DX is Dead R.I.P.

Me personally....I don't use DX except for the widgets. And once we had the problem with the weather feeds a while back and the bugs here and there I don't even use them as much. As for the objects mentioned above I hardly ever use any of those things. The weather/clock/calender I get from OD...I never used the DX player...Meters and Gauges I get from Winstep...and animations are cute but distracting most of the time. So nothing really bad or good to say about DX...I just don't use it. Pretty much when I have software seem to stop getting support...I stop using it.

I would actually re-purchase Natural Desktop if I could have a Windows 7 version.

They'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands!!!

That said, I do wish it was higher on the priority list with Frogboy. It has so much potential and power. I use all the above things all the time.

Here is my deal in a nutshell....

I make all these DX themes for all to use, but after I upload, I make my copy my own by adding all the things I use all the time, (shortcuts, etc.).

I add the weather widget to the desktop, then I export the entire desktop as a widget. Have it run at startup, since DX won't, and I no longer have need for the following items.

WINDOWS...lol.

These items are all negated by my DX theme:

Start Panel

Object Dock

desktop icons

WMP,etc.

Sysmetrix

you get the idea. All I need is a Windowblind, a DesktopX theme, and a cursor.

DesktopX, in it's current form (4.0) is unusable for me. So I stick with 3.5. I hope when 4.0 is finished, released, whatever, that the developers see fit to leave the existing plugins in it for backwards compatability.

As Merle stated above, anyone wishing to get into DXing, contact one of us, we will be glad to offer any help needed.

I also wish to thank littleboy for his DX efforts. David, where are you? Eve, you know I love ya!

Merle, thanks for this post, and for all your help with DX. I cut my skinning teeth on some of your ancient skins...lol...a long time ago.

Really tho, thanks for the help.

Thanks to you and Jim for your efforts.

I use the weather widgets all the time. I like having calendars, clocks, meters and gauges. I use Vad_M's media player, which I guess is not the DX media player. Animations are a neat trick, but I'm not nuts about them--I can easily live without them if they don't have a specific purpose except to make you say wow.  Some people like having RSS feeds, so I suppose that there are a few other things that could be included in a theme.

Just my opinion :

DX Player - When compared with Xion it is very poor. Not changed much since day one.

Weather - Since the issuue we had I just use a Firefox add-on.

Clock and calendar - Already on the Windows 7 taskbar. Just click it to expand to a fully featured object.

Menus - Just add the programs to the Taskbar and folders to the expanding explorer feature.

Meters and gauges - Never use them.

Animations - Limited use.

This said, what other objects are there ?

Well for me at the moment it comes to a very sad conclusion : It helps nothing how much we discuss, do a gazillion themes or objects (even ones that push the limits) if we don't have any support from the development for ages. So this thread will be wasted energy also I fear...

I never found a legitimate use for DX on my machine.  As such, I don't use it.  Maybe something better will come along...

I migrated over to Winstep, still use Windowblinds & OD tho.

Murex : I am not interested in themes, as they start to all look the same besides some color or form aspects. I think the real strength of DX is objects and gadgets, not full blown themes.

As a side note, I have also registered WinStep but only using NextStep (yet) as a substitute for my beloved RightClick on Win7 64bit.

Very surprised what only one single developer can achieve.

All the above,not so much the calendar though.

It depends on the theme but yes if it's not too distracting.

I'm the opposite,I prefer everything integrated into a theme. If I want a standalone gadget, the sidebar/windows gadgets work just as well or better. If you have a quad core 64 bit system with over 2gb of ram you know how badly the DX performance meter plugins need to be updated.

Long Live DX!

See, that's what I love about this community.

I don't like too much stuff on my desktop. I like it clean and minimalist, so I can think and get stuff done. Therefore, I don't use most of what you've listed, Murex.

For months, I've been using a zero-graphics, text-only theme comprised of menus and a calendar. I also have a weather widget running.

I love controlling the functionality, more than the look, of my desktop, and I love creating gadgets which I can use to perform various tasks. DesktopX accomplishes this, so I will keep using it until it's no longer supported and it kills my computer.

How does this differ from WindowBlinds, or Object Dock? Those are all the same, just different graphics.

Someone once said to me that a lot of my themes are the same theme with graphics swapped out, well, isn't that exactly what WindowBlinds is? Yes.

I'm thinking that DX is coming to be mainly just used by the people who skin it. Fans are dying out due to the lack of "newness" that requires new scripts and plugins to bring DX back to it's full power. There is a multitude of windows gadgets and sidebar gadgets, why can't DX do the same? It could, if Stardock would only back it's development, and that requires interest, which doesn't seem to exist anymore.

Call me a fanboy, or whatever. Yes, there are other apps to do what DX does. But most aren't Stardock products, and I, for one, have a home here, therefore, I am loyal to Stardock products when possible and most definitely loyal to DesktopX and to the WC Community.

I feel the WC/Stardock community is best served if we use Stardock products whenever possible. I realize this isn't how most of you feel.

You are a fanboy!  Well you said to call you one.

You are not alone with that feeling Jim.

I thin a lot of the objects are kinda dead. I used to love making DXThemes.

I can't find scripts to do what I want to do which is make more interesting desktop interfaces. I have a few that have been sitting around for a while because I can't find the scripts or understand how to write them.

I personally think the way to go with DX is to make more interactive themes (and you don't need a lot of animations, etc)

Here are three that have been dead in the water due to scripting problems.

OCCAM (I had made an entire new set of weather icons for this as well)

DOOM

TYCUS

Only that You are not bound to certain shapes and order of controls in DX. Can You have a round window for example in WB ? No. In the beginning of DX we had really innovative ideas and themes that got dated and left alone by the makers as DX got less and less development and support.

Look what people did with Sountox or Universe Metal or others over 5 years ago. Look at Gef's things. I would really like to update all these and bring them to modern standards. But not with DX all wrecked and dated.

RedneckDude, don't get me wrong, I don't want to talk down Your efforts, but I am under the impression that You think it will have any effect how much people do DX things, It does NOT. We've been there and done things for years.  Think Vad, Roman, Gef and others who are nearly forgotten already. You just have to look through the galleries from the beginning.

I think at some point Stardock has to decide if they want to do games or Desktop Customizing besides some 3 or 4 mainplayers (WB, DeskScapes (as useless as it is...), Fences and perhaps IP) instead of wrecking apps and then put everything on hold and in wrecks because the next game or little favorite minor project (speak Fences) has to be realeased... See the ObjectDock desaster also.

Pos's things are great, yes, but I understand his problems fully.

Aside from Bugs You have to struggle with when trying advanced things. Bugs as dumb as DX forgetting persistent settings sometimes. Reported for YEARS.

Roman had helped me with some, but he is very busy, which I understand. What help he did give me showed me that what I want IS possible.

Okay, who wants to take a look at OCCAM for me?

I rarely use any of the DX themes.  I never thought they were the point of DX.  They are nice and useful ..  but give me the tools!

RomanDA has made a number of mini-apps that I use every day.  That has been the strength of DX.

• DX timer is super useful to me.
• Process Memory Usage - useful
• Site-checker - not as useful at the moment but very nice.
• Holiday countdown - Use it daily
• File transporter - killer app

Littleboy's Volume control is super cool and useful.

CerbrosJD's Pixel ruler is a tool I always keep with me.

Sent you a PM PO,  I'll try to help you out.

On the way.

Even though i have only made 1 dx widget, it gave me hours of fun designing it and making sure all the graphics worked right, that the scripts for visibility etc worked. I wanted to do something different, think out of the box and thats what i did. Its so much easier then doing a blind, and is versatile in its features other then a wb which is just basically a background. I used to use the weather widget a lot before the problems, now i tend not to as its less accurate. It can still be used as a good programing tool.

OK, the first one, I'm stupid, I guess, can't figure out how to use it...

Second and third.....I need to find these!