The benefit of registering is so you get all the features of WB not in the trial and the ability to use WB for more than 60 days as the trial expires.

Access to Beta releases is a feature of Object Desktop.  Once the update is out of beta standalone customers are provided with it.  When it gets to RC stage we might open it up to registered standalone customers too.

Many companies do not allow customers to have access to betas at all.

In what way do you think this is a scam?  Stardock have never said you would have access to betas, only release versions which is exactly what happens.

And I stand by my point... If it was true as long as you can remember than it has been a scam as long as you can remember. I don't know any other company that does business like this

/me puts on grumpy old man hat

It's not a scam if it's openly disclosed. You just don't like it.

Most companies don't release betas at all. Stardock does so as a bonus to it;s customers that spend a little more. Sounds pretty fair to me. Pay more, get more.

/me removes grumpy old man hat

Sorry you are not getting the satisfaction you would hope for.

And just what feature/function in the Beta builds are you lacking/wanting in the release build? Most companies don't even offer a "beta" build of their products due to the problems that arise from "techie wanna-be's" installing it and then complaining that it doesn't work 100%. And, most companies have a dedicated "Beta" team that only has access to the beta builds. So, in contrast to you, I am glad that Stardock is NOT like other companies for thus I am given the privilege to try these beta builds at my own risk and report problems back in order to help Stardock improve their products which eventually are released to the public.

I have never seen the explicit phrase: "for objectdock or whatever users only".

I didn't really have anything to say... just showing off my hat.


No big problems running the beta, had a mild hiccup with TMicro2007, but I threw in some exclusions for now and all's working - kinda got the feeling it's more TM related than WBeta - I'll look more this weekend.


I'm still waiting for Throbber support with options akin to the toolbars and animations

You don't know many companies, then, dmalak.

One of the inducements to the Object Desktop subscription is access to interim betas. You want the beta, you subscribe - simple as that. Besides, the subscription is a better value, at least IMO.

Purchasing the standalone program entitles you to free upgrades to new release versions of the same series (e.g., 5.x) for either a defined period of time (at least a year, I believe) or until a major version change occurs (e.g., 6.x); I think it is the latter, actually. You call it whatever you want, but that practice meets no definition of "scam" I've ever heard.

Edit - sorry for duplicate comments, hadn't seen additional posts on page 2 before replying.

Great. I am a current subscriber to the full Object Desktop and there's no listing or access shown in my Stardock Central for version 5.5 (only 5.49bd.025) I am running Vista RTM.

What's the story? How do I get 5.5?   

bearbis -

That's it. SD's versioning system is a little quirky - that's what they mean by '5.5'.

(only 5.49bd.025)

round up   

That's it. SD's versioning system is a little quirky - that's what they mean by '5.5'.

Basically, the final beta becomes the release

WindowBlinds 5.5 BETA seems to run better than WindowBlinds 5.1 on my XP machine. Applying themes is much faster than before. I LOVE the new blur when applying themes. It makes me want to switch themes more often.