The Register (UK based) posts a blurb about Stardock's new ObjectDock app...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/39/28258.html
from WinCustomize Forums
Ruin your PC with an Aqua Dock
By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 22/11/2002 at 17:35 GMT


Perhaps Apple has realized that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Or perhaps it's seconded its lawyers to Research in Motion, Inc.

Because a small number of sites continue to produce knock-offs of the Aqua UI. On two of the most popular, Aqua-Man and Emaculation, you can find work in progress to bring Aqua controls, and even basic versions of the "iApps" bundle to Windows.

What these sites are enthused about this week is a technology demo from Stardock, which brings the much loved, or loathed Dock to Windows. You can find it here, and you'll note that it comes gift-wrapped with disclaimers. It's unsupported and you have to agree not to be disappointed:

"I also understand that this program makes no claims to accurately emulate or represent itself as a reasonable facsimile of any docks on other operating systems," reads the disclaimer.

<
9,131 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Unlike the general negative vibe of this article, it seems they are quite positive about the app itself. They just have something against a) the dock (understandably); and b) XP imitating OSX (again, understandably).
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
as far as im concerned i'll back Stardock and WB and Wincustomize any day of the week.

Windows has been the OS i frew up with and will stay with to the end.

the fact that Stardock is bringing us apps to make that experience better is a great thing.

I could care less if they actual went out with the full intention of ripping everybody's idea's off 100%.

not that i think they are.

what i see happening is a company releasing an app that can give other skinners and people a glimps of what i think is one step closer to them possibly combining object bar and object dock into one app that can either enhance or replace existing windows start bar and or shell not only in visual style but overall functionality,new rich and unique features and finnaly enhanced performance.

if left to do what they do best, stardock will will bring all thier experience into a single app encompassing all the features of all their current and furture apps and with thier close relationship MS, hopefully bring current and all furture Windows versions to a level truely above the rest, in ALL aspects.

Powered by SkinBrowser!
Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Anyone else notice that DragThing appears to looks a lot like WorkShelf from Winstep? I haven't downloaded it for my Mac just yet, but from the looks of it, the functionality and idea are along the same lines.

I'm not saying they're stealing an idea, but it is a little role-reversal and I think it's great. There are a lot of apps out there for the Windows platform that emulate other OSes, primarily OS X; not too many that go the other way.

I would say that Stardock does a great job at making apps to emulate the OS X, but that would not be a true statement. I side with Stardock when they say their "stuff" was out before Apple's. Look back at Stardock's history when you have some time. The material is a good read.

Happy Customizing
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Workshelf borrows a lot from the NeXTStep OS which is where the tabbed launchpad concept came from (including Stardock's own Tab LaunchPad).

Powered by SkinBrowser!
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yep, that is true. WorkShelf's basic concept - as well as NextSTART's - came from the wonderful (and far ahead of its time) NeXTStep operating system. The original NeXT shelf was supposed to replace the NeXT dock (the grandfather of ALL docks) in a beta of OPENSTEP, which unfortunately never became final (Steve Jobs ended up selling NeXT to Apple in 1997. After the sale, Steve Jobs was at first an advisor and later appointed acting-CEO of the company).

We have, of course, evolved both WorkShelf and NextSTART far beyond the capabilities of the original concepts.

If you would like to learn more about NeXT (and get a lot of beautiful 48x48 icons in the process as well as admire what the NeXT OS looked like) you can visit

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/4698/index.html

Jorge Coelho
NextSTART 3.0 - A user interface you can actually use!
http://www.winstep.net - Winstep Software Technologies
IRC Chat: #winstep on AustNet