STARDOCK OBJECT-DESKTOP
WINDOWS ENHANCEMENT SOFTWARE SUITE
Date: November 24th, 2003
Article by: Roger (Hardware
Reviewer)
Product was donated by: StarDock
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STARDOCK CORPORATE PROFILE
Stardock was founded by 20 year old college student Brad
Wardell to help pay for school. Incorporated in 1993, Stardock focused
on developing software for IBM's OS/2 operating system. Wardell wrote
the OS/2 game Galactic Civilizations between taking electrical engineering
classes and teaching digital logic lab, and helping run the university
Macintosh lab.
In 1997, Stardock began to transition its software development
to Windows. The "OS Wars" between Windows and OS/2 were drawing to a
close with the world largely standardizing on Windows for the desktop.
To fund its transition to Windows, Stardock developed a .NET concept
in 1998 called "Stardock.NET". Its goal was to provide software as a
service in which users would subscribe for a period of time and gain
access to its technologies that it would develop on the fly.
Today, Stardock is spread across the globe. It looks for
the best and brightest from around the world. This team works together
via the Internet. While the core of Stardock is located in an office
complex in Livonia Michigan, nearly half of the staff is located remotely.
This team continues forward on creating PC software that allows both
corporations and consumers to customize their Windows PCs. It occasionally
still releases a new PC game now and then. Stardock leads the way in
developing technologies that extend the base feature set of Windows.
Millions use its business software and its entertainment software is
both critically and commercially acclaimed. Its founder and CEO, Brad
Wardell, has seen his company grow out of his dorm room into a multi-million
dollar corporation with employees and contractors on 4 continents. With
a high level of profitability and brisk growth, Stardock is poised for
even greater endeavours in the coming years.
PRODUCT INTRODUCTION
As any computer technician will tell you, Microsoft Windows
is not the only game in town… although it certainly is the biggest player.
Think of it as you would a rookie-year Shaq… horrible in nearly every
respect, but able to slam the competition because of his gigantic size.
The thing is, it's not just techheads who would like more out of Windows.
Home users are constantly complaining about this OS… and justifiably
so. It just does not work the way they would like it to.
Enter Object Desktop by Stardock Corporation.
From the company;
"Object Desktop is a suite of programs called desktop
enhancements that can customize different parts of Windows 98, ME, NT,
2000, and Windows XP. You can use it to transform Windows into anything
you want."
Recently, I had the pleasure of reviewing WindowBlinds
from Stardock. WindowBlinds is a skinning engine which can change the
way Windows looks. Object Desktop includes WindowBlinds, however it
goes a lot further in its desire to tinker with Windows. It is essentially
a bundle of applications and applets called components. A full list
of these components is listed in the Product Specifications and elaborated
in Product Features and Walkthrough.
Suffice it to say that Object Desktop, due to its highly
customizable nature, has the potential to please anyone willing to breathe
new life into a rigid OS.
