holomatrix69 holomatrix69

Stardock is a chaos club

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Stardock is a chaos club

from Stardock Forums
September 2007: DesktopX 3.5 arrives this month!
October 2007: DesktopX 3.5 arrives this month!
November 2007: DesktopX 3.5 arrives this month!
December 2007: DesktopX 3.5 arrives this month!
January 2008: DesktopX 3.5 arrives this month!
February 2008: DesktopX 3.5 arrives this month!

STARDOCK: F. Y.

It is a chaos club.
desktopx
30,077 views 68 replies
Reply #51 from Stardock Forums Top

You can thank Microsoft for the DesktopX delays.


Their idiotic security implementations not only make it hard to get things like DesktopX working but they keep changing them (like in SP1) to make it worse. So we keep having to find ways to work around it.


If it weren't for UAC, we would have hda 3.5 out last Summer.


End of quote


This sounds strange to me ;-) I was not very fond about Vista RTM, but anyway I installed it. But I was one of the 15.000 lucky ones which got Vista SP1 RTM a week or two ago, I installed and to be honest it is a revelation. Everything works faster and better. I have UAC allways disabled and the only thing which is not working with disabled UAC is DesktopX. Do we have to blame Bill Gates for that? All my other software (Adobe, Corel, Pinnacle, etc...) and even WindowBlinds is working better and faster under Vista SP1.

Why can all those hundreds of software houses produce software that works in Vista SP1 with UAC off and why can't Stardock do that ?
Reply #52 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I'll admit that my enthusiasm for Vista keeps declining as I discover more and more stupidity in how it was put together.


I don't think most people realize just how badly designed the UAC is. I have read lots of comments from (non developers) people who say that deveopers just need to write their software "right". But what they don't realize is what a pain in the butt it is to write it "right" and that it's not even clear what "right" is and in many cases, it requires an expertise that most companies lack.




Vista is just a total disaster from a software development point of view and it shouldn't be. It has some incredibly great technologies like WPF, WCF, DX10, etc. But it's all hampered by a security model that was written by morons that isn't even secure in the first place (and if MS is reading you know what I'm talking about as most of the dirty stuff isn't even publicly known).


SP1 SHOULD be trying to clean up the stupid security stuff. Instead, they've made it worse.

End of quote




To me, it's a telling point that Microsoft was so quick to announce that it was discontinuing support for XP and refusing to allow computer companies like Dell to sell new computers with XP pre-installed after a relatively short period of time, despite the fact that customers were requesting the older OS.

It almost seems like MS has so little confidence in its own product that it is using its muscle to force Vista down our throats, whether it's ready for us or not. That's a pretty disappointing decision from a company that hardly needs to have serious concerns about its bottom line; it really could have waited until the kinks were worked out before demanding that consumers use Vista. Even if my current system were "Vista-friendly" (new graphics card, extra 1Gb of system RAM, probably new HDD, at least dual-core processor), I have a hard time justifying an upgrade based on the nightmare scenarios I've read about here and elsewhere.
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #53 from WinCustomize Forums Top
All my other software (Adobe, Corel, Pinnacle, etc...) and even WindowBlinds is working better and faster under Vista SP1.

Why can all those hundreds of software houses produce software that works in Vista SP1 with UAC off and why can't Stardock do that ?
End of quote


Try comparing apples to apples not apples to oranges. The three companies you mention have development teams larger than all of Stardock working on only one single aspect of a specific app. As for other software houses it also depends on the number of app's they have and the size of their development team.

It's obvious WindowBlinds would work first as it's the flagship product, followed by the next popular software and so on and so on. From what I've read recently DesktopX isn't quite as popular despite the fact that it's one of our favorite app's.
Reply #54 from WinCustomize Forums Top

(Citizen)warreni
February 14, 2008 10:02:08
Reply #52



To me, it's a telling point that Microsoft was so quick to announce that it was discontinuing support for XP and refusing to allow computer companies like Dell to sell new computers with XP pre-installed after a relatively short period of time, despite the fact that customers were requesting the older OS.
End of quote





That's odd,the last i heard there was a furore & ms backed down & let dell & some other comp manufacturer to supply xp on machines if the customer wanted it,support is still continuing, SP3 is in beta for xp i think issue date is sometime this year & there will be continuing support for major bug fixes whn & if they're found including security,there's also a petition to keep xp around & microsoft have answered those peoples concerns tho for what i've posted here i'd have to dig up emails from cnet & techrepublic to backup what i've said,that said xp is on something like 80% of computers worldwide & vista @ a guess 10-20% ,discontinued support for xp is some way off,eventually it will stop altogeather & to me that won't happen till vista is less buggy,in the meantime new OEM xp disks can be bought as well as unused new retail versions,as far as i know there's no word on the date when support for xp will actually be discontinued period.
Reply #55 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Perhaps Stardock should be the one to show Bill Gates how it's done. Hell...they've got their own stuff down pat...why not develop their own OS. MS would have a shitfit for sure.  ;p 
Reply #56 from Stardock Forums Top

All my other software (Adobe, Corel, Pinnacle, etc...) and even WindowBlinds is working better and faster under Vista SP1.

Why can all those hundreds of software houses produce software that works in Vista SP1 with UAC off and why can't Stardock do that ?


Try comparing apples to apples not apples to oranges. The three companies you mention have development teams larger than all of Stardock working on only one single aspect of a specific app. As for other software houses it also depends on the number of app's they have and the size of their development team.

It's obvious WindowBlinds would work first as it's the flagship product, followed by the next popular software and so on and so on. From what I've read recently DesktopX isn't quite as popular despite the fact that it's one of our favorite app's.
End of quote


I can compare apples to apples ! Rainlendar (a tiny small software company) is working fine under Vista with UAC off. But you have a point, DesktopX isn't quite as popular as the other applications. And that's probably the reason that not enough Stardock resources are assigned to the development.
Reply #57 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Consider the pain of just dealing with themes at all. People yell at us for having to stick their data in idiotic places like \appdata or in the documents folder as if it's somehow our fault. As if we wanted to have to put stuff there as opposed to keeping it in program files\program name like we have done for the previous 10 years.
End of quote


My only complaint with this was still having XP and being forced to suffer the faults of vista and not even having it. I don't know if it was at all possible but it would have been great to have XP file locations remain where the were and vista's wherever they had to go. But I guess thats water under the bridge now.

I know the crap you and your team are going through Brad and as far as I'm concerned you have all done a phenomenal job on everything...vista just dropped it all in the crapper. But it would be great if you remembered that many of us still us XP and for what its worth still prefer it over vista. And after reading what you said....I think when my XP dies I will more than likely go with a Mac. I've never liked Microsofts business practices even with XP.

And I hope you don't abandon us XP users because of vista.
Reply #58 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Fuzzy's Chaos: a brief introduction......dosent read the same unless you read it in that 'logical' voice of his....... :LOL: ive had my dose of vulcan for the day, now i can smile again...

yes fuzzy, i luv you. *huggles*
Reply #59 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I knew Miss Chaos would find her way here sooner or later... ;p 
Reply #60 from Stardock Forums Top
[quote]


...and it wouldn't be a big deal if Stardock wasn't guaranteeing delivery in the next month - over and over and over.


...Umm


..Can you link me to where it says that, please? ["Guaranteed"]



DesktopX

It says "DesktopX 3.5 arrives this month!" very prominently. It doesn't need the word "Guaranteed" to be a promise.

...and to make matters worse, Stardock leaves the lie sitting right there even though folks are complaining about it.
Reply #61 from Stardock Forums Top

I'll admit that my enthusiasm for Vista keeps declining as I discover more and more stupidity in how it was put together.


I don't think most people realize just how badly designed the UAC is. I have read lots of comments from (non developers) people who say that deveopers just need to write their software "right". But what they don't realize is what a pain in the butt it is to write it "right" and that it's not even clear what "right" is and in many cases, it requires an expertise that most companies lack.

End of quote


So, you tell us that Vista is a major nuiscance to develop for, and punish those of us still using XP? Are all your apps going to be bloated with patches and work arounds for Vista? Are we XP users going to have to suffer with the flaws in an operating system that we don't even use?

That is EXACTLY what Microsoft wants. They know how crappy Vista is. The more that they can strongarm developers into suffering with Vista the happier they are.

I know that you can't ignore Vista. There are MANY users too stupid to know how wasteful Vista is (any machine that runs Vista well will run XP better - PERIOD!)... others don't know that they have a choice. It just does not make sense to alienate those customers waiting at your doorstep for the benefit of the few that might straggle in later.
Reply #62 from WinCustomize Forums Top
So, you tell us that Vista is a major nuiscance to develop for, and punish those of us still using XP? Are all your apps going to be bloated with patches and work arounds for Vista? Are we XP users going to have to suffer with the flaws in an operating system that we don't even use?

That is EXACTLY what Microsoft wants. They know how crappy Vista is. The more that they can strongarm developers into suffering with Vista the happier they are.

I know that you can't ignore Vista. There are MANY users too stupid to know how wasteful Vista is (any machine that runs Vista well will run XP better - PERIOD!)... others don't know that they have a choice. It just does not make sense to alienate those customers waiting at your doorstep for the benefit of the few that might straggle in later.
End of quote


Hum.... Well you can still buy an Object Desktop subscription with DX include and using Stardock Central have the update to the last version today ;)  OK that's not write 3.5 but i guess 3.49 beta is close isn't it?

I think Stardock take the right way in creating softwares that work under XP and Vista cause XP users are still alive and trust me Vista will make his own place too with some time surely but it will. So Have software that work under both is better for us isn't it?


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And i don't think it's the right way to be heard by people to insult them. I don't think people who bought a product are stupid cause you don't like this product.

Please keep this discussion civil.

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Reply #63 from Stardock Forums Top

...and it wouldn't be a big deal if Stardock wasn't guaranteeing delivery in the next month - over and over and over.
End of quote



...and Stardock STILL has not removed the "coming this month" message. Talk about plain out LYING to it's customers.

>It's still here!<
Reply #64 from WinCustomize Forums Top
...and Stardock STILL has not removed the "coming this month" message. Talk about plain out LYING to it's customers.
End of quote


Could you cry just a lil bit more? SD has enough to deal with (regarding Vista). Yeah, so they haven't taken it down yet. Oh friggin' well!

The new alpha is out: 3.49h[a].020

If you're so desperate for a new version of DX, download that.
Reply #66 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Damn, I forgot to respond to the Rainlendar comparison.
Better late than never.;)

Comparing Rainlendar to DesktopX is like comparing...ah crap stumped for an analogy.
Okay got it.
Comparing Rainlendar to DesktopX is like comparing Paint to Photoshop.
Last time I checked Rainlendar still doesn't support scripting.
Heck you can develop a Rainlendar type widget in DesktopX and that is one of many examples.
Simply put a scripting/development type program is a lot more complex than any single purpose app.
Reply #67 from Stardock Forums Top
I'm glad the work on IconPackager is ongoing since the latest version is the first time I've actually seen it work.
Reply #68 from Stardock Forums Top
holomatrix69 has it right. That announcement has been there since last summer when I thought I'd go ahead and upgrade. About two thirds of the responses to holomatrix69 have been apologists for Stardock. Haven't had time to take the announcement down yet? Hmmm, July of '07 until April of '08. Now it's the end of April and somehow they've had the time for a site redesign and to roll out new products but not the time to finish an update that has been going on over a year.

The first big mistake was the marketing genious that put "DesktopX 3.5 arrives this month!"
on the web page in the first place. The second was the decision to leave it up nine months without releasing the product. Many people purchased the product during the last nine months and are still waiting for the version they thought they paid for. That isn't doing Stardock any good from a consumer relations standpoint. Third, the silent treatment by the development team on the forum is only adding to peoples frustration and last the expectations of Stardock from the posters that answered holomatrix69 show the new priorities Stardock has evidently adopted for those of us with existing products. Icon Packager, Desktop X, Window Blands and others I own have had some of the same bugs as when I bought them four and give years ago. Yet the new games and other new titles keep on rolling out on a regular basis.

I wonder how feverantly the apologists from Febraury are still defending Stardock with only a week remaining before May 1st? Judging from their comments I'm pretty sure they are as blindly supportive as ever.