Object Desktop 2008 Guided Tour

Introduction

Object Desktop is the defacto standard when it comes to changing your Windows experience. If you want to take control over how Windows looks, feels, and functions, Object Desktop is the way to do it.  Since its original release for Windows back in 1999, Object Desktop and its components have garnered millions of users worldwide.  Parts of it have been licensed to virtually every major technology company you can think of at one time or other.

Over the years, Object Desktop got bigger..and bigger...and bigger to the point where it had dozens of programs that came with it. Needless to say, it became a little unwieldy for the average user.  So for 2008, Stardock has split the product into two versions:

• Object Desktop (WindowBlinds, IconPackager, DesktopX, DeskScapes, SoundPackager, MyColors)
• Object Desktop Ultimate (the above plus over a dozen other programs)

In addition, Object Desktop 2008 marks a major change in Stardock's approach to the desktop experience: It will be including content as part of the package.

When someone purchases Object Desktop, they not only get everything that's in it right now, they also get a one-year subscription to ObjectDesktop.net. This digital distribution subscription provides automatic updates plus adds new programs to the suite as they become available.  At the end of the year, users can renew their access to keep getting new updates (and if they don't, they can continue to use what they have forever).

Overview of features in Object Desktop 2008

In the past, a user who purchased Object Desktop would receive in email a serial # and a link to Stardock Central. They then installed Stardock Central and were kind of left on their own to figure out how to get Object Desktop going.  This worked fine when Object Desktop was mostly used by power users.  But by 2008, customizing ones computer had become mainstream and such a clunky first impression was no longer viable.

With Object Desktop 2008, users now install Object Desktop 2008 as a single package which automatically sets up the primary components of the program for the user.

These 6 programs now make up the core of Object Desktop.  Users who opt for Object Desktop Ultimate get those 6 programs plus ObjectBar, RightClick, SkinStudio Pro, TweakVista, IconDeveloper, WindowFX, Keyboard LaunchPad, along with some new programs that are in development that should be out within the next year.

On top of the 6 core programs, however is something new: MyColors themes.  MyColors themes are premium suites designed to use the core parts of Object Desktop seamlessly. In the past, users who purchased Object Desktop were essentially expected to fend for themselves to find cool stuff.  With Object Desktop 2008, users will receive 4 premium MyColors themes through the course of the year plus discounts on all MyColors themes (normally they're $19.95 apiece but for Object Desktop users they'll range between $8.95 to 16.95 depending on licensing requirements).

In terms of value, the individual programs of the core of Object Desktop add up to over $100 not counting the premium themes.  However, Object Desktop remains only $49.95.

WindowBlinds

WindowBlinds is a program for Windows XP or Windows Vista that changes the look and feel of the Windows GUI.  It integrates seamlessly into Windows and allows users to alter the appearance of Windows safely -- it doesn't alter any system files (in memory or on disk).  A user of WindowBlinds can make Windows look like another operating system or something completely original.

WindowBlinds enables users to change the actual Windows graphical user interface to whatever they want. There are literally thousands of different visual styles (skins) to choose from.

IconPackager

IconPackager is the industry standard way of changing all the icons on Windows in a single click. Users choose a set of icons (known as an icon package) and then hit apply and IconPackager will change them all.  For users of Windows Vista, IconPackager is the only program that supports live folder icons on Windows Vista and will automatically enhance XP icons to support Windows Vista.

IconPackager makes it a snap to apply entirely new sets of icons to Windows XP or Windows Vista.

DesktopX

DesktopX is the grand daddy of desktop enhancement programs. It was the first program on any platform to allow users to create mini-applications on their desktops (commonly called today "widgets" or gadgets"). Long before there was a Mac Dashboard or Konfabulator or Windows Gadgets, there was DesktopX.  But DesktopX is so much more than that.  It can build entire desktops from scratch. Its integrated editor makes it a snap to share your creations with others users.

For Object Desktop 2008, DesktopX gets updated to support Windows Vista more fully. Now, DesktopX creates can be exported to be placed on the Windows Sidebar.

DesktopX makes it a snap for users to add cool stuff to their desktop.

The latest version of DesktopX can even export your creations to natively integrate into the Windows sidebar!

DesktopX lets users combine their objects together to build entire desktops of their own design.

DeskScapes

DeskScapes is an animated wall program for Windows Vista. It takes advantage of the new Windows Vista compositor to do animation without impacting performance.  Object Desktop 2008 will come with DeskScapes 2.0 which is designed to run on all versions of Windows Vista.  While currently only available for Windows Vista users, Stardock is investigating some of the recent video driver advances on Windows XP...

DeskScapes runs .DREAM files as animated wallpaper. .DREAM files can contain either video content or dynamic content.

SoundPackager

SoundPackager is a pretty straight forward program. It lets users change their Windows sound scheme. What's amazing is that somewhere along the line, Windows quit allowing users to load up distributed sound schemes. You are now expected to set each sound individually (a far cry from the Windows 95 days).

SoundPackager, by contrast, makes it a snap to make your own sound schemes and distribute them out. It also comes with some really high quality sound schemes.

SoundPackager makes it a snap to create and trade sound schemes. There's already a ton of sound packages available on WinCustomize.com.

MyColors

MyColors combines the 5 preceding elements together into a symphony. A MyColors theme can dramatically alter the look and feel of Windows by changing the Windows GUI, the icons, the background, add widgets, and change the sound scheme.  MyColors themes are created exclusively by Stardock to ensure a bullet proof experience.  We may open it up to others down the line to create MyColors themes but for now, we want to focus on making sure that the user experience is exquisite.

For Object Desktop users, Stardock will be releasing at least 4 MyColors themes per year. The longer one keeps their access to ObjectDesktop.net, the more MyColors themes they'll accumulate.

MyColors brings it all together.

Impulse

While not technically part of Object Desktop 2008, Impulse will debut with it.  Impulse is Stardock's next-generation distribution platform.  Existing users can still use Stardock Central if they want, but Impulse will be available to easily manage not just software but content as well.

Impulse lets users manage, update, and get more software and content for their PC.

Object Desktop Ultimate

Anyone with an active subscription to ObjectDesktop.net on March 31, 2008 will automatically get upgraded to Object Desktop Ultimate free of charge.  Object Desktop Ultimate will be $69.95 for new users.

Object Desktop Ultimate is designed for the ultimate PC power users.  It adds a host of additional programs. While Object Desktop Ultimate is a better deal (you get a lot more for just $20 more), it is intended for users who know are looking to turbo-charge their Windows experience to the ultimate level.

Availability

Stardock is targeting March 31, 2008 as the release date for Object Desktop 2008.  If you have previously purchased Object Desktop but your subscription to ObjectDesktop.net has expired, now would be a good time to renew it so that you automatically get Object Desktop Ultimate.

Recently there has been a lot of talk about how piracy affects PC gaming. And if you listen to game developers, it apparently is a foregone conclusion - if a high quality PC game doesn't sell as many copies as it should, it must be because of piracy.

Now, I don't like piracy at all. It really bugs me when I see my game up on some torrent site just on the principle of the matter. And piracy certainly does cost sales.  But arguing that piracy is the primary factor in lower sales of well made games? I don't think so. People who never buy software aren't lost sales.

Is it about business or glory?

Most people who know of Stardock in the gaming world think of it as a tiny indie shop. And we certainly are tiny in terms of game development. But in the desktop enhancement market, Stardock owns that market and it's a market with many millions of users. According to CNET, 6 of the top 10 most popular desktop enhancements are developed by Stardock.  Our most popular desktop enhancement, WindowBlinds, has almost 14 million downloads just on Download.com. We have over a million registered users.

If you want to talk about piracy, talk about desktop enhancements. The piracy on that is huge.  But the question isn't about piracy. It's about sales. 

So here is the deal: When you develop for a market, you don't go by the user base. You go by the potential customer base.  That's what most software companies do. They base what they want to create on the size of the market they're developing for. But not PC game developers.

PC game developers seem to focus more on the "cool" factor. What game can they make that will get them glory with the game magazines and gaming websites and hard core gamers? These days, it seems like game developers want to be like rock stars more than businessmen.  I've never considered myself a real game developer. I'm a gamer who happens to know how to code and also happens to be reasonably good at business.

So when I make a game, I focus on making games that I think will be the most profitable. As a gamer, I like most games.  I love Bioshock. I think the Orange Box is one of the best gaming deals ever. I love Company of Heroes and Oblivion was captivating.  My two favorite games of all time are Civilization (I, II, III, and IV) and Total Annihilation. And I won't even get into the hours lost in WoW.  Heck, I even like The Sims. 

So when it comes time to make a game, I don't have a hard time thinking of a game I'd like to play. The hard part is coming up with a game that we can actually make that will be profitable.  And that means looking at the market as a business not about trying to be "cool".

Making games for customers versus making games for users

So even though Galactic Civilizations II sold 300,000 copies making 8 digits in revenue on a budget of less than $1 million, it's still largely off the radar. I practically have to agree to mow editors lawns to get coverage. And you should see Jeff Green's (Games for Windows) yard. I still can't find my hedge trimmers.

Another game that has been off the radar until recently was Sins of a Solar Empire. With a small budget, it has already sold about 200,000 copies in the first month of release. It's the highest rated PC game of 2008 and probably the best selling 2008 PC title.  Neither of these titles have CD copy protection.

And yet we don't get nearly the attention of other PC games. Lack of marketing on our part? We bang on the doors for coverage as next as the next shop. Lack of advertising? Open up your favorite PC game publication for the past few months and take note of all the 2 page spreads for Sins of a Solar Empire. So we certainly try. 

But we still don't get the editorial buzz that some of the big name titles do because our genre isn't considered as "cool" as other genres.  Imagine what our sales would be if our games had gotten game magazine covers and just massive editorial coverage like some of the big name games get.  I don't want to suggest we get treated poorly by game magazine and web sites (not just because I fear them -- which I do), we got good preview coverage on Sins, just not the same level as one of the "mega" titles would get. Hard core gamers have different tastes in games than the mainstream PC gaming market of game buyers. Remember Roller Coaster Tycoon? Heck, how much buzz does The Sims get in terms of editorial when compared to its popularity. Those things just aren't that cool to the hard core gaming crowd that everything seems geared toward despite the fact that they're not the ones buying most of the games.

I won't even mention some of the big name PC titles that GalCiv and Sins have outsold.  There's plenty of PC games that have gotten dedicated covers that haven't sold as well.  So why is that?

Our games sell well for three reasons.  First, they're good games which is a pre-requisite. But there's lots of great games that don't sell well.

The other two reasons are:

• Our games work on a very wide variety of hardware configurations.
• Our games target genres with the largest customer bases per cost to produce for.

We also don't make games targeting the Chinese market

When you make a game for a target market, you have to look at how many people will actually buy your game combined with how much it will cost to make a game for that target market. What good is a large number of users if they're not going to buy your game? And what good is a market where the minimal commitment to make a game for it is $10 million if the target audience isn't likely to pay for the game?

If the target demographic for your game is full of pirates who won't buy your game, then why support them? That's one of the things I have a hard time understanding.  It's irrelevant how many people will play your game (if you're in the business of selling games that is). It's only relevant how many people are likely to buy your game.

Stardock doesn't make games targeting the Chinese market. If we spent $10 million on a PC game explicitly for the Chinese market and we lost our shirts, would you really feel that much sympathy for us? Or would you think "Duh."

You need a machine how fast?

Anyone who keeps track of how many PCs the "Gamer PC" vendors sell each year could tell you that it's insane to develop a game explicitly for hard core gamers.  Insane.  I think people would be shocked to find out how few hard core gamers there really are out there. This data is available. The number of high end graphics cards sold each year isn't a trade secret (in some cases you may have to get an NDA but if you're a partner you can find out). So why are companies making games that require them to sell to 15% of a given market to be profitable? In what other market do companies do that? In other software markets, getting 1% of the target market is considered good.  If you need to sell 500,000 of your game to break even and your game requires Pixel Shader 3 to not look like crap or play like crap, do you you really think that there are 50 MILLION PC users with Pixel Shader 3 capable machines who a) play games and will actually buy your game if a pirated version is available?

In our case, we make games that target the widest possible audience as long as as we can still deliver the gaming experience we set out to.  Anyone who's looked at the graphics in Sins of a Solar Empire would, I think, agree that the graphics are pretty phenomenal (particularly space battles).  But could they be even fancier? Sure. But only if we degraded the gaming experience for the largest chunk of people who buy games.

The problem with blaming piracy

I don't want anyone to walk away from this article thinking I am poo-pooing the effect of piracy.  I'm not.  I definitely feel for game developers who want to make kick ass PC games who see their efforts diminished by a bunch of greedy pirates.  I just don't count pirates in the first place.  If you're a pirate, you don't get a vote on what gets made -- or you shouldn't if the company in question is trying to make a profit. 

The reason why we don't put CD copy protection on our games isn't because we're nice guys. We do it because the people who actually buy games don't like to mess with it. Our customers make the rules, not the pirates. Pirates don't count. We know our customers could pirate our games if they want but choose to support our efforts. So we return the favor - we make the games they want and deliver them how they want it. This is also known as operating like every other industry outside the PC game industry.

One of the jokes I've seen in the desktop enhancement market is how "ugly" WindowBlinds skins are (though there are plenty of awesome ones too). But the thing is, the people who buy WindowBlinds tend to like a different style of skin than the people who would never buy it in the first place.  Natural selection, so to speak, over many years has created a number of styles that seem to be unique to people who actually buy WindowBlinds.  That's the problem with piracy.  What gets made targets people who buy it, not the people who would never buy it in the first place. When someone complains about "fat borders" on some popular WindowBlinds skin my question is always "Would you buy WindowBlinds even if there was a perfect skin for you?" and the answer is inevitably "Probably not". That's how it works in every market -- the people who buy stuff call the shots.  Only in the PC game market are the people who pirate stuff still getting the overwhelming percentage of development resources and editorial support.

When you blame piracy for disappointing sales, you tend to tar the entire market with a broad brush.  Piracy isn't evenly distributed in the PC gaming market. And there are far more effective ways of getting people who might buy your product to buy it without inconveniencing them.

Blaming piracy is easy. But it hides other underlying causes.  When Sins popped up as the #1 best selling game at retail a couple weeks ago, a game that has no copy protect whatsoever, that should tell you that piracy is not the primary issue.

In the end, the pirates hurt themselves. PC game developers will either slowly migrate to making games that cater to the people who buy PC games or they'll move to platforms where people are more inclined to buy games.

In the meantime, if you want to make profitable PC games, I'd recommend focusing more effort on satisfying the people willing to spend money on your product and less effort on making what others perceive as hot.  But then again, I don't romanticize PC game development. I just want to play cool games and make a profit on games that I work on.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is the first major update to Microsoft's controversial follow-up to Windows XP. I say controversial because Windows Vista got off to a bit of a rough start mostly in the area of driver support, the new User Access Control and just a number of polish issues that gave early adopters a bit of a sour taste.

We've been given a copy of the final release of Service Pack 1 and we're pleased to say it's a big step forward for Windows Vista users.  Having previously been using the betas and most recently RC1, I had been disappointed with the general slowness and klunkiness of Windows Vista.

For most new users to Windows Vista, the first thing they would tend to notice is how much slower Windows Vista was versus Windows XP.  With Service Pack 1, Windows Vista is very snappy.  The overall experience is just much better.  Here are the big improvements based on our testing:

1. Superfetch is super. The most significant improvement we noticed in SP1 over Vista (including the RC's) is that superfetch is much better. Superfetch looks at what programs you tend to use and so when you boot up, it will tend to load pieces of these into memory.  Now, users who get really uptight about the amount of memory used by the system on bootup will still have a cow. But the reality is that now when you load up the programs you usually run, it's lightning fast.  If you've ever right-clicked on the desktop in Windows XP to create a folder and found it obnoxious how long it takes to bring up a pop up menu, you'll like SP1.
   
   
2. File Management much snappier. In Windows Vista, moving files around was obnoxious. You'd get a dialog that would start to estimate the amount of time it would take to copy the files.  If I'm moving 10 gigs around, sure, that might make sense. But even on relatively small file operations, I'd get this dialog.   Now, moving things around in Windows is as fast or faster than it was on Windows XP. It's very snappy. One other plus, the zip handling is much faster.
   
   
3. Using it with a laptop is nicer.  One thing we noticed immediately over plain Vista was coming out of sleep was much much faster. This is particularly true if you have USB devices hooked up. It was very noticeable.
   
   
4. General performance is better.  Is it better than Windows XP? Most people will say no but it depends on what matters to you.  Windows XP benchmarks better but in terms of actual responsiveness, Windows Vista is feeling faster on the same hardware for me.  That is, loading up programs I commonly use, switching between programs, etc.  I am inclined to agree with those who say that Vista will perform more slowly in benchmarking but Vista is a lot more intelligent in its memory management in SP1 than XP and vastly better than Vista plain.

There are numerous other updates to Windows Vista SP1 but in terms of what we think most users will notice, these are the big ones. 

This screencast gives a visual tutorial on how to create and use color presets in WindowBlinds 6.  For more information on WindowBlinds click here.

Stardock sites are based on a very complex and detailed articles system that has grown over the years.  Basically, imagine one gigantic forum.  Hundreds of categories and subcategories containing thousands upon thousands of posts.  Each site (WinCustomize, JoeUser, TotalGaming) takes a subset of that master list for its own forums.

We've been working on cleaning up our system the last few months.  Cleaning up data, optimizing the database etc.  This week we've been working on the master forum category list.

Today, andrew_ printed out the category tree for two sites, WinCustomize and JoeUser....

WinCustomize is on the left, JoeUser on the right.  The cube wall we've tacked them to is about 5.5 feet tall.  The JoeUser list has over 200 categories in it.  That's not even the whole set.  We're talking easily double that for the master list.  I don't have a wall tall enough to tack that to.

Yeah, it confuses us too 

The first week of the month, and up to this point in the year, the submissions to WinCustomize have been fantastic.  Everything from .dreams, to wallpapers, to WindowBlinds skins have been looking great.  I hope this momentum keeps going into the spring and summer, which is typically a slower time for skinning.

We still have the WinCustomize Community Contest III going on.  Time is running out so be sure to get your submissions in before the deadline. 

Now for this weeks picks!

	MICROZOA for CursorFX by Chuckeye This is one of the coolest cursors I have seen in a while.  The animation is great and really makes your desktop stand out.
	Aero Metal widget for DesktopX Widgets by bilbo1930 Here is a fantastic weather and calendar widget to match the popular Aero Metal WindowBlinds skin.
	Utopia Prime in Dreams by TheMasterBaron One of my favorite Master .dreams to date is Utopia Prime.  The animation is subtle, but still stunning.
	Organic for IconPackager by Skinhit Always good to see icon packs submitted, and Skinhit has delivered a really unique looking package, that really caught my eye this week.  Great job.
	Toucan in Wallpapers by vlad This wallpaper immediately caught my eye.  I just really love the design of this one.
	In the mix in Wallpapers by Richard Mohler Richard has been turning the wallpapers out, and it was a tough choice between this and "Cone art".  Be sure to check out his gallery for more.
	Black Tree vol.2 in Wallpapers by PhoeniXLegenda Another one of my favorite wallpapers, with two different versions in multiple resolutions.  Very nice.
	StealthOS for WindowBlinds by MikeB314 StealthOS is one of my all time favorite WindowBlinds skins, so I was very happy to see MikeB314 take the time to update it for WB6 and Vista.

There were so many great skins this week, especially in the wallpapers sections.  I had a hard time choosing the ones to feature, so don't forget to check the galleries because I know you will find some more great works there.  See you next week!

Another year has passed!  It's that time of the year again where we look back on last year and do a post mortem on where skinning has been and where it's going. You can see last year's here. 2007 was a pretty big year for skinning. A sucky year but big nevertheless.

What is skinning?

Skinning is the process of customizing the look and feel of something to your personal taste.  If you could change the shape and color of your car, you could say your car was skinnable.  Over the past few years, the concept of customizing the look and feel of computer software has become very popular to the point that "skinning" has made its way from personal computer interfaces to the physical world with products like "SkinIt" (which skin the outside of your computer) . Many hand held devices now come with "skinnable covers". Skinning has become more than mainstream, it's started to become ubiquitous.

For the purposes of this article, I'm going to stick with what's happening on Windows PC since that's where most of the consumer market is these days (Linux is very skinnable in various forms though).

Who am I?

My name is Brad Wardell. I'm the founder and President/CEO of a company called Stardock.  We make all kinds of stuff from PC games like Sins of a Solar Empire / Galactic Civilizations to desktop customization software such as WindowBlinds, Object Desktop, etc. 

To detractors, I'm the personification of evil capitalism gone astray. In the alternative history, skinning was this wonderful grass roots movement full of free and wonderful technologies. Then, one day, this greedy, blood sucking creature came and commercialized it -- buying out all the pure hearted freeware developers and then brain washing them to become my robotic minions of pestilence. But to fans..I, um, well if I had fans they'd probably say I have nice hair. Or not.

But on a more accurate note, while it wouldn't be accurate to say we invented skinning. We were probably the first or one of the very first to create software with the explicit intent of changing the look and feel of the user interface back in 1994 with a program called Object Desktop for OS/2.  We didn't call it skinning back then. No, we called them Dynamic Interface Modules (DIMs). Cough.  For some reason, DIMs didn't take off as a name. Skins, coined by people modding the video game DOOM, did. 

Object Desktop for OS/2 (1994). See the tabbed "dock" on the bottom and the "side bar" on the right? The program also changed icons and the window borders, buttons, scrollbars, etc.

Suffice to say, I've been into this stuff for quite a long time.  This article is by no means complete as I do not know about all things skinning in all places in the universe. But I do try to keep up with what's relevant and what sorts of cool new stuff is being made to give users more power over their computing experience.

2007: Not a great year for skinning

Windows Vista has not been good for skinning.  First, it's a lot harder to customize things in the OS because of all the "security" features. Secondly, supporting 64-bit Windows Vista is a pain in the butt for desktop enhancement developers which makes customization painful for those users who have the highest end version of Windows.

On Windows XP, skinners had two viable options for skinning the entire OS. You had WindowBlinds (which Stardock makes) or you could patch a .msstyles file using StyleBuilder and then anyone who was running a cracked version of uxtheme.dll could use the subsequent .msstyles visual style to change the look of Windows.  On Windows Vista...well, things aren't quite so nice (unless you're a user of WindowBlinds which is really nice - for Stardock anyway).

Vista: Msstyles

Windows Vista has .msstyles too but the format is obfuscated. In XP, the format was literally documented. So there is no StyleBuilder equivalent to making a .msstyles file on Vista. Instead, it involves hex editing your own .msstyles bit by bit. Even then, only small parts of the Aero (the default Windows Vista skin -- that glassy look) have been changed so far in the resulting Vista .msstyles.

So basically, even if you manage to resource hack out your own msstyles file for Vista, it's probably going to look pretty similar to Aero except for different bitmaps in different places.

And as if that wasn't enough, getting your system to run these .msstyles can be a pain as it involved cracking uxtheme.dll still but also a couple of other files -- which tend to get overwritten on occasion by Windows Update.

The one piece of good news for uxtheme patchers is Rafael from WithinWindows.com has been keeping on top of the updates to uxtheme and provided regular updates to the patches when they get broken.

Skinning-wise, the selection of skins is pretty slim. The Neowin.net community for Vista msstyles is probably the best one I've seen on the net for collecting the best .msstyles. If someone makes an editor, this may change but it won't solve the issue of the underlying tech getting broken with new updates to Windows. For instance, a Windows update this past Fall broke all of the existing .msstyles.  On the bright side, it's all free.

ProjectX by SweatyFish Vista .msstyles theme

Next-Level by VaThanx

The main problem problem skinners are running into with msstyles on Vista (besides the fact that they're incredibly time consuming to make a skin) is that they're ultimately derivatives of Aero. The skinners don't really have control over transparency, shape, button placement, etc. So you ultimately end up with something that is similar to Aero.  But most people like Aero and the price is right.

Vista: WindowBlinds

Stardock's WindowBlinds 6 works natively on Windows Vista. When run, it incorporates itself into the Windows Vista DWM and is actually slightly faster than Aero on moving and resizing of windows.  Because WindowBlinds has an editor and its skins can run on both XP and Vista, it has a lot more skins. But that also means there's a lot more crap for it as well. That's the #1 criticism of WindowBlinds by users - lots of skins, lots of them ugly.  By contrast, because msstyles on Vista require real dedication to finish, the completed ones tend to look nicer (as a %) than the typical WindowBlinds skin.  But there's a lot more WindowBlinds skins and hence more good skins as well -- but users do end up having to wade through a lot of junk to get to them.

Aero Metal by Stardock Design

Harmony by VStyler

One thing that would help out the WindowBlinds skinning community would be to take better screenshots of their work. A lot of the skins are actually pretty good but look horrible in screenshots. Looking through the WindowBlinds gallery on WinCustomize one doesn't even need to look closely at the thumbnail to go "Blech" at the screenshots. Wallpapers should offer a contrast to your design. Purple on purple is not your friend.

So when it comes to actually changing the Windows experience, WindowBlinds has the upper hand by far but it comes at a price. It's $19.95 whereas patching your system files is free.

2007: Vista makes life tough

What is it with Microsoft and confirmation dialogs? Ever try to edit your Windows Live Messenger contact list? Go ahead, try to delete a contact. I'll wait.  Confirmations. You can't get rid of them.  Copying a file from a network drive gives you a confirmation dialog too -- as if I had a muscle spasm when I dragged and dropped files.  But all that's a picnic compared to trying to actually integrate new features into the OS.  That's because the User Account Control system (UAC) is evil.

How evil is it? It's diabolical. For example, to keep hackers from easily writing their evil stuff (one presumes) UAC will create virtual, temporary directories and paths that fool the application into thinking it's actually working. Only later, during a wide beta does one realize that no, it's not actually working because it's not putting the data in the directory you told it to but rather some other directory that may or may not be there when you reboot. The whole thing has made my cry several times. And there's nothing more awkard than hearing a grown man curl up in the fetal position on the office floor sobbing loudly. No one knows how to respond to that.  That's what the UAC has done. That's what it's brought me to.

2007: Skinning too damn popular

Most users know about skinning at this point. Many consumers expect their favorite programs to be skinnable. Heck, even Valve's Steam is skinnable!  In the old days, people had to smoke or drink to be cool. Now you just make your app skinnable and you're cool. Come on, everyone else is doing it...

Even Steam is skinnable

Of course the downside of that is that evil capitalistic bastards who would grind your bones into powder if they could sell it (come on over, I have something I want to show you..) are hiring up all the skinners because there's just so much demand for people with an ounce of design capability. And we're only at the beginning of this trend as we'll see later.  So that means that communities full of free cool stuff are losing a lot of their most talented people to the bone powder producing corporations.

Combine the migration of skinners to a gazillion different programs to make the bucks with the fact that there's now a gazillion different versions of Windows to deal with and you have a lot fewer skinners per app.

Meanwhile, the number of users into this stuff just keeps growing and growing!

2007: Advances in Skinning

In 2007, advances mostly meant getting the thing to work on Windows Vista.  Some programs had a harder time than others.

WindowBlinds

At the risk of showing my bias, I think most objective people would agree that the biggest news in skinning last year was the release of WindowBlinds 6. With its support for native glass on both XP and Vista, animated start menus, and in-depth skinning of Vista controls, it was a bright point in an otherwise transitional year.

Turbo for WindowBlinds 6

DeskScapes

Despite only working with Windows Vista Ultimate Edition, DeskScapes has helped make the case that yes, people want animated wallpapers. Typically 3 or more .Dream files (animated wallpapers) fall into the top 20 each week on WinCustomize.  With DeskScapes 2.0 arriving in 2008 which promises to bring animated wallpapers to all users of Windows Vista and possibly beyond that too, animated wallpapers could be a huge thing next year.

DeskScapes on Windows Vista Ultimate

Talisman

Developer Lightek hasn't been resting on its laurels either. Their popular alternative shell for Windows, Talisman, was updated to work with Windows Vista this year.

Talisman replaces Explorer with one that users can design themselves.

Aston Shell

Like Talisman, Aston Shell is on its x.9999 version which is largely the existing version but working with Vista. I suspect this year both will launch their next-generation editions.

Aston Shell

Like Talisman, Aston Shell will replace your entire Explorer shell with one that users can apply themes to that radically alter its appearance.

Which one you prefer depends on tons of factors I won't even try to touch.

Adobe Air

What? You haven't heard of Adobe Air?  Adobe Air is Adobe's attempt to let people create web applications that work also on the desktop.  Should these count as skinnable? It's hard to say. But it's a platform that skinners are looking seriously at.

Microsoft Silverlight

Silverlight could be best described as a .NET version of Flash.  It and Adobe Air are essentially competitors. Both are cross-platform and both sing a similar siren song to skinners to go play with them.  Like Adobe Air, the question of whether this is a skinnable platform or not is obvious.  That remains to be seen. Skinning, it seems has evolved to where entire platforms are being made just so that people who like to make custom stuff can make more and more complex stuff.

2007: Things that tanked

Remember widgets? Remember gadgets? These were going to take over the world.  Didn't happen.

In fact, CNET, like us, were so wrong about widgets that they listed widgets being successful as their single worst prediction of 2007.   As I was going through my notes for this article, I wasn't trying to fit any particular narrative, I simply recognized a pattern that all of the major downers of last year were related to widget-related programs.

Windows Sidebar is a dud

Just how big a failure is the Windows Vista Sidebar? Even though it's trivially easy to skin, hardly anyone bothers to make skins for it. Heck, most people just turn it off once they figure out how to. It's just completely useless. The Sidebar gallery on WinCustomize has had 1 skin since October. WindowBlinds 6, which supports Sidebar skins has virtually no skins for it.  If you look at the screenshots of people using the Sidebar, you can tell they're not really using it. A clock and maybe a CPU meter?  Take a look back at the screenshot at the start of this article from 1994. That sidebar (Control Center for OS/2) was more useful than the Sidebar. At least it had really good virtual desktops built in. The gallery at Live.com is similarly depressing. The Sidebar should just be quietly taken in back and shot.

Stardock DesktopX 3.5: MIA!

And where's Stardock's own DesktopX 3.5? Helloooo? Each month Stardock has said "it's coming out this month!" (I should know, I'm the one who was saying that).  Besides the fact that it proves I'm a filthy liar, what else does DesktopX 3.5's absence mean?  It means developing for Vista is a huge pain in the butt.

DesktopX does widgets and desktops. DesktopX widgets largely consist of a trillion weather widgets.

For example, many of the best DesktopX widgets make use of low level system info to tell you useful things about your system. But not on Vista. On Vista, that sort of info is locked out. Forget it.  DesktopX has included a special library called DXPerf for years which contains a ton of little functions that let widget makers create all kinds of interesting and useful content. It's dead in Vista. It'll have to be rewritten.

Then there's scripting. Microsoft apparently really has it out for VB Scripting as all kinds of work had to be done to make sure that scripts work right.  Now, I don't want to make it out that having better security on Vista is a bad idea. It's not. Good for Microsoft for taking it more seriously. But it does mean the transition is a huge pain in the ass.

None of this means that DesktopX is d0med. There are people who like widgets and gadgets and the like. But I think what you'll end up seeing is DesktopX transitioning more to building desktops rather than widgets.

The saddest part of all: The most significant new feature for DesktopX 3.5 is that it can create content for (wait for it) The Windows Sidebar!

Yahoo has ruined Konfabulator

Konfabulator was once a really innovative little program for the Mac and later the PC that let users create desktop widgets with Javascript. It got pretty popular - it peeked just as the widget craze was peeking and got bought by Yahoo.  Good for Arlo Rose and co.  But bad for Konfabulator and its commuity.

Yes, this is an actual Yahoo Widget (Konfabulator)..widget these days. This is the currently highlighted one.

Rebranded as Yahoo Widgets, it took about 2 years for Yahoo to run it into the ground.  Prepare yourself, here is the new Yahoo Widgets home page.  Gone are the forums for discussing widgets. Gone is the really slick, useful, and easy to use gallery. And gone are the cutting edge, sweet looking widgets.  Gone is the community support.

Yahoo Widgets isn't dead. But it might as well be.

Windows Presentation Foundation a great API waiting for decent apps

Okay. Vista's been out a year now.  So...where are those WPF applications? You know, the ones that showed the fancy glass effects and 3D animation right on the desktop.  WPF apps, in theory, are supposed to be able to be made using a drawing package. Super cool 3D mega apps! I'm so ready.  I've seen the demos. Yahoo's next-gen instant messenger is going to use it. I know, I saw it um, 2 years ago. So go ahead, try it out. It's really pretty.  Apparently they're waiting until SP1 ships so that it runs decently. So there's one app..

I happen to be quite a fan of Windows Presentation Foundation. But the performance just isn't there yet.  Windows Vista needs to get more hardware acceleration at the desktop level. So it will be interesting to see what SP1 brings.  But in 2007, WPF was a ball of suck.

2008: I can see clearly now, the rain is gone

So for skinners, 2007 kind of sucked.  If you were a user of Windows XP who decided to let other people be the first to migrate to Vista, you got to sit back and watch developers and skinners cater to the small % of people who had moved to Vista.  If you were a Vista 32-bit user, you got to see apps slowly and inconsistently work.  And if you were a 64-bit Vista user, two thugs in orange jump suits beat the crap out of you and threw you out telling you to wait yer turn.

But 2008 will be different, I promise*!   (*not a promise)

2008: Object Desktop grows up, exits basement, gets job and girlfriend

Object Desktop is the grand daddy of the skinning world. It has millions of users in one form or other of it. It's the program of choice by power users to transform their Windows experience. If you want the "ultimate Windows transformation" you get Object Desktop.

Popularity has not been kind to Object Desktop. Sure, the money is good but it was not a product designed for casual users.  Object Desktop 2007 is a suite of desktop enhancements. And by suite I mean like 20+ different programs. A power user would buy it, download it, and then carefully use each one.  By contrast, the general consumer buys it, downloads it, and then quickly runs through every program turning everything on at once -- on their 5 year old spyware infested PC, and then calling (by phone of course) Stardock support screaming that "it broke!"

Since Stardock still wants the money (needed to buy the rare tears of ultimate agony that I use to cheat death another day) of mainstream users and the power users, it is splitting Object Desktop into two products: Object Desktop and Object Desktop Ultimate.

Object Desktop 2008 will be a totally new experience. A user who buys it gets a single link to a single download which downloads and installs the core components already properly configured. Moreover, it's just the core pieces of Object Desktop: WindowBlinds, IconPackager, DesktopX, SoundPackager, MyColors,  DeskScapes.  Not the 20+ programs that users could hang themselves with if they weren't careful (one can imagine what a day at tech support at Partition Magic must have been like when it became really popular).

Then for power users, Object Desktop Ultimate is there which includes the 20+ programs. That way, power users can still go crazy customizing their desktop and mainstream users can buy something for $50 that really takes care of all the basic customization stuff they want without sifting through power user utilities.

2008: MyColors! Look at me! Look at me!

I hope I am making the narrative clear here: When skinning got started, it was basically just geeks like me messing around with our computers. Then one day, skinning became hip and all these people came rushing in who had never heard of regsrv32 or how to modify registry keys.  Let me put it like this: In 2001, the #1 skinning site at the time, skinz.org got around 3,000 unique visitors per day. Today, WinCustomize.com gets around 100,000 unique visitors per day. And that doesn't count deviantART which gets 30X that traffic (though not for skinning).

MyColors 2008

Stardock's big 2008 goal is to be able to provide for all these normal people without sacrificing the cool stuff it provided to power users.  MyColors is one example of this.  It basically integrates all the various customization technologies together and sells consumers completed themes.  Users don't have to worry about the software, there is no software, just the themes and the program (MyColors) to choose which theme to apply.  Some might argue that MyColors will take sales away from Object Desktop.  Stardock would respond that that is a feature. For people who just want to make Windows look like a particular theme are better off just getting a MyColors theme letting the users who are really into this stuff get Object Desktop.

There are already hundreds of MyColors themes including partnerships with the NCAA, NHL, NBA, GM, Ford, and many other companies to provide branded themes as well as inspirational themes.  MyColors will also come with Object Desktop with a few free themes given out each year.

2008: The Icon Problem Addressed

Golly Windows Vista has pretty icons.  Too bad Vista basically ignores all icons over 48x48 if they're not the new 256x256 icons. Which means that programs without updated icons look ugly on Vista.

IconPackager 4

IconPackager 4 will let users on Vista automatically recolor, resize, and choose their own live folders. That means the cool icons that have been made over the years will have a home of Vista again.

2008: 64-bit users get to sit at the table

You people with your fancy 64-bit PCs yelling about not getting enough love. Well, that's what you get for having fancy schmancy PCs.  Besides, a goodly % of 64-bit PC Windows users are dummies anyway.  If you don't have at least 4 gigabytes of memory (and even then, it's barely worth it) and have a 64-bit Windows PC for desktop use then suck it up because you probably made a dumb decision. 

I realize that statement will generate tons of flame comments by nerdlings living in basements everywhere but it's the truth (or 50+ year olds who think 64-bit computing is inherently faster or better and will spend hours talking theoreticals about it while ignoring the practical reality of it on the desktop with today's programs). 

Now, for those of you with 64-bit PCs with 4 gigs or more, I can sympathize.  Not personally of course, I wouldn't be caught dead with a X64 Windows unless I really really needed at least 8 gigabytes of memory for something (like a 64-bit SQL server but then, I wouldn't have that on my desktop).  But I'm more likely to get decent support out of Visual Studio for my Quadcore than I'm going to need 8 gigs of memory any time soon.  Yes, the comments section is where you get to flame me for my ignorance.

...ANYWAY... this year Stardock plans to seriously look to support X64 across the line.

2008: Silverlight 2.0

Will Silverlight 2 from Microsoft be a big deal? Redmond Magazine describes it as follows:

"The expectation is that Silverlight is going to follow something close to the page model in WPF, which is not the same as the Web page model or the Windows model," says Rockford Lhotka, Microsoft MVP and principal technology evangelist for consultancy Magenic Technologies Inc.

In fact, Silverlight 2.0 is a lot closer to WPF than many people think, asserts Guthrie, who describes the technology as a compatible subset of both .NET and WFP in a recent Channel9 video.

"Everything that we've added is designed to be system.namespace-compatible with .NET," he says.

That includes the subset of the Common Language Runtime, core base class library, Language Integrated Query (LINQ), the networking stack and the XML stack. Unlike JavaScript, Silverlight version 2.0 supports cross-domain network access, which allows an app to callback to servers other than the one from which it was downloaded.

Silverlight 2.0 also promises a much richer UI controls framework, according to Guthrie. Developers can use the familiar server-side .NET controls model (WinForms, ASP.NET) with the vector-based graphics model of WPF. Version 2.0 includes layout, templates, styles, databinding and list controls, among other features. VS 2008 tool support for databinding is expected in the MIX08 timeframe, according to Guthrie.

"Everything that's in Silverlight from an API perspective is in WPF," he explains, including properties, methods and syntax. "It's still a subset, but a much bigger subset than people were imagining."

So will Silverlight matter in 2008? I think we'll start seeing some proto-sites with it that make use of it. Microsoft has the pieces, they just have to get them together.

2008: Skinners take center stage

Supply and demand. They say that's a big deal. Who knew.

Skinners have the commanding heights now over developers. Now, everyone has a platform for skinners. Silverlight wants you. Adobe Air wants you. Stardock wants you. Lighttek wants you.  Even my pet turtle is working on something called MegaDesk. I think 2008 is going to be the battle of content.

In the past, software developers would toss something out on the net and say "Hey, look what I made!"  Over time, that model of doing things began to change. 

When Konfabulator came on the scene, Stardock didn't take it seriously because DesktopX was technically superior to it.  Why would anyone choose Konfabulator over DesktopX? Konfabualtor could only do Javascript. DesktopX could do JavaScript or VB Script.  Konfabulator widgets had to be made with a text editor. DesktopX included a built in editor with built in support for animation, states, etc.

But Konfabulator then proceeded to kick DesktopX's ass because Konfabulator understood something Stardock didn't - people don't give a crap about the technology. They care about the content.  The technology does matter, just ask someone whose patched uxtheme and after a Windows update can't boot (oh wait, I forgot, that scenario never happens according to their very vocal advocates, damn phantoms).  So while technology matters, it only matters insomuch that it lets the content work. Whoever has the most/best content wins.

In 2008, the actual skinners are the limiting factor. Everyone wants them, but there's only a finite supply of them. One result: Master skinning will continue to grow.

 
Programs like Impulse will allow users to manage not just their software but their content too demonstrating the increasing importance of content

Master skins are the concept in which skinners who have been in the skinning community awhile are able to sell their creations.  The Master Skin program has been a tremendous success.  I've seen the numbers and some skinners could live off their creations if they were doing it full time.  Some people may long for the "old days" but the days of Winamp and WindowBlinds being the only games in town are long gone. Now, skinners are busy making web 2.0 websites, working for companies designing UIs for their applications, etc.  The demand for talented skinners is huge these days.  And we'll all have to adapt to it.

Conclusions

So there you have it.  2007 was a bit of a sucky year for skinners.  Vista was a pain in the ass to get existing things working on.  If you want to create cool new stuff on Vista, it's very painful unless you use Windows Presentation Foundation but if you do that, you'll find that your app is incredibly slow until SP1 arrives. And with so many new platforms to choose from, the skinning community is extremely fragmented.  And plus, Bill Gates retired which just makes me sad.

But 2008 looks much better. The transition to Vista should be completed soon. The software will get polished. More focus will be put on the actual skins. And skinning will likely  move from just being mainstream to ubiquitous.  

So hold onto your hats, this year should be a great ride!

Impulse is in the home stretch.

Last day of the month, and it's a Friday!  Well the week is finally over, so we can close it out with some of the skins I handpicked from the galleries to feature to all you great people.  Before we begin, let me put out another reminder of the WinCustomize Community Contest that is currently going on. 

You can see a current list of submitted contest skins here.  There is still a few weeks to go so I would encourage as many people to enter as they can.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Xeonyx for CursorFX by pickture I picked this because I really like the smooth design, and it's easy to work with as well.
	Shark for Dreams by CarGuy1 Another in the "ocean" series CarGuy1 has been putting out.  Check his gallery for others.
	Aero Metal Tabbed & Side Docks for ObjectDock by WebGizmos Made to match the Aero Metal WB skin, this will help you create the perfect Aero Metal themed desktop.
	Violet Sky 2 for RightClick by Nimbin This is a remake of Nimbin's first RC skin, and this is just one of many great ones.  Great work.
	City Love in Wallpapers by Rebstile I like these landscape style wallpapers, and Rebstile has many more on his personal site, but I'm glad to see him posting here as well.
	Dream Service Providers in Wallpapers by Vlad I always enjoy seeing some different, and the design here is incredible.  Very nice.
	Artifice WB for WindowBlinds by mkorashy This is unbelievably mkorashy's first WindowBlinds skin, and what a great start.  Check the gallery for matching wallpaper and icon pack.
	Aero Metal for WindowBlinds by Stardock Design Aero Metal is another free release from Stardock Design.  This is a very clean skin which is easy on the eyes and great to work with.

What a fantastic way to end the month.  I can't wait to see what great skins come our way in March.  See you next week!

So what's going on at Stardock these days?  The answer is, LOTS of stuff. Where should I start?

I guess first, you're going to notice that we're going to start branding things to simplify what part of the company you're working with:

1. My Games. For Stardock's million+ gamers.
2. My Desktop. For the millions of people who use Stardock's desktop experience software.
3. My Tools. For the growing user base of next-generation utility software programs.
4. My Community. For users of Stardock sites like WinCustomize.com or JoeUser.com.

General Projects

The biggest internal project right now is Impulse.  It is designed to finally pool together all of Stardock's content, software, games, and other strengths into a single package.  For the past couple of years, we've had a program called Stardock Central which was really just designed as a quick and easy way to digitally distribute our own stuff. But we see the future as being a place where people can buy software, games, and other digital content from us as well. We have this immense infrastructure in place to do digital distribution that seems very popular with users. With our TotalGaming.net service, we've dabbled with distributing third-party stuff.  Impulse takes us to the next step.

The goal with Impulse is to let users and producers get together and easily purchase and manage their software, games and other content.

Impulse will go into a preview beta probably next week.

My Games

Stardock currently has the #1 game at retail, Sins of a Solar Empire.  Stardock's growing reputation as a top-tier PC game developer and publisher is something we're very proud of.  Developed by Ironclad, Sins of a Solar Empire is a space based RTS. Stardock was intimately involved in the design and development of this game, far more so than is typical in a developer/publisher relationship. We think that this approach is what has helped make the game the top rated PC game of 2008 so far and the best selling PC game right now.

Stardock does not plan to significantly increase the # of PC game titles it publishes. It will only publish titles that it feels it can give the amount of attention to that will ensure that when people see a game with the Stardock label on it that the user knows it is a great game.

Stardock's also working on The Political Machine 2008. This game is going to be sweet.  We did a version in 2004 which we cranked out in literally 6 months from scratch.  But with The Political Machine 2008, we were able to use the new 3D strategy game engine we've developed for the fantasy strategy game we're working on and the results have been phenomenal. All the candidates are bobble heads and the player designs them from scratch.

Given the interest from retailers, I will be surprised if The Political Machine 2008 isn't one of the top 20 or so best selling PC titles of 2008. Maybe next time we'll be able to get our act together to release a console version at the same time.

In addition to The Political Machine being an outstanding game, it's going to come with an outstanding website. I've not seen anyone try to do a social networking site on politics before. If you want to check out the beta site, go here. It's still on a test server (slow) and we're not yet satisfied with the look of it but you get an idea.

And of course, we can't forget about Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor. The expansion pack is in the final stages of development.

The fantasy strategy game we're working on will be announced as soon as we have enough time to get enough "assets" together to show off what we're doing.  Stay tuned on that.

My Desktop

Stardock's main desktop product is called Object Desktop.  We have two other programs in addition that are popular called CursorFX and ObjectDock but Object Desktop is Stardock's most popular product.

We sell the individual programs of Object Desktop which are immensely popular in their own right.  The three most popular Object Desktop programs are WindowBlinds (which can change the look of the Windows graphical user interface), IconPackager (which can change all the icons on Windows) and DesktopX (which can extend Windows to more natively support gadgets and widgets than other implementations).

Since its release, Object Desktop has been, by far, the dominating piece of software for power users to customize Windows. We're the Electronic Arts of digital customization. And I mean that both in the good sense and the bad sense (i.e. we get beat up by users who think our software is "bloated" or "buggy" or whatever).  It's a multi-million dollar market to be sure.  We have more users on our desktop enhancement software than we do on our games by far. A lot of the controversy comes from power users who actually aren't power users who really shouldn't be tweaking their computer in the first place.

MyColors

And so for the past year and a half, we've been working on a customization package designed for the mainstream: MyColors.  MyColors is a package that lets people pick a theme, press a button, have have their desktop change.

We just released MyColors 2008 which even takes care of updating itself and the themes. We've had some growing pains with getting the authentification of serial numbers nailed down and some people have had problems downloading but the last of those issues should be gone in the next couple of days. It's just an immense project involving so many different parts of the company that it took a bit of time to get everyone on the same page.

There's hundreds of MyColors themes available though with more coming on the way. The NBA themes are almost done and we've got a series of inspirational themes in the works. A lot of time is being spent getting classic content updated to Windows Vista and released as MyColors themes. 

Most of the major OEMs have expressed an interest in bundling MyColors on their systems with some of them already committed to doing so later this year.

DeskScapes

There's a ton of work on various desktop items including DeskScapes, which is our animated wallpaper program on Windows Vista. But we still have quite a bit of work to do in stability before this is ready for prime time. We'll likely be doing an open beta in the near future to help nail down this program.

Other Goodies

Object Desktop users got a sneak peek at IconDeveloper 2. It's a program designed to make it easier for people to take images and turn them into good looking desktop icons. Version 2 supports the new Windows Vista icon format and is a complete rewrite.  WindowBlinds 6.1 is in development and supports glass explorer backgrounds and other cool stuff.  Once we get Object Desktop 2008 out the door, we want to start concentrating more on 64-bit Vista support which right now is spotty.

My Tools

Our long-term project with ThinkDesk has been a real challenge for us.  Multiplicity and KeepSafe have continued to evolve.  TweakVista has been a big hit with 1.1 getting a very positive response. As much as we want Microsoft to improve Windows Vista, it is proving to be a good business for us to make software to fix it.  We're planning to eventually add TweakVista to ThinKDesk (our suite of tools) even though ThinkDesk is in a perpetual beta.

KeepSafe 2.0 is being worked on. You can check  out its updated UI here:

My Community

This month we re-launched the all new JoeUser.com.  This is the free blogging community we've built. We plan to aggressively add more social networking features into it shortly to allow bloggers to better organize their friends lists and interact with other people.  We're not intending JoeUser to compete with a Facebook or MySpace.  Rather, we want to be able to gather together people who like to socially interact online in terms of writing and let them work together -- as a community.

And lastly, WinCustomize.com, our most popular website, has seen its traffic grow and grow this past year.  Its due to get a major bit of work later this year based on the new JoeUser technology.