How to evaluate for Vista before purchase if I can't download it?

Vista has not been released [Gold] yet... so Windowblinds for Vista's RC/betas is also a Beta...and thus is not available as a trial.

When Vista and Windowblinds [for Vista] are BOTH 'Gold' I would imagine a trial version of Windowblinds would be available, just as there is a trial available for XP, etc.

And as to 'great deal of people running Vista' there'd actually be more running Win95 still, or possibly even Win3x, than Vista.  It's a beta release that was/is a huge download that would exclude 95% of the planet without a suitable net connection, at least...

I believe Stardock have announced that a standalone trial version won't be published until January. In the meantime, the benefits of an Object Desktop subscription become evident.   

There is no guarantee, of course, that WB 5.5 beta or any later release would run perfectly on your present version of Vista. At this time, given what has already been said above, which is all true, you only have the individual reports of those who are running WB 5.5 on their Vista installation. I have WB 5.5 installed on Vista RC2 and it works fine. The only thing I had to correct was how desktop wallpapers were displayed. I had to change the setting to "stretch" as the default was set to "center" or whatever, hehe. Other than that, it works great.

Personally, I think it is very foolish to run a beta/RC version of Vista as your main O/S since from what I understand, you cannot upgrade any pre-release version when Vista goes "gold". A complete uninstall and then fresh install is required. Unless you plan on using a 3rd-party program e.g., "Laplink PC Mover" to transfer all your installed applications from your present Vista installation, you are going to backup all your data to manually copy back and reinstall your applications.

The solution is to wait until WindowBlinds 5.5 leaves beta and download a shareware version when made public.

Vista has not been released [Gold] yet... so Windowblinds for Vista's RC/betas is also a Beta...and thus is not available as a trial.

Vista is RTM. Stardock has this RTM version and so do people that have MSDN subs. Just because you can't go out and buy it yet doesn't mean it's not final or for that matter "released" as you put it.

Am I missing something here? What part of "not available as a standalone release until..." don't you comprehend?

Am I missing something here? What part of "not available as a standalone release until..." don't you comprehend?

Hope that wasn't directed at me. My statement above was to correct Jafo's incorrect statement that Vista as of yet is not out of Beta or RC status... which it is.

Personally I could care less about what the OP stated. However, I think Stardock needs to reapproach the "try-out" of Windowblinds from a different prospective. Instead of having a cutdown version of Windowblinds as "shareware" for people to test, they need to have a full version with a 15-day "trial key" on it. That way people get the idea of what the FULL version will do for them and be much more impressed then they would otherwise be with the shareware version. After the 15 days, the software would either cease to function or switch to shareware and have limited capabilities much like the current shareware version does.

Basically, Stardock just needs to revamp their security/licensing approach and techniques in order to make this happen. I'm sure more and more users would want to purchase the product if they saw what the FULL version can do for them. BTW, the 15-day trial key would only be available if the user registered with Stardock.com. Otherwise, they would only get the shareware version without a key similar to what is already happening.

Instead of having a cutdown version of Windowblinds as "shareware" for people to test, [Stardock] need to have a full version with a 15-day "trial key" on it. That way people get the idea of what the FULL version will do for them and be much more impressed then they would otherwise be with the shareware version. After the 15 days, the software would either cease to function or switch to shareware and have limited capabilities much like the current shareware version does.

I agree with this - I purchased WB5 because I simply could not tell what its feature set was without being able to take it for a spin. I don't regret that at all, but I think potential customers respond better when they are able to fully evaluate a product, rather than having to rely on a description and some screenshots.

JRSCCivic98 -

Yes, I indeed did miss something here... I understand your point now. My apologies, thought you meant something else altogether.

Vista runs very stable on my machine as my primary OS. I can say since 5600 version I have encountered no bugs at all. You can think me foolish all you want, but this OS runs perfect for me. And I have no problem doing a clean install once it's released. My time for a clean install after installing all apps is about 4 hours, so it's not a big deal to me. I format every 4-6 mnths anyway.

Stardock will not get one plug nickle from me until I have a version to test. And from the responses to this thread and the attitude given about various things, it may not get my money EVER.

Many people are running this as their primary OS. And I think it foolish of Stardock to not have this as a standalone beta for customers. More of us realize that a beta is exactly that: a BETA. We are grown-ups - we can handle running a beta, thankyouverymuch.

Access to the betas is one of the advantages of an OD subscription.

Once it leaves beta we will provide a standalone trial build as normal.

We do have it as a beta for our customers.  One of the perks of purchasing our software is you get early beta copies of the next version to take for a spin and help test.  This is a way we reward our customers. The catch here is that we do not release beta software for free, even in limited trial mode.  And while some people have Vista running as their primary OS, it's still a pretty small number.  Also, while you may understand the concept of a beta, with bugs to be expected, many people do not.

So putting up a beta app for potential (i.e. not yet) customers to evaluate isn't the best idea.  Many will download it expecting perfect functionality, will hit some bugs (maybe even a critical one or two), decide that the software is a disaster and not worth buying because the company put out something that turfed their computer or something equally outrageous (note: WB can not turf your PC).  The risk-reward ratio to putting up a Vista beta for public consumption just doesn't make sense. 

I'm not saying public consumption. How about having a beta test group? With their own forum here that they could report bugs?

wolfgrrl, just buy WB5.1. With that purchase you will get access to Stardock Central and be able to download the 5.49.xx beta version of Windowblinds. Either that or just wait until it comes out in a few weeks. Also, if I were you I'd worry more about updating your RC2 version to the final before I'd worry about putting Windowblinds on it.... 5600 isn't going to run forever.

For all the Stardock peeps... are we finally going to get command prompt skinning back in WB5.5 or WHAT?!?! Wait, wait... I bet we might actually have better luck with MS removing the console prompt from the OS before you put the skinning back into WB.    How freaking hard can this shit be? It just looks incomplete when it can't skin everything.

How about having a beta test group?

Those of us who have purchased OD, and choose to install pre-release versions, are the beta test group   

^^^ What he said.

How freaking hard can this shit be?

Quite, apparently. I'm sure they'd be open to suggestions, if you have some.

Vista is RTM. Stardock has this RTM version and so do people that have MSDN subs. Just because you can't go out and buy it yet doesn't mean it's not final or for that matter "released" as you put it.

Let's not get into semantics or redefine what 'released' means.

Yes. there are people who have the RTM version, myself included.

But 'RTM' actually does NOT stand for 'publicly available in the shops as a finished product'.  If it did it would probably be 'PAITSAAFP'....

As for 'freaking hard shit', ask Neil. He'll likely mention the better part of a decade of WB being in development....

How freaking hard can this shit be?

Let's find out... develop a program that works, let us know when it's done.

I bet we might actually have better luck with MS removing the console prompt from the OS before you put the skinning back into WB.

Try Console2

Let's find out... develop a program that works, let us know when it's done.

Blow me with your short responces that come from someone that's apperently put Stardock on a very high pedistal... but then again... it's your usual way of responding. Thanks for trying.

Try Console2

This shouldn't have to be done (using a 3rd party program). I say this because in WB4.xx console prompt skinning was being done and done well. Once SD went to 5.xx they pulled it out because of some issues with per-pixel or something of that sort. Well, since then they have spent countless hours on other features such as "wallpaper changing" inside WB which "still doesn't work properly". So, this is what I don't understand. They have a list of things that don't currently work properly in WB5.xx, yet they keep going right around those and try to implement more new features. They should fix what's at hand at the moment... or completely strip it from the feature list. Now, some of you may state... "Well, cosole skinning is one of those features that they stripped." I state NO, simply because it's a CORE component of Windows that SHOULD be skinned as well. If WB cannot skin 100% of the CORE components of Windows then it's not complete and should be corrected first before other "features" get implemented into it. I mean, how hard is it to switch wallpaper through the normal Windows GUI?

I know most of you Stardock diehards don't agree with my viewpoints and that's fine, but you cannot "blindly" state that they are not valid ones simply because you think Neil and everyone there is some sort of programming God. Come back to earth...

I agree with you on most of your points. I'm far from a Stardock fanboy or diehard...just read my ObjectBar threads and newsgroup posts

So.....I actually try to offer a constructive suggestion and you behave like a prick...ranting and raving on like an idiot.  Console2 is actually a very good command prompt replacement that has other features that may help you since you appear to use a command prompt.  Outside of working around the skinning issues, I thought a fellow command prompt user might benefit from it...you know, share the wealth.

I'll tell you strait up right now (and I speak from experience) you're not going to get anywhere with this attitude. I know your pissed. Just calm, down behave civil, and you might get some answers.

Let's find out... develop a program that works, let us know when it's done.

Yup, good old Bichur...throwing gas on the fire again. (At least your user icon is appropriate)  {Like mine}

[flamemode=on]Orion is too kind, perhaps unaware of prior history here. You are rather tiring with your arrogant crap, JRSCCivic98. Don't know why you bother posting here except to get your jollies pissing people off. You can "blow" all you want - make yourself ecstatic with joy demonstrating your self-proclaimed superiority. The time would be better spent admiring yourself in a mirror, if you ask me (my apologies to the mirror).[flamemode=off]

Have a nice day.

Lets keep this on topic. 

If you have a comment or suggestion about command prompt skinning, then feel free to start another thread to address it.

  

Sorry, ID. Delete/Edit my post if appropriate. Just gets old.