CD verses download

I forgot to tell you with what program lol I was talking about Object Desktop.

download is better. With the CD, u get no updates

Yeah. Besides, you CAN burn your downloaded stuff in a CD, you know. Download is faster AND better.

Ok so what is the difference between Object Desktop and LiteStep?

As far as I understand, Object Desktop will change the view of your GUI, but it will still retain the Windows look, while LiteStep makes your GUI look sorta like Linux.

- Object Desktop is not a program but a suite of programs, such as Windowblinds, DesktopX, Objectbar, etc.
The closest Object Desktop program from Litestep is probably Desktop X, although it's different too. One could use Desktop X and Litestep together.

In short:
- Windowblinds: skins your windows
- Objectbar: skins/customize your start/taskbar/systray
- Desktop X: Make cool looking desktops with animations and all.
- Litestep: it's a shell. Unlike any of the above that just run on top of the standard Windows shell (explorer.exe), Litestep runs instead of explorer.exe. It's faster, more stable and extremely more customizable. It will change the whole look of your desktop, let you customize the taskbar like you want it, and remove the start button and replace it with a right-click on the desktop popup access to your shortcuts. Litestep has hundreds of modules that can be added and add very cool stuff. Litestep is the most versatile and the most supported. But the downside is that Litestep is for nerds. There is no drag and drop, click that button and check that box type of configuration. It's all done manually with a text file, and don't make a typo of you won't even boot.

So, that's about it.

Object Desktop CD is no different than Object Desktop regular. You both get a year of updates.

The difference is that the CDROM version automatically installs the core Object Desktop components for you whreas a new user picks and chooses among the dozens of components.

maybe you guys have already thought about this, but don't you have a slight piracy issue with allowing people to download it?

and i don't necessarily mean deliberately either.

a person could download the zip file (or whatever it is) and it defaults to their downloads folder, which just happens to be their shared folder on whatever P2P filesharing app, and someone with no life (or money ) could be searching for Object Desktop.zip (or whatever it's called) in the same P2P app and find it.

That just popped into my head while i was reading this for some reason. i've got no idea where it came from, but don't you ever worry about it happening?

When you purchase Object Desktop, all you download is the Component Manager. Then, you need a username and password to log into that and download the apps, which will not install unless you have Component Manager installed as well. So, even if someone got a copy of your software, it would be useless without your account info. I suppose if it became obvious that your account was being abused, Stardock could get you to change your password, or disable it.

abused?

like the version of windows XP that had 5 activation attempts in one day from 3 different continents?

ok. well that clears it up.

but still, some people choose to share everything on their computer (a stupid thing to do, but hey, some people are stupid). for example, to test my theory, i just opened a P2P filesharing app (which will remain nameless for the time being) and i searched for "Object Desktop", "WindowBlinds", and "Object Bar".

it found approximately 20 or so files for Object Desktop, about 5 for WindowBlinds, and 3 so far for Object Bar.

still, they could be the trial versions, but knowing what people are like, (which, unfortunately, i do) they could be anything.

btw, the search for Object Desktop that returned 20 results, had anywhere between 37 to 113 people in the queues for each one.

Nice going telling people how to get a free copy of software, man. >

They all had long queues, and I didn't tell anyone what program it was.

Anyway, nobody would be stupid enough to wait in a queue with a hundered people in it.