Stardock Central? Again?! Bah!

You don't have to use SDC.  Just go here.

http://download.stardock.com

Impulse was sold because it soaked up too many resources from a company which couldn't (with its manpower size) continue to support and develop it.

Impulse remains an excellent product, and the team which supported it now continues to do the same, only for GameStop which wanted an online store rather than all 'brick and mortar'. 

You presumed and expected Impulse to remain Stardock's store/installation and updater. No one made that promise to you, and the owner of Stardock and Impulse Driven made a business decision that frankly makes a good deal of sense.

You can continue to use GameStop Impulse as it uses no real resources as far as I know, and SDC is bare bones simple and is for Stardock's customization software.

Fact: You don't have to install it. You can visit the store: https://store.stardock.com/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=/myaccount/products and update your products as often as you like.

*edit: Grrr.

All perfectly true I suppose, but really why bother?  The value of Object Desktop as a product is diluted at best with the current versions of Windows and their products need a portal to really be useful and convenient.  I would gladly purchase and use those product through a portal like Steam but I for one won't be bothering with single publisher portals any more.  Frankly, I don't trust Stardock with portals anymore either.  If I purchase their products through a 3rd party in the future, then I will be protected from whatever "business decisions that frankly makes a good deal of sense" too. 

Whatever else you may think, the fact is that there is a mostly silent population of us out here that placed confidence in Stardock and put our money where our mouths were by enthusiastically spending our money with them on Impulse.  They've shown the value of that loyalty by selling Impulse.  So, now that I know Stardock wishes to be dealt with only indirectly through 3rd parties, I do hope they intend to publish all of their products through other portals because I will miss those products if they do not.

I suppose my opinion on this will seem harsh to most people here.  I get that.  At end of the day though, it is a simple fact that Stardock's products, games or otherwise, will simply enjoy a much greater audience on portals with much larger audiences.  SDC is simply a fringe option these days.  I see the Stardock games going this way already.  I suppose Object Desktop will surely survive in some form through the next few years, but I don't believe SDC will be the best option going forward and if Stardock really doesn't want to be in the business of supporting a portal, then why should I consider supporting them in doing just that yet again? 

Steam, Impulse, etc. don't sell or host PC apps on their platforms.  Object Desktop is developed by Stardock, and sold by Stardock only.

SDC is merely an app which enables you to download, update, and install your Stardock-only apps and games.  It's not a store, it's simply a download manager.

You don't have to use it, and the individual .exe downloads are available to easily download.

As Island Dog correctly says, none of Steam, Impulse, Origin, GamersGate etc sell anything other than games and as far as I know that will remain the case going forward.  It is therefore impossible for us to sell the non game products on those platforms.

If you are aware of any well known portals that do sell non game software I suspect we would of course be interested in selling via them, but I am not aware of any such things existing.

SDC is provided as a useful tool to manage your Stardock applications (or games), but you are quite free to download standalone exe installers and use those.  There is no need for you to use SDC if you do not wish to.

SDC has always been a clean pieces of software I enjoyed...I guess it is human nature to not take to change...

recently in a chat...  bottom line... I see the move past impulse as a good thing....

it is good to to see SDC back (better than ever, imo) ...as it is good to see Gamestop come into their own with regards to Impulse

Doc said it best:

you can take it or leave it.

That goes both ways.  Stardock has presumed and expected that their customers would remain loyal to their online distribution channels despite a radical change in practice that greatly affects the customer experience and provides no benefit to its existing customers.

Leave it.  That's what I'm saying.  I'm getting off this ride.  I hope to see Stardock succeed in its online distribution efforts via a portal I will be able to trust.  Sorry, but treating you guys like some hack shareware shop isn't going to cut it anymore; especially with all the money and goodwill that's already been spent here.

Object Desktop [et al] is not a game.  It does not NEED to be hosted on a Game Portal [Steam].

It has a low-impact small footprint integrated updater [SDC v2] which handles the program suite effortlessly.

You're even free to NOT use it and access the programs directly.

Yes, Stardock's customers may be a 'silent majority' but I am certain Stardock is au fait with the extent of dissatisfaction, silent or vocal.

The reality is that over the life of Stardock's software/distribution there has been several permutations of access/distribution which, with each and every 'change' there has been a little discontent/pique.

Over time nothing can be allowed to stagnate through ennui.

Stardock's program distribution engine/method is simply NOT stagnant...;)

Did I miss something  ? Did we actually pay for Impulse ? No. So what ?

Eggs act Leigh ....;)

to find or not to find again that is the Question

Ah, well no I don't think there are a silent majority who think like you do DaVinMan.  At least I've seen little evidence for that assumtion you make.

I'm sorry you feel your trust has been violated with the sale of Impulse.  There were alot of people who were happy Impulse was gone because of its game market orientation.

Your premise that Object Desktop would be better served through sale by means of a common portal lacks feasibilty as noted.  There is no such portal for most application products.

You want to update your Stardock software or games, you launch SDC. You want to update your games purchased through Steam or Impulse, you launch Steam or Impulse. It's a simple process, so what the heck is the big deal here?

Moving this out of support.

I could not disagree more with that statement. While some of the Legacy apps are indeed dated and/or unusable on Windows7, the bulk of ODNT apps work quite well and development continues bringing new products and features to the table. Windows 8 is shaping up to be an epic train wreck of fail and appears to be in dire need of customizing options.

I may have been on a short list of people who liked Impulse, but the bottom line is: I don't care how the software is delivered, as long as it gets to me in working order. SDC, Impulse and now the new SDC were there to make it convenient but were never considered as a selling point. The quality of the software and excellent customer service and support is what keeps me here, not the method of delivery.

P.S. Thanks to the mods for moving this from the Support section. (I stifled myself from replying there)

I've been a Stardock client longer than they had Impulse. I know with Impulse I was always confused by it. I hated the interface, hated the game advertisements (to this day I do not know which games Stardock created) and hated the frustration to try to get it to recognize what I had purchased from Stardock. Time after time it told me I didn't have a license when I think I had one for nearly 10 years, and no matter what I did I could not convince it otherwise. The thing I miss from Impulse are the app descriptions, especially of the apps I didn't have yet. I can live without that. SDC is simple, it shows yes or no, and I can go to the download site if I need. I'd like to see a couple more things, but that might come with time. And I would sure like it to be skinable.

Thanks for voicing your displeasure. I could see your point down to the last line. No, I hope it doesn't die a quick death. I sure as hell don't want to go back to impulse and there is nothing else to substitute for it. I'm a sloppy software keeper - I especially need the update reminders.