The world's most powerful, easy to use desktop customization program gets a major update: DesktopX 3.5.

DesktopX is a program that lets users extend their Windows desktop to support true objects (as opposed to just icons).  These objects can be cosmetic in nature or using a plugin or some scripting a user can make a desktop object do virtually anything. These objects can then be combined together to make widgets or used to build an entirely new desktop.

DesktopX 3.5 has been in development for over a year. Getting DesktopX 3.5 to work seamlessly on Windows Vista was a significant challenge but worth it.

DesktopX 3.5 isn't just a Vista update, however. It allows users to export their creations as Windows sidebar gadgets! This is significant because by default, Sidebar gadgets tend to be limited in functionality. DesktopX objects, however, have no limitations, a user can make plugins in C++ or virtually any other language allowing Sidebar gadgets to be incredibly powerful.

DesktopX 3.5 also includes a completely revamped website along with a major overhaul of the DesktopX documentation.

If you've ever wanted to see what kinds of cool stuff you can do with your desktop, DesktopX is a great and easy way to do it whether you're a novice or an expert PC user.

DesktopX is available on its own or as part of Object Desktop.

 

 Download: DesktopX 3.5
 Visit: www.desktopx.net
 New Documentation: DesktopX docs
 Screenshots: Desktops & Objects

The world's most powerful, easy to use desktop customization program gets a major update: DesktopX 3.5.

DesktopX is a program that lets users extend their Windows desktop to support true objects (as opposed to just icons).  These objects can be cosmetic in nature or using a plugin or some scripting a user can make a desktop object do virtually anything. These objects can then be combined together to make widgets or used to build an entirely new desktop.

DesktopX 3.5 has been in development for over a year. Getting DesktopX 3.5 to work seamlessly on Windows Vista was a significant challenge but worth it.

DesktopX 3.5 isn't just a Vista update, however. It allows users to export their creations as Windows sidebar gadgets! This is significant because by default, Sidebar gadgets tend to be limited in functionality. DesktopX objects, however, have no limitations, a user can make plugins in C++ or virtually any other language allowing Sidebar gadgets to be incredibly powerful.

DesktopX 3.5 also includes a completely revamped website along with a major overhaul of the DesktopX documentation.

If you've ever wanted to see what kinds of cool stuff you can do with your desktop, DesktopX is a great and easy way to do it whether you're a novice or an expert PC user.

DesktopX is available on its own or as part of Object Desktop.

 

 Download: DesktopX 3.5
 Visit: www.desktopx.net
 New Documentation: DesktopX docs
 Screenshots: Desktops & Objects

Impulse has been released!

If you have any questions or problems, post here.

Stardock Launches Impulse: The PC's Next-Generation Distribution Platform

PLYMOUTH, MI – June 17, 2008 – With the backing of industry powerhouse games and software developers and publishers, Stardock today announced the launch of its next-generation digital distribution platform, Impulse (www.impulsedriven.com). Impulse is a cohesive, integrated virtual platform for consumers and developers that is designed to simplify buying, supporting, and developing PC games and applications for Windows XP and Vista.

"Impulse is a platform first, a store second," said Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock Corp. "Our primary objective with Impulse is to address the issues users have with their Windows experience today. That includes being able to boot up a new PC, install Impulse, and then be able to press a button and have it install all of your software and games with one click."

To this end, Stardock has been working with major PC game publishers and software developers to bring as many titles onto Impulse over the next several months. For developers and publishers, Impulse supports localized currencies, custom pricing models for affiliates, exclusive store items on a per-partner basis, publisher controlled availability, and more. For consumers, Impulse is expected to have the largest selection of digitally-available software on the market within its first year of operation. Currently Impulse features more than 100 games and software applications.

Stardock is currently working with premier game and software companies including Epic Games, THQ, AVG, iolo, Gas Powered Games, Hothead Games, Ironclad Games, Meridian4 and many others.

"Impulse is, by far, the most advanced digital distribution platform we've seen, and we're extremely excited to take advantage of the features of Impulse Reactor," said Chris Taylor, CEO of Gas Powered Games. "It's easy to use, has awesome capabilities for developers, and it doesn't tie consumers to a single digital distribution platform."

Continued Wardell, "Impulse is designed to help consumers get the full use of their PC. For example, a user who has purchased multiple programs over the years is left hunting for CDs and registration numbers when setting up a new machine, and their data may be scattered across multiple USB drives and other computers. If the user has games, it can be needlessly complex to find and set up multiplayer games and keep up to date on drivers."

Impulse addresses these issues; once a user purchases a program, it is automatically associated with their Impulse account. Users can update or re-download a given program when they set up a new machine or as needed. In addition, Impulse allows users to associate programs with their Impulse accounts even if those programs weren't purchased through Impulse. For example, a user who purchases a game from their local retailer or a different digital distribution service would be able to associate their purchase with Impulse if the program's publisher takes advantage of the free option. Additionally, Impulse supports refunds for users who have technical issues with a game or application.

"Digital distribution empowers independent developers like Hothead and is exactly what the game industry needs today," said Vlad Ceraldi, president of Hothead Games. "Impulse will offer more choices to gamers and developers alike--we are truly excited about the games we will bring to Impulse, starting with our first game series, On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness."

Impulse will also provide a virtual platform called Impulse Reactor, a set of server-side features for developers that will work even if the user doesn't have the Impulse client installed. Impulse Reactor will include support for virtual drives for saved game data, multiplayer matchmaking, game rankings, NAT negotiation for multiplayer games, friends lists, and support forums.

Also unique to Impulse is its distribution model. Companies and individuals will be able to distribute their own branded version of Impulse starting in mid-August, and every time a user creates an account with an affiliated distributor, that distributor will receive a percentage of the gross revenue of any future purchases.

Amongst the first distributors of Impulse will be AMD, which will be distributing Impulse as part of their Ruby ROM content disk that accompanies their graphics cards as well as from the AMD Game! website.

Darren McPhee, senior marketing manager for gaming at AMD said, "We are excited about the potential of Impulse to help enhance the user experience of our customers. With the continuing advances in PC technology, we see Impulse as a terrific way to help bring these advances to our user base."

Impulse can be used by developers, publishers, and even retailers. "Digital distribution shouldn’t be seen as a threat to our retail partners, rather as an opportunity," said Wardell.

By passing Microsoft's stringent testing procedures, Impulse has been Certified for Windows Vista. Applications that receive this recognition have been independently tested to assure the highest levels of compatibility, functionality and reliability and must meet both Microsoft's own security guidelines and the privacy standards set for by the Anti-Spyware coalition.

"Microsoft is pleased that Stardock has earned the Certified for Windows Vista software logo for their Impulse application," said Jeff Price, senior director in Windows Client Product Management at Microsoft Corp. "This highlights Stardock's commitment to providing its customers with higher quality applications that deliver a more secure, reliable and compatible experience with Windows Vista."

"We are excited to be working with Stardock on the launch of Impulse. We believe that through Impulse, the iolo brand, and System Mechanic in particular, will be introduced into a promising new market. Through Impulse, consumers will be able to benefit from having access to a variety of software applications, games and drivers through a single platform," said Tim Weinzirl, business development manager, iolo technology.

Stardock will be releasing Impulse in three phases. Today marks the initial launch of the Impulse client, with the immediate availability of titles from multiple PC game publishers and software developers. Phase two, scheduled for mid-August, will include Impulse Reactor and the beta of MyImpulse, a utility that will allow developers to automatically submit their games or software to Impulse under a streamlined, uniform royalty agreement for moderation. Phase three will be launched in early 2009 and will greatly automate the ability for developers to publish their games and software on Impulse as well as include virtual drive management tools.

To learn more about Impulse visit www.impulsedriven.com. Impulse is also included on the retail version of Stardock’s new PC strategy game, The Political Machine 2008.

About Stardock

Stardock is one of the world's leading developers and publishers of PC games and desktop software. Its PC games include Sins of a Solar Empire, the highest rated and best selling PC strategy game of 2008 as well as the critically acclaimed Galactic Civilizations series. Its desktop software includes Object Desktop, WindowBlinds, and a host of other programs for customizing the Windows experience.

Wow! It's finally here. Stardock has been working on Impulse for almost two years now and it's finally here. 

Our Story So Far

In 1999, Stardock released Object Desktop for Windows. It was designed as a retail product but Stardock at the time didn't have the resources to release it at stores.  So we created a program called Component Manager that allowed users to "turn the Internet into a virtual CD" and download and update it and renew access to it.

Component Manager 1999 to 2002

by 2003, we had updated this to become "Stardock Central" which was a lot more sophisticated than Component Manager. It added a lot of features but it still focused primarily on buying, downloading, and updating our stuff. Third party independent developers also made use of it as well but overall, it was, as its name implied, a Stardock solution:

Stardock Central 2003 - 2008

But what we wanted to do was something a lot more comprehensive. Something that would greatly improve the experience for all PC users. As we began designing it, we realized we weren't creating just a download manager but a platform. Something that third parties would be able to make use of. Something that users would want to use even if they hadn't bought anything from it.  The end result of this is Impulse.

Impulse

[more]The initial launch of Impulse won't have nearly as much content initially as existing digital distributors. It's going to take time to literally get the many gigabytes (terrabytes actually) of content up on the servers. Over the coming months, you'll see more and more products show up. But even on day 1, you'll see hundreds of games and applications available. With widespread industry support, Impulse should have the largest selection of PC software within a year. But it'll take time.

The opening months

At first, we'll be focusing on making tweaks and improvements to Impulse itself. Users of Stardock's software (whether it be gamers or skinners) are familiar with our policy of incorporating features right from the community.  We also will be tuning our software to make use of the Impulse virtual platform called Impulse Reactor. The tools we make for our own use we'll be providing to third-parties.  This way, third-parties will be able to submit their own programs, mods, games, etc. to Impulse and then it's a matter of moderation.  This way, the developers and publishers themselves can control the pricing.  This should help streamline the process of providing sales and discounts to users.

Other features for publishers will be to let them put up titles and pricing on a per territory basis.  Stardock itself maintains one price worldwide and will continue this policy. But Impulse allows for different pricing in different regions if the publisher wants to do that.

DRM is dying

A few years ago it was unthinkable but I think people see the writing on the wall. DRM, as we know it, is dying.  It's just not very effective.  But that doesn't mean that it's moving to the "honor system" either.  Impulse, like Stardock Central before it, uses SSD (Secure Software Delivery).  The "copy protection" is done at the same time as the download so it's seamless. What's nice about it is that it's smart enough to know about installing and uninstalling which means we can provide refunds to users who have technical issues. 

But but..my <insert program here> is all I want!

I read the forums and whether it be fans of Steam or Direct2Drive or GamersGate or what have you, what people need to understand is that Impulse is not a replacement for any of these programs. Beware the idea of wanting to have a "single source" solution to all your needs.  Impulse is designed to work with all these programs.  I use Steam, I launch it from Impulse along with my Valve games.  I also have Corel Draw and Photoshop on my machine. Just because I could do most of what I do in Photoshop with Corel Draw doesn't mean that I would stop using one or the other.

It's going to be a fun opening set of months. Between now and late August there will be a lot of updates and tweaks and new features and software added! We look forward to hearing your feedback!

Impulse is the greatest thing since sliced bread...yada yada yada.

But how good is it really? Ultimately, only you will be able to decide.  What I'm going to do here is give my personal opinion on how Impulse stands on the eve of its launch.

The Comparisons

Let's just get this out of the way, Impulse is not Steam or Direct2Drive or Xfire or whatever.  It's has a very different design philosophy.  So let me just say this: You would have to pry Steam out of my cold dead hands.  You should judge Impulse as how well it addresses your problems.

First Impressions

So I double click on the Impulse icon.  How fast does it load?  On my ThinkPad T60 it's about 5 seconds but YMMV.  In its phase 2 edition (August) I think we need to make it more multithreaded so that when you launch it, it comes up like a window. I.e. instantly.  But it is pretty snappy (a lot faster for me than the betas were).

My next question would be, how much RAM is this thing using?

On load up, about 15 megabytes which is pretty good given that Internet Explorer uses 84 megabytes! 

The Store

From a digital e-commerce point of view, the million dollar question is, how good is the selection in the Impulse store?  With Steam or Direct2Drive, I can get a gazillion different games.  So what about Impulse? The answer depends on what you're looking for. 

Impulse will have a bunch of big name AAA software applications from third parties on it on the first day.  On the games side it won't be quite as competitive on day 1 but within a year it should have equal third-party support as anything else.  The first 30 or so days will see a lot of new games added and then the publishers taking a "wait and see" position will likely start putting their titles on there.

But by Christmas, I suspect it won't be selection that makes one choose one digital store over another but rather the features and services that these things provide.  Impulse, for instance, supports refunds for users having technical issues. That's a pretty big deal IMO. As far as I know, that will be unique to Impulse.

Community Features

So that we're all on the same page, Impulse isn't just a download manager ala Stardock Central.  It is a full blown digital distribution platform.  The platform comes in the form of Impulse Reactor which is a server-side virtual API set for developers.

A developer could, for instance, using the free Impulse Reactor SDK (which will be launched in mid August) type into their game: CVP.SaveGame() and save their game to the player's virtual drive.  Or CVP.LoadPreferences() to get a game's preferences.

The first game to make use of the Common Virtual Platform will be The Political Machine.  Unfortunately, The Political Machine v1.1 wasn't ready by the Impulse launch so we had to hide the "Games" button from the community area for multiplayer match making.  As soon as it's ready, the button will come back and players will be able to find games either there or within The Political Machine itself.  Other games that will be using it include Sins of a Solar Empire, Galactic Civilizations II v2.0, and Demigod.  We are also working with a number of third party developers to begin using this.

Blogging

I am very biased in favor of non-website whenever possible. I just find website stuff slow. 

The blogging and forum behavior on Impulse is pretty fast but I'd like to see it much faster.  As in, instantaneous.

I think in the coming weeks you'll see a lot of improvements to performance across the whole thing as the initial launch was largely about just getting stuff in there.

My Friends

The friends stuff is a pretty big deal for me as both a user and as a gamer.  It's only in its beginning stages really.  Eventually, you'll be able to easily get games going and filter by friends or friends of friends to help improve the multiplayer experience.

When I play on-line, my biggest gripe is the griefing and such I run into.  I'm 36 years old, I just don't have time to waste in a multiplayer game with some 15 year old whose out to "max their ranking".

Features that didn't make to the launch that make me sad

There are 3 big features that had to be put into phase 2 (August) that make me sad. The Impulse side was done but we just didn't have enough time on the game side to make use of them yet.

Those are:

1. Multiplayer Matchmaking.  People could start and join games right from Impulse.
2. Achievements.
3. Game Rankings.

They'll get in there, we just have to update The Political Machine and other games to make use of them so that we can show off what's possible to game developers.

The same is true for NAT negotiation and such.  One of the biggest pains in the butt on the PC is getting ports and firewalls set up right for a game. In Impulse phase 3, the Impulse back end will be set up to act as a kind of back-up for games that use our platform.  So a user could connect to another user without knowing anything about routers and what not.  We're hoping Demigod will be the first game to make use of this.

Getting Updates

So right now, there's a tab called "Updates" that shows up if there are updates to ones programs.  I'd like to see an option put in asap that simply has Impulse download these updates automatically.

My other request is that when downloading updates, I want to see my actual bandwidth speed. I realize this is cosmetic but somewhere, techies should be able to get some idea of how fast their connections are.

Getting to my stuff

Impulse lets users add new categories to  their applications and move things around via the dock (we'll talk about that more soon).

If there's an update, an exclamation point shows up next to it.

What's not in the launch version are forums for every application or a chat channel. Eventually everything will get its own forum and chat channel.

Registering your stuff

Users can associate various programs with their account.  Right now, the only commercial programs that you can associate with your account are Stardock ones and programs you bought from Impulse. But the next step is to let you be able to associate any program with your account regardless of where you purchased it.

This way, when are setting up a new machine, you can just let Impulse download and install all your stuff (freeware, shareware, games, whatever).

Preferences

Clicking on the orb in the top left opens up additional options.  You can set up where things install on a per category basis:

The Dock

Impulse is designed to customizeable.  The initial launch doesn't have the skinning selection features in. That's coming "real soon now(TM)". But you can add and edit your own categories:

 
Extending Impulse

When you press the minimize to dock, Impulse launches the dock:

Impulse Dock

The dock displays the same content as the Impulse client. By default, it is set to auto-hide so it will hide to the taskbar edge with the user able to bring it up by moving their mouse to the bottom edge of the screen.

The dock is pretty powerful and yet light weight.

We plan to release later on an Impulse Tray applet that users can optionally use to stay in touch with friends, posts, updates, etc.  It will not be part of Impulse itself as it will be designed to be as tiny as possible. 

So what's next?

I think most people will find Impulse pretty compelling. Initially, its game content is not on par with Steam or Direct2Drive but that should change over time.  Obviously on the non-game software side, it enjoys a tremendous advantage. 

Impulse itself is pretty snappy but I found the forums and blog services be a bit on the slow side. This will be something Stardock will need to improve.

Download speeds of new programs, by contrast are fast. Faster than anything I've ever used anywhere.

The customization features, while decent, could be a lot better. I.e. I'd like to be able to select from a list of skins.  Stardock's the leader in this area so it's something that it will be adding and supporting through its skinning site, WinCustomize.com.

It will be important that Impulse show off the features of Impulse Reactor as quickly as possible.  Getting the Multiplayer matchmaking in should be up by the end of the month.  Achievements, rankings, etc. are all going to be crucial as well.

I'd like to be able to filter out programs that are available but not installed. I'm an extreme case since I have a ton of things linked to my account but still.

I think people will be pleasantly surprised at how fast and memory efficient the overall program is.  Given how pretty it is, on might expect it to be slow and a memory hog but even in its first release, it's really snappy.

Impulse is the greatest thing since sliced bread...yada yada yada.

But how good is it really? Ultimately, only you will be able to decide.  What I'm going to do here is give my personal opinion on how Impulse stands on the eve of its launch.

[more]

The Comparisons

Let's just get this out of the way, Impulse is not Steam or Direct2Drive or Xfire or whatever.  It's has a very different design philosophy.  So let me just say this: You would have to pry Steam out of my cold dead hands.  You should judge Impulse as how well it addresses your problems.

First Impressions

So I double click on the Impulse icon.  How fast does it load?  On my ThinkPad T60 it's about 5 seconds but YMMV.  In its phase 2 edition (August) I think we need to make it more multithreaded so that when you launch it, it comes up like a window. I.e. instantly.  But it is pretty snappy (a lot faster for me than the betas were).

My next question would be, how much RAM is this thing using?

On load up, about 15 megabytes which is pretty good given that Internet Explorer uses 84 megabytes! 

The Store

From a digital e-commerce point of view, the million dollar question is, how good is the selection in the Impulse store?  With Steam or Direct2Drive, I can get a gazillion different games.  So what about Impulse? The answer depends on what you're looking for. 

The first week of the Impulse launch will be spent handling the logistics of getting hundreds of gigabytes of games, utilities, and applications up on the servers. So what is available at say 1pm on the day of the launch will be different from what is available at 5pm of the same day with each day adding more and more stuff.

But by Christmas, I suspect it won't be selection that makes one choose one digital store over another but rather the features and services that these things provide.  Impulse, for instance, supports refunds for users having technical issues. That's a pretty big deal IMO. As far as I know, that will be unique to Impulse.

Community Features

So that we're all on the same page, Impulse isn't just a download manager ala Stardock Central.  It is a full blown digital distribution platform.  The platform comes in the form of Impulse Reactor which is a server-side virtual API set for developers.

A developer could, for instance, using the free Impulse Reactor SDK (which will be launched in mid August) type into their game: CVP.SaveGame() and save their game to the player's virtual drive.  Or CVP.LoadPreferences() to get a game's preferences.

The first game to make use of the Common Virtual Platform will be The Political Machine.  Unfortunately, The Political Machine v1.1 wasn't ready by the Impulse launch so we had to hide the "Games" button from the community area for multiplayer match making.  As soon as it's ready, the button will come back and players will be able to find games either there or within The Political Machine itself.  Other games that will be using it include Sins of a Solar Empire, Galactic Civilizations II v2.0, and Demigod.  We are also working with a number of third party developers to begin using this.

Blogging

I am very biased in favor of non-website whenever possible. I just find website stuff slow. 

The blogging and forum behavior on Impulse is pretty fast but I'd like to see it much faster.  As in, instantaneous.

I think in the coming weeks you'll see a lot of improvements to performance across the whole thing as the initial launch was largely about just getting stuff in there.

My Friends

The friends stuff is a pretty big deal for me as both a user and as a gamer.  It's only in its beginning stages really.  Eventually, you'll be able to easily get games going and filter by friends or friends of friends to help improve the multiplayer experience.

When I play on-line, my biggest gripe is the griefing and such I run into.  I'm 36 years old, I just don't have time to waste in a multiplayer game with some 15 year old whose out to "max their ranking".

Features that didn't make to the launch that make me sad

There are 3 big features that had to be put into phase 2 (August) that make me sad. The Impulse side was done but we just didn't have enough time on the game side to make use of them yet.

Those are:

1. Multiplayer Matchmaking.  People could start and join games right from Impulse.
2. Achievements.
3. Game Rankings.

They'll get in there, we just have to update The Political Machine and other games to make use of them so that we can show off what's possible to game developers.

The same is true for NAT negotiation and such.  One of the biggest pains in the butt on the PC is getting ports and firewalls set up right for a game. In Impulse phase 3, the Impulse back end will be set up to act as a kind of back-up for games that use our platform.  So a user could connect to another user without knowing anything about routers and what not.  We're hoping Demigod will be the first game to make use of this.

Getting Updates

So right now, there's a tab called "Updates" that shows up if there are updates to ones programs.  I'd like to see an option put in asap that simply has Impulse download these updates automatically.

My other request is that when downloading updates, I want to see my actual bandwidth speed. I realize this is cosmetic but somewhere, techies should be able to get some idea of how fast their connections are.

Getting to my stuff

Impulse lets users add new categories to  their applications and move things around via the dock (we'll talk about that more soon).

If there's an update, an exclamation point shows up next to it.

What's not in the launch version are forums for every application or a chat channel. Eventually everything will get its own forum and chat channel.

Registering your stuff

Users can associate various programs with their account.  Right now, the only commercial programs that you can associate with your account are Stardock ones and programs you bought from Impulse. But the next step is to let you be able to associate any program with your account regardless of where you purchased it.

This way, when are setting up a new machine, you can just let Impulse download and install all your stuff (freeware, shareware, games, whatever).

Preferences

Clicking on the orb in the top left opens up additional options.  You can set up where things install on a per category basis:

The Dock

Impulse is designed to customizeable.  The initial launch doesn't have the skinning selection features in. That's coming "real soon now(TM)". But you can add and edit your own categories:

 
Extending Impulse

When you press the minimize to dock, Impulse launches the dock:

Impulse Dock

The dock displays the same content as the Impulse client. By default, it is set to auto-hide so it will hide to the taskbar edge with the user able to bring it up by moving their mouse to the bottom edge of the screen.

The dock is pretty powerful and yet light weight.

We plan to release later on an Impulse Tray applet that users can optionally use to stay in touch with friends, posts, updates, etc.  It will not be part of Impulse itself as it will be designed to be as tiny as possible. 

So what's next?

I think most people will find Impulse pretty compelling. Initially, its game content is not on par with Steam or Direct2Drive but that should change over time.  Obviously on the non-game software side, it enjoys a tremendous advantage. 

Impulse itself is pretty snappy but I found the forums and blog services be a bit on the slow side. This will be something Stardock will need to improve.

Download speeds of new programs, by contrast are fast. Faster than anything I've ever used anywhere.

The customization features, while decent, could be a lot better. I.e. I'd like to be able to select from a list of skins.  Stardock's the leader in this area so it's something that it will be adding and supporting through its skinning site, WinCustomize.com.

It will be important that Impulse show off the features of Impulse Reactor as quickly as possible.  Getting the Multiplayer matchmaking in should be up by the end of the month.  Achievements, rankings, etc. are all going to be crucial as well.

I'd like to be able to filter out programs that are available but not installed. I'm an extreme case since I have a ton of things linked to my account but still.

I think people will be pleasantly surprised at how fast and memory efficient the overall program is.  Given how pretty it is, on might expect it to be slow and a memory hog but even in its first release, it's really snappy.

So here I am sitting in the airport. Luckily, I have a net connection.

For years, PC makers have competed with one another largely on price. PCs, it was said, were nothing more than a commodity. But over the past couple of years, consumers have begun to take the overall experience a lot more seriously.

Last year's successful launch of the Apple iPhone made clear to cell phone makers that yes, the experience a "commodity" provides for the customer matters.  PC makers have begun to take note and leading the way is Dell who began pre-loading the new Dell Dock on consumer PCs yesterday.

The new dock, represents a significant improvement for Windows Vista users over the default experience by seamlessly integrating programs and data into the desktop experience. It's a first step to be sure but it's a pretty bold move for one of the world's leading PC producers to take. 

While at a glance, one might try to argue that the dock looks like the MacOS X dock. But that would be akin to people saying that the dock in MacOS X is like the LaunchPad that came with IBM OS/2. What makes the Dell dock special is its ease of customization, low memory foot print, and raw performance. In addition, as pretty as the Dell Dock is, its focus is on usability rather than flash. Short-cuts get separated from folders, the category view is designed for ease of access, and dozens of small touches make it feel as if it were a natural part of Windows.

Developed by Stardock's ObjectDock team, the Dell Dock is not based on the ObjectDock code but rather a brand-new Stardock technology platform designed to deliver exquisite performance while being incredibly efficient with system resources.

"We've spent years learning how to integrate new technology into Microsoft Windows to improve the user experience," said Kirk Windisch, Director of Stardock Software. "Now the focus is how to deliver this improved experience to consumers with enterprise-level robustness with a minimum use of system resources."

The Dell Dock is expected to be launched on over 11 million PCs this year. For PC users, it is a first step to a brave new world where the PC makers themselves are taking the Windows experience more and more seriously. Dell has clearly made giving their consumer customers a better experience a priority.

About once a month someone, somewhere, will comment on something I've written saying how "A CEO shouldn't act so unprofessionally in public". Over the years, I've gotten that message hundreds of times along with predictions of demise for my company due to my "public" behavior.

Now, I think the case could be made that we live in a different time. The new age of companies have executives who hang out on forums and mix it up with people. But I'm not going to make that argument because, ultimately, it doesn't matter. I would still do what I do no matter what.

My personal and professional objectives have always been the same: I want to do what I want to do.

That is my top priority. Freedom.

Freedom has consequences. I am certain, beyond a doubt, that my public postings on various topics over the years has alienated some percentage of users who have encountered what I written to the point that they have decided to not purchase products and services from my company. I'm okay with it. It's a price I'm willing to pay to be able to do what I want.

Here are some examples:

This week, Neowin.net publicly revealed its affiliation with Stardock. Stardock owns 40% of Neowin.net. It doesn't really affect the way the site is run. I was already on Neowin's staff as a volunteer long before I got Stardock involved with it. I just love the site and its community. And I wanted to help so we put together a new company to do just that and it's worked out great.

As an active user on Neowin, there are some people who don't like me. There have been many arguments as to why news items that get posted about Stardock get trolled. Here is one user's explanation:

The problem with this whole thing is that the staff here assumes most people have a problem with Brad due to his Stardock affiliation, but that's not the case at all. People just flat out don't like him. It has nothing to do with the companies he owns or doesn't own. It comes down to the way he treats members here.

Now, users on Stardock sites who read my posts know how I "treat" people. It's not that I treat people badly. I'm just not very sympathetic to people who incessantly complain about every little thing. I particularly have little patience for people whose idea of "free speech" is to flame some person, product, or company and then be taken aback when that person or representative of that product or company defends themselves.

A user on WinCustomize.com wrote this today:

You guys have GREAT products (I am paying for virtually everything you make these days), but Brad tends to do all the PR himself, via grass roots article posts on sites like Neowin.net, etc. Their limited effectiveness contributes to the pervading sense that Stardock will never rise above a niche player, but the REALLY big issue here is that Brad is doing the grass roots posts AND then engages in these childish "my tiny little software company is bigger than your even tinier little software company" flame threads. Having the same person covering both of these communication avenues really really makes both the company and its executive management look very small and unfortunately rather petty.

I totally agree with most of what he said. Having the CEO of a company personally slogging it out on forums makes Stardock look small. He's totally incorrect if he thinks this is some for of PR. I don't do PR. Our PR team does PR. Hanging out on forums talking about games or bee keeping or skinning is not PR. I might also quibble that a company that makes $20 million a year is not a "tiny little software company" but that's just me.

In fact, I think he speaks great truth. My public postings and such do give the impression that Stardock is really small. I imagine the typical user on Neowin who reads my posts would be shocked to know that Stardock is a major game developer and PC game publisher. Or that millions of PCs this year will ship with our software on them. Or that our technology powers 911 call centers across the country. And so on simply because they assume that a "real company" wouldn't have their CEO slogging it out on some web forum with some user about Windows device drivers or whatever.

But the main point he's trying to make is totally correct. The fact that the CEO of Stardock is out on forums talking to users or even arguing with them or responding to some flame from some piddly quasi-competing "skinning" company does impact the perception of Stardock. However, I don't care. Or more accurately, I don't care enough to change because I value being able to say and do what I want more than I care about people's perceptions.

Stardock isn't a public company. It's not investor run. It doesn't even have investors. It's my company. It's a company with around 60 people these days that I can proudly say has not had any voluntary turn over in over 2 years. How many other software or game companies of that size can make that claim? And the reason for that is that my public attitude is my private attitude too -- we're going to do what we want to do. Not just me but the people there too.

When Steve, Marcel, and I formed Neowin LLC, my suggestion to them was pretty straight forward: Do what you want to do. In the 3 years since we got together, there hasn't been a single time I've tried to veto anything they wanted to do. In fact, there's not be a single time we've even disagreed on a Neowin idea.

Sure, there's a cost to doing what you want to do. I have gotten plenty of ribbing that we're working on a TURN-BASED fantasy strategy game instead of making it an RTS. But I want to make a turn-based fantasy strategy game. It won't sell as well as an RTS would but so what? What good is more money if you can't do what you want to do?

I'm 36. I've got a beautiful wife. 3 wonderful children. Plus I've got the toys. The Porsche 911 Turbo, the boat, the lake cottage, the big house, etc. And I get to work every day with people who I really like. Not just professionally but on a personal level. So I've already got what I want personally. So freedom to do what I want matters a lot to me.

Every day at Stardock is FUN. Even during crunch-time it's FUN. And why is it fun? Because every day we do what we want to do.

And part of doing what you want to do is being able to show some obnoxious customer the door or not hiding the fact that you're an expert in some area when discussing a topic on some web forum.

One last example from Neowin:

No matter how much money Stardock has given Neowin, no matter how much better services Neowin has been able to provide it's members as a result of this (which I highly respect Stardock for leaving NEowin virtually untouched, don't get me wrong), it will never, ever, justify an Admin acting with a "better than thou" or a "know it all" attitude towards its members.

Lest you think that their interpretations are wrong I'll say it myself. Yes, I do know better than most people on the topics I participate in. The typical loud-mouth posting on a web forum is a cretin. And I am willing to say, on the record, that yes, I do know more. On Neowin, when i get into debates on OS technology or whatever then yea, I do know what I'm talking about and most of the time, the person ranting is a bloody loon. And yes, I will act as "better than thou" attitude if I want to simply on the principle that I'm going to do what I want to do. It has nothing to do with being an admin. Any user who thinks that the forum postings of any individual, even a CEO, are going to have a noticeable effect on sales or traffic has no idea what they're talking about. I've been running on-line communities since I was a teenager (20 years now), so I think I can be a "know it all" on that factoid.

But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter whether I'm justified or not because I'm going to do what I want to do. And so far, it's worked out pretty well for both me, my family, my coworkers, and our customers.