Object Desktop: Why did you buy it?

WindowBlinds, ObjectBar, IconPackager, SkinBrowser as a subscription to WC, Component Manager, SkinStudio, DesktopX.

I got all this stuff at first just to make my desktop look better, but then I figured out how to actually use the various progs to help me organize my workflow. Now, that is the primary reason I use the relevant OD apps. Organization, increase in productivity. I'd pay for that.

Like most of us, I started with WB and subscribed to OD for all the other neat stuff like IconPackager, WindowsFX, WebBlinds etc. The eyecandy stuff. A standard box looks weird without it now.

The most important part is OB. I created a vertical bar that has all the stuff I use regularly where I want to see it.

Although I haven't paid for ODNT, I have two years of subscription, one from Brad for a favour I did, and another from the Gui Olympics prize, when those two years are up, I can certainly say I WILL be renewing my subscription.

The variety of apps included within it, are of such good quality and functionality, that it justifies the price. Before I started using OD, I would have bought it merely from a skinners point of view - Some great apps, that I could customize with my own style.
After becoming an OD subscriber though, my viewpoint has changed to that of a skinner AND an enduser.

And besides, Windows looks shit when it's naked......

Well, I'm predominately interested in: WindowBlinds, ObjectBar, DesktopX, IconPackager, WinStyles and in that order. While Object Desktop has other applications, those seem to one extent or another to be the "anchor" apps for Object Desktop.

I first came across OD when, after messing around with Linux and the various KDE themes, I poked around the net to see if something similar existed for Windows (beyond just color schemes). I bought WindowBlinds first since it seemed a pretty good deal. After that you held out the OD carrot in the form of IconPackager and DesktopX At that point I said, what the heck, might as well go hog wild, though I was a bit leery at first until I became more familiar with Stardock.

I was initially intrigued by the other apps included in OD, but once I purchased it, I found that I didn't need all the other apps that initially seemed interesting. At this stage of the game, I look at what I use from OD as primarily eye candy. I'll occasionally play with DesktopX. I use ObjectBar alot more, but not as much as I use WinStep. Sorry but the menuing in Objectbar to be not as flexible for my own purposes. I pretty much use it to get the XP task bar and start menu, but I find this to be not a must-have. That said, I've been using ObjectBar alot more than I have in the past.

While I could easily get by with WB, I look at an OD subscription as sort of having a stake in Stardock. Just because I don't use all the apps, or only occasionally, doesn't mean I don't enjoy playing with them. And eventually I may use them more and more as more features are added, or I find new ways to use them that weren't initially obvious to me.

BTW, what's the irc channel's name and server?

The server is irc.stardock.com, the main channel is #stardock

Thx Faramir, I've recently become an IRC geek and like to inflict my thoughts on people in real-time.

BTW, sorry about your brother.

While on the subject............of IRC. When is the new browser coming out? I uninstalled my mIRC................

. and I just registered mirc not 5 minutes ago

1Renegade...Soonish Working out some of the bugs.

Well. I bought Windowblinds first which led me to the Windowblinds newsgroup. There I heard about WindowFX and Object Desktop. I really wanted WindowFX so much that I bought Object Desktop very soon after. Then I bought Windows 2000 so I could make the most of it. Soon after that the first whisperings about DesktopX started. I soon was hooked. I also find folks at stardock to be friendly helpful people with a real interest in resolving problems which crop up and consider a lot of the people who hang out on their IRC channel to be friends.

I also like to beta test stuff. Working on a help desk I like to be the complaining customer for a change.

One of things that always draws me to a product is an approachable company and the community that is built around their products.

Well I actually did not want to buy Object Desktop. I started with WindowBlinds thinking that I really don't need the rest (and what would I use it for). I had Windowblinds for a month and decided to upgrade to the OD subscription.
--------

I bought it because I loved the way WindowBlinds made my desktop look and feel. It was no longer static; now it is dynamic. So what was the harm in getting the whole package, plus I get updates for a year.

Now I want to renew my subscription because it is productive and useful as a way to work better and not so much harder on a enviorment that I created and is friendly to my needs and wants.

(You can quote me on that)

PMG

Saw WindowsFX thought it was cool, download the shareware, and then I started seeing people posting screenshot with Windowsblinds. I was like Wow then I saw all the cool things that came with OD...and I just got some credit cards... .

~25 ish days untill my first year runs out. Time to blow the cobwebs off my wallet.

1) WinFX 2.0

2) And got tired of not being able to try out the new betas.

I initially subscribed for Windowblinds. I love checking each day for updates...its like Xmas over and over again.

I saw an article in PCMag or something similar a few years back. It had a write up on desktop customization. If I remember correctly there was screenshot of the Threadz theme by Dangeruss. I was blown away. I had to be able to do that! There was a link to Stardock and I registered for OD right off without even trying it out first! Of course everyone is fimiliar with Windowblinds etc., but the little treasures are phenomenal as well, Drivescan, Tab LaunchPad, Control Center, who can live without those things now...

Where else can you get so much software for so little cost. Object Desktop and Zonealarm are the same price!

I like WindowBlinds!

*g*

Well, I can't really comment on the "compelling enough to pay" bit, but for me it's the control WB (and OD) gives over my environment. I live on my computer, and I think it's fair to say a lot of those here (though not all) do so to. I want to live somewhere comfortable. Stardock products let me do that.

I started with an article on WB and the free version as a curiousity. From there I found NextStart which seemed to be the menuing answer I was looking for, Decided to purchase both. But if I was going to pay for WB the OD package was a much better buy and included all the goodies (even though I was unsure of how and when to use them). I now strive for an integrated look and feel with IP, OB, WB and good ole NS (DesktopX is my next challenge). I have become like many others here. A plain windows pc is just hard to use as well as hard to look at all day.

My only regret is that I lack the talents of the artists in the community so I am not really a contributor other than the odd comment or assist.

One thing I can say is that the alternative desktop items I have purchased over the last 7 months have been dollars well spent for hours of enjoyment, attempted creativity and access to the community.
MichaelO

I was a Litestep user and themer, and stumbled across DesktopX. I soon realised I could escape from the nightmare of the .steprc! I purchased it soon after. DX gives me an awful lot of pleasure, although I am no expert. I am striving to achieve the perfect desktop, one that I won't want to change, ever!

/me goes to change his theme.......again

It was back on skinz.org, and I'd been pestering Brad about getting hold of WB 2 so I could keep up to date, having been messing with WB since when the bugs were young and free, and somehow the DL link ended up as the CM for OD and not just WB [sounds reel teckological]. All I was after was WB...so to make amends I bought CD's and stuff instead....
As with BoXXi, I was/am preoccupied with LiteSTEP, so all I'm ever really after is the WB, being the idea adjunct to LS...

/me will try NOT to use quite so many abbreviations in the future....[why is a word meaning 'shorten' so damn long?]...

I wrote a nice long one, but I can't account for its whereabouts after I pushed send. In a nutshell I said... first because it was pretty, then because it was functional, then finally because all the people here are so dang nice and talented!

I don't know where these messages go when they poof like that, but maybe someone, somewhere is reading a lot of nice stuff that came unexpectedly their way.
gm

The voices made me do it. They wouldn't take no for an answer.

/me turns on himself and starts to have a blazing argument

first i found the shareware WB 1.1, and loved it.

after a few weeks i finally decided to register WB, and i was happy, for now i had skinned scroll bars

however, then i discovered that WB2 was going to come out, and that i wouldnt get it with my WB1 registration.

i spent weeks considering what to do about this. it was either get WB2, get OD, or be left out.

i had very little spare money then, and only a 1 year subscription sounded suspicious. and of course this was before DX and OB came onto the scene.

i read up on all the components, and it was OE and TLP that helped to sway me in the end. i wanted more than notepad, and TLP sounded like it *might* be useful.

strange how things turn out. i never use OE these days. for small jobs notepad is faster, and for big jobs i want the power of vim.

i am beloved of TLP, so that was nice.

since then, WB and now OB are the major parts that keep be coming back. IP is nice, but i use it very rarely, since i dont change icons much.

Ever heard of Wayfarer? It was a shell for Win3.1 and I adored it. I loved to customize, have organized icons, list etc. DesktopX is like Wayfarer x 1000. My hubby laughs at me because I get such a huge computer b*ner over this stuff, but I simply adore it. For me, it's not only the organizing, but it's having a reason to open my graphics program. It's also a way for me to feel smart cuz I can figer out them there programs an make my puter look cool.

Oh, and the fact that it can really help productivity, well, I'm sure that will be a plus when I finally quit playing with the program and do something else on my computer...

As a matter of fact OD was the first piece of software I purchased for my new computer. I knew I could entertain myself longer with these wonderful toys than I could with a game.