kenwas

A beautiful render done in Vue 6 Infinite.  Kenwas has many wallpaper submissions that are just as great as this
one in his gallery at Wincustomize.

Download

 

 

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VXP for Windowblinds
by vStyler

VXP is a great, minimalist skin that is easy on the eyes, and very usable for everyday use.  Great job on this and I'm looking
forward to more submissions from you in the future.  Be sure to stop by the GUI Champs to see his other skin, Vectra RC2.

Download

 

 

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Well that's it for this week.  Please add any skins that you caught your eye this week, and don't forget to let me know what you think of these picks.  I thank all the artists for their hard work, and can't wait to see more contributions from them all.

 

 

 

It's Friday!  Huzzah!  To celebrate the end of the week, here's a bit of a recap for you as to what's been happening in the world of skinning since Sunday.  This is just a quick run-down of stats, stories and major happenings just in case you missed anything. Submissions Ever wonder how many submissions get added to the library every week?  Here are the numbers for a few of our more popular categories: BootSkins: 18 CursorXP: 8 DesktopX Widgets: 3 Logons: 15 Misc. Icons: 21 ObjectBar: 8 ObjectDock Icons: 20 Rainlendar: 3 SysMetrix: 5 WindowBlinds: 2 WinMedia: 2 News The goal is to get at least three news articles up per week on WinCustomize, but some of them stand-out more than others.  Here are a few of the larger stories posted to the front page this week: Pick of the Week - The first in a new weekly series that asks the moderators to pick their favorite new items from the prior week. WWW Turns 15 - Fifteen years ago this week, Tim Berners-Lee announced to the world his hypertext project, the World Wide Web. WinCustomize Content Announcement - The first details on some of the exciting new content that'll be rolling out to WinCustomize in the coming weeks/months. IBM PC Turns 25 - Another historic birthday in the world of IT this week.  The trusty IBM PC, the granddaddy of what most of you are using right this moment, was released to the world a quarter of a century ago. Other misc news includes the Department of Homeland Security telling you to patch Windows.  DeviantArt launches v5 of their site and Apple gets everyone worked up over their WWDC keynote speech. Next Week So that's what happened this week.  Check back in next week for our first Skinner of the Month, a new contest for WinCustomize, and some news on the return of a large multi-site skinning competition!

For over 11 years, Object Desktop has been delivering future technologies to users long before they show up for the mainstream. If you want to know what's going to be in the OS someday, get Object Desktop.

Going back to 1994/1995, the earliest days of Object Desktop for IBM's OS/2 gives hints on things to come to the mainstream years later.

Take a look at these screenshots:

Look at Object Navigator. Designed before there was a Windows Explorer (anyone remember File Manager?) it boasted things that people today take for granted.  Look at the ZIP files -- they're folders and are treated like any other folders and were totally seamless to the user.  Again, remember the time frame 1994/1995.

The icon labels are easy to ignore but this was one of the many innovations that users often miss or taken for granted.  Similarly, Windows Vista will have a "sidebar" with "gadgets" on it.  Apple users argue that the Sidebar is taking from them. One can pull up a screenshot of System 7 (the version of the Mac OS from the same period) and try to find something as similar as Control Center which allowed users to plug in their own functionality. 

Not that Microsoft borrowed from Control Center. Stardock always considered it an obvious feature.

One feature we haven't been able to do on Windows -- yet that we did on OS/2 was Object Package. Object Package allowed a user to package a program or an entire desktop and take it to another machine with all the necessary classes and "registry" settings automatically applied.

It took awhile for Keyboard LaunchPad to make it to Windows but it did. This is another example of how seamless the ZIP handling was and how flexible Control Center could be.

Over the years many features first seen in Object Desktop found their way into the OS.  .ZIP integration, GUI Skinning, even a "Control Center" like bar.  And each new OS provides Stardock with new opportunities and new technologies to help create the next version of Object Desktop such as Object Desktop 2007:

...10 years later...

Now you have total control over the icon size on the desktop, can create your own labels, the right-click desktop menu can now be configured, minimized windows can be turned into interactive-tiles on the desktop, users can create their own gadgets and widgets, virtual desktops are faster, more powerful and able to be seamlessly integrated into the Start bar on Windows. The UI is easier to skin and can look a lot better. And by moving to Windows, with its much larger market, Stardock was able to lower the price from $89.95 to $49.95.

Users can build their own desktops from scratch, disposing entirely of what comes with Windows if they so choose.

Updates don't come yearly. Instead, they come in real-time. Users can continually download new updates to the different programs as Stardock makes them.

And even as the visuals improve, so too does the utility. Object Desktop is more than a pretty face, it provides the tools and enhancements to Windows needed so that users can make Windows work the way they want to.

And even as cutting-edge as this all looks today, someday, some of these features may seem like old hat as new features and programs that haven't even been imagined are developed.

If one looks at programs from 1994/1995 in other software arenas, they can compare how much has changed and how much has stayed the same.  Object Desktop continues to evolve and influence the market in ways far greater than its developer size would normally imply.