How the heck does a discussion about the future of SD/Windows OS customizing end up as a "my OS balls are bigger than your OS balls"?

Linux is, and likely will always be that 'odd not-mentioned sibling OS kept hidden in the attic' simply because next to no-one actually uses it or cares to use it.  The VAST majority of PC users use Windows....and when Win 7 formally rolls out/hits the shelves all the prior Win vers will pale into insignificance [7 is THAT good] - almost as palid as Linux is already...;)

But a totally different OS.

Keep up with Fences, OD and RightClick, products which enhances your computer usability Frogboy. Looking forward to see what you guys come up with!

You tease me like Matt Lauer waving a 5th Avenue candy bar in Al Rokers line of site.

Shew!! I'm so glad to NOT see DesktopX in that list!! 

As for moving on, I have decided, if I ever finish my first blind, I am not going to skin XP. Just Vista and 7. 

I haven't used XP in 2 years or more... used to dual boot XP/Vista, but ended up uninstalling XP about 12 months ago because I never ever used it. XP is SOOOO old hat and out of date/behind the times, why would I!

So good riddance to XP and roll on Win 7... all the goodies Stardock can come up with to go with it.

im REALLY excited to hear about this........ xp is so dead, i dont have it anymore and personally cant WAIT to get my hands dirty with w7!!! i love new technology and trying to push our skins to new limits.... and cant wait to see wb7 either.

hope you dont think our current wb's suck frogboy.

The main problem with Linux is that it's a piece of crap as a desktop OS.

I can make some great screenshots with a Linux desktop. Then again, people could use any number of the endless custom shells for Windows and make a great screenshot too but they aren't used much for the same reason as Linux isn't used as a desktop OS, they're pretty crappy compared to using Windows (or MacOS).

I started out as an OS/2 zealot so I know what it's like to fight a losing cause. I also, with the benefit of hindsight, know how much cognitive dissonance can get in the way of objectively looking at what you're advocating.

Now... 

Getting back to the topic at hand...

RightClick, as we know it today, will likely go away and instead be replaced with something that is a lot more practical. You won't be able to embed gadgets and such into your right-click menu but it'll integrate a lot more seamlessly into the native context menus in Windows.

That's the kind of difference that I am planning for Object Desktop. Customization with a purpose. 

Hate to burst bubbles, but there are still far more people on XP than any other OS.. I still feel it is a mistake for any skinner with any aspirations to give up on it .... yet.

Of course it won't always be that way.. but for now.. for perhaps the next year I will still keep skinning XP, otherwise I am just alienating a large number of users. NTM... its far more skinner friendly... Hopefully that will change.

Brad you haven't remarked on my initial post. Really would be nice to have a little direction as far as the dev. of WB is concerned.

/me likes the sound of that - ALOT

RC is the one app left, that I find fun/easy to skin! Would hate to see it go away.

I've heard that claim before - BUT:

• Microsoft and Apple pour some serious dollars into ease of use. They commit some serious research into it.
• Linux, for the most part, guesses what is "easy to use" and what's not.

What I can't figure out is why Linux makes some pretty basic blunders when it comes to ease of use. For example, Kubuntu, by default, does not allow me to use the "windows" key to open the K menu. Furthermore, the key mapping utility won't allow me to map it. I have to dig deep into some settings somewhere to enable it. What's up with that?

Windows, at the very least, doesn't make major blunders. It may not have fancy "cool" stuff like virtual desktops - but then again, maybe there's a reason for it: I can see my mother now saying "WHERE DID MY STUFF GO?!" It's a power user feature, not really an average user feature.

Windows 7 has done a good job at improving the UI experience IMHO. They're focusing on the most common scenarios: The user usually works with one or two applications at a time, perhaps with some background apps.

Yes, power users (the target market of Linux) use stuff like virtual desktops because they have lots of apps open. But that's not really the same as Microsoft's target market.

BTW, good to hear that StarDock is focusing on their customization apps again .

Anything - however new & optimal OS they might become - can be "enhanced" through external tools such as ObjectDesktop. I bought it for a number of reasons, one of which Vista itself.

I simply felt too much control over the UI was taken away from me by MS... came along skinning and other stuff with some SD stuff.

Good investment in a PC toolbox if only cuz that sort of poweruser gimmicks add value to an otherwise lame machine.

If there's one silly system flaw present in Vista, it's the lack of personally managed video codecs; making all drivers and usual programs accessing an exercise in frustration.

What we really need is a complete overall of a desktop that gives everything back to us. User friendly might have been a good idea since, but we (oldy guys) are accustomed to having total control over a system. We expect to *manage* our PC... not a Windows Media driven showoff constantly interrupted by absurd UC popups at that.

I think DesktopX customers deserve to have their product updated (continually) to exploit newest properties of W7 and the likes, otherwise we spent money on nothing worth keeping active or usefull.

SD innovated with Blinds & skinning, they should keep the flame burning with even more potential.

I was a long time XP fan/user and never moved on to Vista, but since I built a new pc and installed Seven on it, I really have no need/want for any Stardock products.. Kind of sad really, Iv'e been a customer for five years.. the wow factor is gone. I hope you can bring  the "wow" back Brad, I'll be watching.

I Liked XP, Absolutely loved vista, i was one of the lucky ones that vista64 ran like a charm on my machine, i have never had an issue since it came out, (other than the pre SP1 stuff) now i am using Win7 RTM and have already pre ordered, i had absolutley no probelems installing 7

Yea, Windows 7 is a game changer.

I'm with Snowy, sounds cool! ...................................hope it's skinnable though 

For all the hype I hope its as good as everyone says, and I reallly hope WB is developed parallel to let us... be us, and not caged animals like the effect Vista has had on skinning.

I know thats why Brainiac has been quiet for a while, tired of being shot down at every creative turn due to a restrictive UI.

Sure you can still be creative but, and I speak from experience, Vista has put a massive dent in creativity as it releates to the windows UI and how WB skins it.

i would like to see more creative control in vista and w7 would be awsome, specially for someone like me who likes to skin out of the box........this is for wb.

but i still think xp is dead john...sorry but i just do. its gonna be 2010 soon..you know?

Yep!  Definitely put a crimp in things for sure!  Personally I would love to see a complete rewrite of SkinStudio to allow for skinning those areas that cannot be skinned in Vista and Windows 7 at present.  Sure would be nice if it was point and click too! In other words, the complete area you are wanting to work in within the skin is depicted on the screen (like the start menu and all associated images), and clicking on the image you want to change/area you want to work in brings up a dialog with all the things you can change right in front of you.

But then again, I may just be  dreaming too....

Oh, and XP is definitely not dead, last thing I heard is that it still being used on about 68% of the PC's in the world today.

I would love to have a more control over the parts I make for WB. I do like the layer feature that has been added to SKS, and the texture feature to WB, but there are still things that I'd like to do with a skin that are just not possible.

I'd like to have more control over the text colors and fonts in EVERY section of the blind for starters. If the part is skinnable, it needs it's own text section that is not linked to other parts of the blind.

I'd like to have ALL the states of the start button to be animated, not just the mouseover state.

I want to be able to skin the tabs for W7. I don't know if that is in the works or not (I dont have 7 yet), but I've seen screenshots of it.

I hate it when you have rounded corners on a button and the buttonface (I think) color shows through..that looks like crap.

Those are just a few of the things that I think would allow us to be more creative with a skin. I come across things with every blind that i make that I would like changed or fixed in SKS. I guess I should start a list......

To put it simply: I want to be able to skin everything!

There is too much hard coded/classsic color controled elements. Give us the freedom to do what we want to do (what actually looks good) with all sections of a blind!

Give me a skinnable user pic background!

I can honestly say, regardless of the business case to support XP, I'm not real interested in supporting it any longer than absolutely necessary.

I don't want Object Desktop to become the OS for people who like to stay with ancient tech.

Windows 7 is the future. It's awesome and the only reason not to get Windows 7 is for economics at which point those same people aren't likely to pay $50 for Object Desktop either.

It is.

Wow, I have to disagree with this. I've been an OD subscriber for years but the last time I actually bought an OS that was not pre-installed on a machine was when I picked up a copy of Win XP Pro at the local university bookstore for $99. Vista's pricing scheme was ridiculous and I'm only running it now because it came pre-loaded on the computer I bought last year.

I doubt seriously I'll be upgrading to 7 anytime soon (maybe not for years). I hope this doesn't mean Vista folks will be left in the cold soon.