DesktopX is a program that lets you design your own desktop by adding “objects” that can do pretty much anything you might imagine for it. Version 2.0 has just been released and it’s a radical re-design that has focused on improving the functionality, performance, and memory use of it. If you don’t have DesktopX, you can download it on its own here or get it as part of Object Desktop.
DesktopX 2.0 Released
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I was a subscriber up till April (Didn’t renew because I almost never use Windows these days), they put out great stuff, with good customer support, their IRC channel is very helpful as well, I even got my subscription for free because I designed a couple themes for their programs that hadn’t taken off much. (Objectbar & DX I think).
Check out http://www.wincustomize.com for themes/objects for DX.
(Sorry if this sounds like an ad, but this is one of the few remaining software houses that LISTEN to their customers, and I respect them a lot for that)
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This is another good example that some people prefer customization to “standard looks” and goes back to a discussion I’ve previously had here.
Personally, I think the screenshot they provide on their site looks terrible from a graphic design point of view (too much information, ugly background, and I’m not sure I like icons of varying size), but the point is that you have freedom, however inconsequential that freedom may be.
I think this is a great product, I would install it at work if it wasn’t against company policy. At home, I’m quite satisfied with KDE’s customizability (I don’t even use Karamba).
I was wondering: what’s the impact on performance? I might very well order it to put on my gf’s Win98 PC.
It work even better under 2000 and XP, as those OS supports some neat & native special FX that are not part of the ol’ 9X Windows series.
Can’t say for DX2, only run the early betas, but I never noticed a performance hit with DX1/early DX2, but this is on winXP. Win98 has a limited pool for GDI resources which was a limiting factor with stuff like DX, but i’d imagine it’ll run fine. Can eat memory on script/graphic intensive themes though (But whats 20mb these days? Explorer takes more).
I was using windowblinds at one point but found styleXP to be a better alternative (uses less resources). I never got into DesktopX but I find ObjectDock to be one of those “must have” things.
I found a more functional shell ehnacement app for Windows, <a href=”http://www.truelaunchbar.com“<Truelaunchbar. It integrates seamlessly with Windows in a way that I’ve not found with Stardock apps.
True Launch Bar is very different to anything Stardock make – DX allows you to draw objects on your desktop, not add better quicklaunch/plugins to your startbar. Objectbar does that, but replaces the whole bar so you can customize everything, or simply add features like what TLB does to a normal startbar rendered by Objectbar.
Some of the plugins for TLB do look good though, OB lacks a couple features it has.
“True Launch Bar is very different to anything Stardock make – DX allows you to draw objects on your desktop, not add better quicklaunch/plugins to your startbar.”
Yes and no. DesktopX can replicate the taskbar and anything TrueLaunchBar can do as well though it can do more than just taskbars. However, it is a kludge as it doesn’t work seamlessly with what’s already available, it replaces what’s there.
I use ObjectBar in conjunction with the taskbar. I turned off the “Hide Taskbar” feature. I keep ObjectBar on autohide at the top of the screen, best of both worlds, always have it there when i need it.
But then most products from Stardock are very good. The user must be aware that these “gooddies” tend to tax the video cards and usually show the bugs in video drivers.
A+
DesktopX gave me too much eye candy and very little functionality. I do recommend some of Stardock’s other products highly:
Objectbar: I use the “SimpleObjects” theme to turn my big taskbar into a little blue menu that pops out the side of my screen when I want it to.
Windowblinds: The old school Mac window border theme feels much snappier than the default Luna theme in XP…weird but true.
TabLaunchpad: Not as glitzy as their ObjectDock product (OS X dock clone), but much more straightforward and highly functional for putting all my work, play and media apps in one place.
I’ve been a user for years, and I recommend it since it lets you get what you want. As Rude Turnip said, he likes it clean and neat. For others, they want some UI candy. It puts the power back in your hands. For me, I like windows that don’t look like they were designed by people from Fisher Price (ooh, a close box, wow! cool, huh?), so I use WindowBlinds as well. I also run ObjectDock (if you want a Mac OS kinda thing). Best of all, they all have api’s so that you can extend them. Very sweet.
I recommend the product completely. Yes, it can be resource hungry (especially WindowsFX), but why did you get that video card with 128MB of RAM anyway!?