There’s been a lot of commotion over Vista.  It’s all over the press, people are writing about it extensively, and we’ve covered it in-depth here at WinCustomize through news postings and feature evaluations by some of our developers.  Through the forums and our associated blog site, JoeUser, many of you have talked about your personal experiences with the beta and then release candidates made publicly available by Microsoft.  Well, Vista has been released to manufacturing, and is available for purchase to business customers.  Vista is now "in the wild" so to speak and people are starting to play with what is essentially Vista 1.0.  What is out now is likely to be what’s available at consumer launch in January of 2007 and likely won’t change much until Service Pack 1 comes along in a year or more.

We here at Stardock have access to the RTM build of Vista.  Today, I’m going to take some time to write up my experience with the "finished" version of Vista and talk about it from a user perspective.  I’m not a developer, and I’m not a guru on the inner workings of the Operating System or computer itself.  I’m a power user who spends a lot of time working and playing on my computer.  If you’re looking for a critique of WPF, the new driver model, or even much in-depth coverage of the new security model to Vista, look elsewhere.  This article is about Vista from the viewpoint of a power user.

The entire article spans nearly 20 pages, which is far too long to post all at once.  Instead, the larger article has been broken up into five sections, starting with this introduction, and finishing with a general wrap-up and my personal thoughts on Vista after spending a week writing this series.  The articles will be posted every Tuesday starting this week and going until Vista hits consumer release at the end of January.

1.  Installation

We don’t have any DVDs burned at the moment, so I’ve put the RTM build from MSDN on an external hard drive and connected it to my secondary test machine.  This is the box I’ll be evaluating Windows Vista on:

Intel Pentium 4HT 3.0GHz
1GB RAM
X600 Video Card
On-board sound
75GB HDD

It has a "Score" of 3.6 according to the Vista Ratings tool built into the OS.  My averages were actually closer to 4, but the score isn’t an average.  Instead it’s the lowest overall score your computer achieves.  My lowest was a 3.6 on the Gaming graphics area.  Not a surprise considering I’m running with an X600 ATI card.  This means I can run glass without any trouble.  Not sure how it will work with games though.

The Installation process itself was pretty painless, all I had to do was set my installation type (upgrade versus custom/new) and let it go.  I told it a few things like what time of day it was, and what wallpaper I wanted, and I was off and running.    The new image-based install system speeds things up substantially.

Starting up a PC with Windows Vista seems like it’s considerably faster.  I was to the logon screen only a few seconds after my monitor had warmed up enough to display an image.  This blinding speed however is instantly lost when you actually go to login.  It launches into a "Preparing Your Desktop" window that churns for a while as the rest of the OS is loaded.

Once I made it to the desktop I was greeted by the now familiar Windows Welcome Center.

First things first, I wanted to see what exactly came in Windows Vista Ultimate, and why I might possibly want to buy this for home use later on.  So I go and click on it and I’m presented with an immediate Windows Update.  Turns out it wants me to get the latest Windows Defender definitions and apply sound drivers (the only hardware install didn’t auto-detect).  And I’m greeted with the first of what I assume are many UAC (User Access Control)  pop-ups asking me if I’m REALLY sure I want to apply the updates.

At this point I received some error.  I’m curious as to what this error is about, since I’m doing what the OS told me to do, so I click on the "details" button to get more information.  The message I received was complete gobbledygook, so it’s nice to see Microsoft is keeping the long-standing tradition of useless error codes and dialog messages alive and kicking.

3.  Exploring the features of Vista Ultimate!

Patches applied, I dig again into the advantages of Vista Ultimate.  It talks about cutting-edge programs, innovative services and unique publications that I won’t be able to live without.  Well, maybe I can’t live without it… lets download some!

Whoops, nothing new for Vista Ultimate just yet.  I kind of expected this since the consumer release, what Ultimate is targeted at, isn’t for another month.  But I’m still a little disappointed as I was hoping to have a more complete evaluation of Ultimate.  Even the link to learn more about the services and publications doesn’t go anywhere aside from the currently unhelpful Windows Vista website.

So what else do I get for using Ultimate?  Well, there’s Windows Media Center.  Now, I don’t have a tuner card on this machine, so I’m not entirely sure what I’ll be able to do with this just yet.  Immediately on opening Media Center it asked me if I wanted to run setup, I just let it do its express setup thing, since I don’t have any media on the box I could control with it.  Funny thing is several coworkers who are running Windows Media Player 11 were treated with a message asking if they wanted to share their media with my Vista machine.  What’s odd is my XP box running WMP11 received no such message.  Seems kind of arbitrary.

Windows Media Player is another area where it looks like there are placeholders for services that just aren’t available yet.  Specifically in the "Online Media" tab which looks like it’s set to become a storefront and distribution channel for purchased TV shows, movies, music and games through the Live Marketplace.  It’s all empty at the moment though.  This is where you’ll hook up an Xbox or Xbox 360 to use your PC as a digital broadcast box for your home entertainment center.  If I had a 360 in the office, I would test this feature out, but alas I don’t.

Overall, Media Center doesn’t have much for me to play with until I load it on a PC with my media collection.

Vista overall is all about the integration between the Operating System and the Windows Live offerings, an attempt to retake the online services market by Microsoft.  From Windows I can get Windows Live Search, OneCare, Live Marketplace, as well as Live Messenger, Windows Meeting Space etc.

Funny thing though, components as basic as Live Messenger (the heir to MSN Messenger) are not included with the OS and you’re provided with a link in the start menu to download the application.

Come back next week as we begin our journey into the OS itself and begin using it, kicking the tires and peeking under the hood.  We'll talk about the new Start Menu, Aero and the Sidebar gadgets.

Well after putting off installing Windows Vista for several weeks, I finally took the time and did it.  I opened up my PC and removed the small backup hard drive I had installed, and replaced it with a brand new 250gb drive.  It only took a few minutes to switch drives, and took another minute to make sure everything was secure and wires were firmly in place.

Next I booted back into XP to make sure the new drive is installed correctly and proceeded to setup the new hard drive.  Now it's time to install Vista Ultimate!

Popped in the DVD, restarted and booted to the DVD, selected a few options, and off we go.  Total time from putting the DVD in the drive to a usable desktop was about 25 minutes, very nice I must say.

Windows Vista booted to the desktop and then ran an update.  After a few minutes all the updates were installed, and it was time for me to install my video drivers and a few other minor things.  Now I was curious of how my Vista score looked.....3.7.....about what I expected.  I am running an Intel P4 2.8 with 1gig of RAM, and a Radeon 9800 Pro video card. 

Just running Vista for a few hours, the performance is about equal to how XP runs.  I noticed a few things run a little slower, but overall I'm happy with the performance considering this system is several years old.  Next step is to install Stardock Central, and get ObjectDock Plus and Multiplicity installed.  It seems I can't function properly without these two applications.

Next, it's time to get Windowblinds installed, and a few other programs such as iTunes and Office 2007.  After making an image of the drive, it's now time to explore and have some fun.....well try to at least.

It's getting closer and closer to the holidays, but that's not stopping people from submitting some truly great works.  I have also been getting some great feedback from Wincustomize members about this weekly feature, and I appreciate that and your suggestions.  Keep them coming!
 

Stellar Light for CursorXP
by J. Aroche

These cursors were made to match the Ceirous Windowblind, which is a personal favorite of mine.  I always look forward to his submissions, but it seems he's leaving for a vacation in Hawaii so we will have to wait a little while for more great cursors.  Have fun!

Download

DX State Snap-Shot for DesktopX
by Skarnivorous

This DesktopX object generated some talk the other night, and I thought this is a great idea for developers.  With DX State Snap-shot you can save, load and distribute "snap-shots" of your DesktopX theme.  Be sure to read more about this, I think this will come in very handy for some theme developers.

Download
 

Holiday Countdown for DesktopX
by RomanDA

RomanDA has once again created a countdown gadget that has 15+ holidays to choose from.  There will also be a "Pro" version soon which gives you ability to add your own holidays, and more.

Download

Browsers - Iconpack 3_PNG for Dock Icons
by mtFr0st

I was browsing through the galleries of DeviantART and spotted this icon pack of browser icons.  It features icons for Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, and Firefox.  Great job!

Download

Dynyx for Windowblinds
by Z71

This Windowblind was one of my favorites during this years GUI Championships.  This came in a little later last week, but several Wincustomize members e-mailed me and thought it should have been featured, so here it is! 

Download

Another great week for submissions, and I always look forward to more.  As I said, I always appreciate e-mails recommending skins to be featured.  It's not always what I thought was cool this week, it's also about what you think as well. 

See you next week!

I have a problem. Okay, I have a lot of problems. But one of my problems is that I have a printer fetish. I like printers. Always have. I just like being able to print graphics and text and pictures onto a piece of paper. I acknowledge my problem.  Few individuals have purchased as many printers as I have. I've owned dozens of printers over my 30+ years of life.

If you're like me, you go on-line to try to find out how good different printers are. But usually, the reviews suck. Some places will get them quality ratings of like 8.7.  What the hell does that mean? Would it really be that hard to simply scan a picture in of your print out so we can look at it? That's what PC Magazine and PC World used to do (but don't seem to do it so much anymore).  At least then we could look at it.  Most of the "Reviews" I read on-line read like regurgitated media guides.

If your shopping for a printer on-line, the specs should matter. But they don't. Not really. Because DPI means nothing now. I have printers that claim 2400 dpi but look less impressive than 600dpi printers.  The other issue which is rarely talked about is color accuracy. I find this extraordinarily frustrating that my print outs on various "good" printers tend to not be very accurate. And few reviews bother to even talk about it. It's not a review unless there's some subjective talk in it. And most reviews these days are on injkets. No offense but with injkets costing $200 and available at a store, how much advice do I really need from a reviewer? I can go to the store and see a printout of any reasonably popular injket. Thanks. It's on those higher end printers that we tend to want to hear some advice on.  Okay, that's not really fair since most people are looking for injkets, but what about people who are looking for higher end printers?

And by higher end printers I'm talking about laser printers that do color.  The first question I've always wanted the answer to is how good can laser printing get? I mean, if you pay enough, where is the cut off? Can I basically get a laser printer that can print a photo about as well or better than an injket (except be able to print 10 of them a minute rather than 1 every 3 minutes?).

The answer is yes. But you get into diminishing returns. This little article is to share my experiences at buying printers. From $100 injkets to $20,000 industrial printers. I told you, I have a problem.

Injkets

My current Injket of choice is the Canon i9900. It's outdated now. But the quality it produces is fantastic. It's not a terribly fast printer but it produces incredibly good output. My main beef with Inkjets is that they've slowly morphed into being photo printers. I'd like to see more injkets being made that produce great photo output (doesn't have to be godly good, I have a Canon photo printer for that!) but can reasonably be used for printing email and other documents at home or casually at work without thinking I just spent a buck in ink to do it. But right now it seems I can either get an inkjet with sub-par graphics output but is a practical casual multi-purpose printer or I can get something that will show every zit on my face in a photo print out.

I tend to also like Epson injket printers. But they tend to lag a bit beyond Canon in quality in my experience. Still, the Epson Stylus printers are very nice. Lexmark makes decent printers but they tend to be run of the mill. I won't buy HP printers at all for personal reasons -- their driver support during the Windows 2000 era really ticked me off and so I've avoided them since. I buy lots of other HP stuff and they do make good printers, I'm just still sore about the scanners and printers from the Windows 2000 era that they refused to update the drivers to work on back then.

The Main Event

Okay, injkets aren't really my main interest.  Where I've gone on-line over the years is to find out just how good the high end printers really are. And that's where I've been disappointed. I get that injkets can produce photo quality output if you buy the right paper. Fine. Good. Understood. What about printers that can crank out 10 pages or more per minute?

Well...

Quality is a relative term. So I'm going to go with 3 different printers here.

Phaser 8500

The entry level Phaser 8500 (8400 shown but it's the same output). You can get these for starting at $500. Great printer at the price. Here's a sample of the output:

Xerox 8500 (8400)

Not bad but somewhat muted. It's a solid ink printer and that's one of the gotchas with them in my experience. The colors tend to be a bit washed.

Xerox Phaser 8400DX

Oye. It's a bit fuzzy. I printed out my Christmas letter on one of these and the photos, while pretty decent, were definitely fuzzy. I'm pretty picky on this kind of thing, most casual users would think it's fine. One thing that annoys me about most reviews is that they print out the test page where they're alreayd optimized.

Now, on-line on PrinterShowcase.com they rated the quality as 8.5 (good).  That's probably a reasonable rating.  But it doesn't really tell you much.  I do know that anything under the 8400 would be something I'd consider unacceptable for work use. At that point, it's just a casual printer for printing out "stuff" that just happens to be in color.

What I love about the Phaser 8x00 series is how easy they are to maintain. They're "solid ink" which means they're wax. You can eat the wax (not that you should but it's just kind of cool).  You just plop in the wax blocks and off you go. Virtually no maintenance required. A true install and forget. I can't say enough nice things about the solid ink Phasers other than their quality of print is not something you'd want to use if graphics quality is a major factor in your decision.

Phaser 6300DN

The Phaser 6300DN is a regular injket printer. Like the 8500, it's a great product and great for office environments.

Xerox 6300DN

Impressive results but not noticebly better than the Xerox 8500. Moreover, I have noticed a tendancy to streak on out put. I notice faint banding here and there on it. The test pages show fine but I see it. Look really closely on the zoom in on the colored checker board and you'll see it too. It's also got a red-ish tint to the whole thing.

Xerox Phaser 6300DN

It is definitely sharper than the Xerox 8500. You can read the text and the colors are more accurate (the Phaser 8400's colors tend to be just way too muted for serious image work)

That said, right now the Phaser 6300DN is my favorite daily printer. It's incredibly fast and reliable. The banding issue is something I'm still a bit concerned about. And it's not as sharp as the 2400dpi specs lead you to believe.  On Printer Show case it comes out with an 8.7 on quality. That is something I'd agree with. It's a tad better than the 8400/8500 in quality.

Now according to PrinterShowcase.com, the Ricoh C410 has the best quality output of any of the printers in their class with a 9.5 rating. But I don't have that printer so I can't really say. The 6300 is around $1300 . It's got marginally better quality than the 8500 which is significantly cheaper.

Canon CLC 1180

I do know the best printer I have is significantly better than these in quality and it's the Canon CLC 1180. But you pay a bundle. Anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000 depending on options. And you will need maintenance agreement because they are very temperamental and engineered like something out of a Dr. Seus cartoon. They are very VERY large. And it's technically listed as a photocopier but nowadays, it's all so blurred because of the multi-function nature of these things.

So how does it do on printing? Well, bear in mind its specs only claim 600dpi. That's important to remember because the lesson I've learned is the specs mean little. Number of colors matters a lot more and I suspect that is why this one is so much better. It's just got the ability to mix up a lot more colors.

Check out the results:

Canon CLC 1180

Canon CLC 1180

Even from the thumbnails you can tell it's significantly better in quality than the others. And those others are no slouches. But this is probably approaching the top end of what you're going to get with current (2006) printer technology. That isn't to say it's the best out there. The Xerox DocuColor 12 is in the same category as well and some have reported it being better. I can't say. I suspect I wouldn't have been able to get it new from Xerox at the price I got the CLC from Canon. In both cases, they're ancient ancient technology.  They're just slowly getting cheaper. But they're both were old technologies 5 years ago but the quality is obvious.

So as far as I can tell you, this is about as good as they get above. You can see the progression in quality as you go up. Where you stop is up to you.

Further reading.

Stardock's love affair with Xerox Phasers goes back a long time to our original Xerox Phaser 850DX.  When it died, we replaced it with the Xerox 8400.  My review of it can be found here. 

My main beef with the 8400 was that the quality had taken a bit of a hit from the 850DX. The 850DX was a 1200dpi printer, the 8400 (and now 8500) is a 600dpi printer. Of course, the price difference is pretty significant. But on printers, I'm not terribly price conscious, I want high quality even if I have to pay a premium.

As our office grew, we decided to go a different route. We picked up the Xerox Phaser 6300DN.  We still have the 8400 and it's working like a champ.  We use it as a general office printer now and in that role, it's print quality is fine. 

The Phaser 6300 is a color laser printer with toner.  The 6300DN prints very VERY fast. It's rated 26 pages per minute and it really definitely is doing that. Xerox also makes the 6350 which prints 36 pages per minute. That's over a page every other second. It's amazingly fast.

But the quality is very good too. At 2400 dpi, it gives very sharp results.  So how good it it in practice? I mean, 2400 dpi, that should be photorealistic right? Well...

It is sharper than the Phaser 8400/8500. But not by the margin you'd expect. Moreover, the color matching capabilities of the Xerox's always seems problematic. Where the Phaser 8400 print outs tend to be muted, the Phaser 6300 images tend to be a bit too warm in some places. I don't like having to monkey around with color settings. 

On a print out of an ad that was already shrunk on the page, I couldn't read the text of the ad that was printed out on the Phaser 8400 but could, barely on the Phaser 6300.

Xerox Phaser 6300DN

Xerox Phaser 8400DX

The Phaser 6300 was also much more accurate on the colors than the Phaser 8400/8500 series.

Xerox 6300DN

Xerox 8400DX

My bottom line is that the Xerox 6300DN is an outstanding office printer. It is better in quality in most respects over the Phaser 8400/8500. But it also does cost more.  The difference in quality, however, is not nearly as good as its specifications imply. At 2400DPI I expect razor sharp pictures.  Why isn't that advertisement's letters crystal clear? I don't know.  In fact, the Canon CLC 1180 that we have, which has a much MUCH lower DPI than the Phaser is far superior in quality. It's not even close (and it's also a $20,000 printer so it better bloody be better).   Don't let my whining dissuade you. The Xerox Phaser 6300DN is a great printer for any office environment. Just don't expect inkjet print quality on graphics and images. It's pretty good and its speed is great but don't let your expectations get the better of you.  If I were to recommend an office printer to anyone, it would be the Xerox Phaser 6300.

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. 

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!

Holy cow what a year it has been at Stardock.  10 years ago, Stardock was an OS/2 developer.  If you were with us from the OS/2 days, comment below. We'd love to hear what some of your favorite OS/2 experiences were.  If 10 years ago someone had told us that we'd be helping Microsoft on Windows Vista projects and have top-rated turn based strategy game of the year we would have never believed it.

So what were some of the highlights of last year?

February: Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords

Stardock released Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords in February of 2006.  This turn-based strategy game put the player in the role of the leader of an interstellar empire at the dawn of the 23rd century.  Set in a galaxy where the Terran Alliance, based on Earth, had set up a coalition to fight against the evil Drengin Empire and their vile allies, the stage was set for an epic battle.  The game received incredibly positive reviews in the press and has sold over 200,000 copies worldwide this year so far (and remains a strong seller in the Christmas season in part because of constantly free updates that add new features). The reviews included: Gamespot: 9.0 GameSpy: 4.5 stars IGN: 8.7 CGM: 4.5 stars 1up: 9 G4TV: Perfect 5 out of 5 SciFi Channel: Perfect 5 out of 5 While Stardock has made other PC games in the past, none have approached the success of Galactic Civilizations II.  One of the things that helped make it a success we believe was the absence of CD copy protection. People could install it and toss their CD if they wanted. And even if they someday lose their CD when they go and get a new machine, no problem, they could (even if you buy it at a store in another country) simply re-download the entire game from TotalGaming.net (via Stardock Central) for free. Want to try it for yourself? It's at your local retailer or you can order and download it immediately while waiting for your box to arrive at www.galciv2.com.

April: KeepSafe

For beta testers of the ThinkDesk suite, KeepSafe isn't new.  But it was this year that it was finally completed. I can honestly say that of all of Stardock's products (and we make a lot) that KeepSafe is the one that I consider a universal must-have.  You should have KeepSafe.  KeepSafe integrated file archiving and revisioning into the file system. What this means is that when you make a change to a file type that you've decided to "keep safe", that file is then backed up as a revision automatically in real-time. The number of disasters a year that KeepSafe users avoid each year is countless. Ever been working on a document for hours and for whatever reason the file gets corrupted, lost, deleted, mangled, etc.?  With KeepSafe, you can quickly go back to the last revision of the file. What I think KeepSafe compelling is how easy it is to recover. I've used a lot of backup packages in the past and they usually make it painful to get the file back.  In KeepSafe you can get to it either by right-clicking on the file in explorer and choosing which revision you want to get or going to the KeepSafe dialog and typing in the name of the file and it will go through its entire archive database instantly. Just this past week it saved several hours of work for me. I was updating the Galactic Civilizations II manual, which is a huge file. I was working on it over the network and for whatever reason, our network connection hic-upped when I was getting ready to print a copy. I had to kill Word and when I came back, I was left with a 0 byte .doc file. I do regularly backups so I had a traditional backup from the day before. But what about what I'd been working on all day? Because I had KeepSafe, I was able to go back to the version from 16 minutes earlier. Like I said, KeepSafe is a must-have. Every time we post about it users will come on and relate their positive experiences with it.  PC Magazine recommended it shortly after it came out.  Get it here: KeepSafe home page

Summer 2006: Object Desktop 2007

This past summer Stardock released Object Desktop 2007. This was the annual snapshot of the major components of Object Desktop put together as a single package.  This year is a turning-point in desktop enhancement technology because next year, the cutting edge will be on Windows Vista.  Object Desktop 2007 was timed so that Windows XP users could get the programs at their prime while also gaining access to the new Windows Vista content. A user with Object Desktop can completely control how Windows functions. There's no product, at any price, the comes remotely close to what Object Desktop can do.  And with Windows Vista coming, the power of Object Desktop will only grow with the cool new features in Microsoft's next-generation OS. Object Desktop includes WindowBlinds, DesktopX, IconPackager, ObjectBar, RightClick, WindowFX, and much more! You can read more on what Stardock has planned for Windows Vista here. Get it here: Object Desktop.com

Summer 2006: ObjectBar 2.0

Long ago, there was a thriving category of desktop enhancement called the GUI extender. These were programs that were largely built around the idea of creating your own shell environment.  The popularity of these has waned a bit as the Windows shell itself has gotten more powerful. ObjectBar 2.0 was designed to evolve with the changing use.  Rather than being used to completely replace the shell, it has been designed to enhance it.  It will use your existing WindowBlinds skin and it is much much easier to use than these kinds of programs tend to be. ObjectBar remains a very compelling and easy way to give your desktop its own look and feel.   It is also one of the programs that makes up Object Desktop. Get it here: ObjectBar.net

Summer 2006: DesktopX 3.2

Where ObjectBar makes it so that you can extend your desktop. DesktopX turns your desktop environment into clay for you to mold any way you like. What DesktopX is allow Windows to have objects on the desktop. These objects can do anything you might want them to be. Some can be just eye candy that are short-cuts like this snow globe that you can shake (and doubles as a desktop short-cut that you can set): Or you can build an entire desktop with it: Or create a mini-application: You can then export your creations for others to use.  What's amazing about DesktopX is the relative ease of creating this stuff.  There's literally a cottage industry of tutorials and content out there. A number of people sell their creations on-line. You can get some Christmas desktop objects here. DesktopX, like ObjectBar, is also part of the Object Desktop suite. Get it here: DesktopX.net

Summer 2006: WindowFX 3.0!

Fall 2006: ObjectDock 1.5

The fall got started with a bang with the release of ObjectDock 1.5. This new version of ObjectDock added a ton of new features, improved performance, and Windows Vista support. ObjectDock is a program that enables users to organize their programs and running tasks into a dock. ObjectDock enables users to have more control over how they organize their desktop. Rather than have a bunch of icons on the desktop, these icons can be put into docks. ObjectDock can also be used to replace the Windows Start bar entirely freeing up valuable screen real-estate. The program comes in two forms -- a freeware version and a Plus version which adds tabbed docks and additional functionality. ObjectDock Freeware ObjectDock Plus adds tabbed dock support too For a full list of what was new in 1.5 you can go here. Get it here: ObjectDock.com

Fall 2006: WindowBlinds Vista Beta

WindowBlinds for Windows Vista has long been in development.  Windows Vista has a fresh cool new look called Aero.  And as good as Aero is, if you want to have your own look, you're out of luck -- unless you have WindowBlinds 5.5 Beta that is. WindowBlinds 5.5 Beta is currently only available on Object Desktop so you'll need to get Object Desktop to use it. WindowBlinds on Vista makes use of the new 3D desktop compositor that is the backbone of the Windows Vista display technology.   You can read a preview of it here. Get Object Desktop here:  Object Desktop Homepage

Fall 2006: The Dark Avatar Beta

With the popularity of Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords, it was inevitable that there would be an expansion pack.  And this expansion pack goes way way beyond what most expansion packs deliver in terms of new features. The expansion pack adds customizable opponents, two new civilizations, planet environments, enemy agents, asteroid fields that can be mined, and much more. It's currently in beta and anyone who pre-orders before December 15th gets access to the beta. Here are some screenshots from the beta: You can get Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar at: www.galciv2.com/darkavatar

Of course, this is not a complete list by any means. But these are some of the highlights fo what has been going on this year at Stardock.  Please visit us at https://www.stardock.com to keep up with the latest goings on in what we do.  What is it we do? We listen to what you guys want and try to create cool stuff with those ideas!

Another Friday, another list of some of the themes and skins that I thought should be highlighted.  Remember that I always appreciate suggestions on skins that should be included.  If you see something out there, always feel free to e-mail me the link and I will consider putting it on this weekly feature.

Holiday Star for DesktopX
by adni18

Falling snowflakes on the desktop with music to go along.  Great addition for your holiday desktop.

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Holiday Spirit for Logons
by skinz2nice

This logon is made from a wallpaper made my DP Studios.  The wallpaper is great, and skinz2nice has made a fantastic logon out of it.  Great job!

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SE Files in Misc. Icons
by mrSkope

Well mrSkope says this is his first attempt at icons, and I have to say he is off to a great start.  Keep up the good work and I hope to see more of these in the near future.

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Merry Christmas Multi Display in Wallpapers
by DP Studios

Many of us use dual-monitor setups and sometimes it's hard to find wallpapers designed for just that.  This is a great design and DP Studios has included a variety of sizes of this wallpaper also.

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Ceirous SX for Windowblinds
by patrick24

Ceirous was one of my personal favorite entries in the GUI Champs, simply because it was minimal and very usable for me.  I was glad to see patrick24 make a darker version of this skin.

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Great job to all the artists, and I look forward to more submissions by all of them.  Keep up the great work!