Indeed it is an old reply. Do you have a point?

Maybe you've been out of the loop...

Let me fill you in:

Win10 compatibility was claimed in the original mass mailing. It was futher supported in the posts here.

I came here because it would not work for me. The response I received was "oh it works just fine, it is something on your end".

I mentioned that I had tried to install in on Win10 x64 pro and on Win10 x64 Enterprise and it did not work on either.

I got a specious response that this was a problem on my end, in spite of a clean install of Win10.

After others chimed in with the same issues and problems the "we never claimed compatibility" posts went up.

e.g Reply 19.

Now you are caught up.

Listen.  I've been a customer since OS2 Warp days.  It wasn't always like this so yes I hope my comments will cause someone to wake up and make some changes.  It's truly a sad, sad, thing seeing what's going on.

It seems strange that OD doesn't work well for some win 10 users and great for others. Could it be certain brands of computers? It would be interesting to see what brand of computers people have when they post to this thread.

I use a run of the mill HP desktop and OD has no issues at all. Win 10 updated to the latest update. 

Object Dock in Win 10 is not support but may or may not work in part 

View supported programs

https://forums.stardock.com/469435/stardock-software-and-windows-10

This thread is still going? C'mon... developer is GONE. No more updates. I use dosbox to run old unsupported games. ObjectDock is a lost cause. 

UWP means Universal Windows Platform, and UWP apps are 'sandboxed' applications that were supposed to work on all versions of Windows, from PCs, to tablets to phones.

...except Microsoft gave up on its Windows phone business and now it does not have a Universal Windows Platform anymore.

So why are they still moving most of the Windows 10 settings/applications to UWP ? Because UWP apps are just a piece of a much bigger and much more sinister plan to put both users and developers 100% on Microsoft's leash.

Windows is based on the Win32 API, which is an open platform and one of the reasons why Windows became the 'universal' OS of choice. Microsoft are thus trying to kill Win32, which they can't control, and replace it with the UWP, which has absolutely nothing to do with Windows as we know it. If they succeed, they will have full control over the platform, nothing can be sold except through the Windows Store (with a 30% cut for Microsoft) and Microsoft will always get the last word on what gets published and what not. In return, we get under-powered, slow as molasses, UWP applications. Ah, and if and when that happens Microsoft can then finally turn their business model into Windows-as-a-service, Microsoft's wet dream where you have to pay them a monthly fee to keep Windows running, or lose access to ALL your paid for applications.

So lose-lose for everyone (users and developers alike) - except for Microsoft, of course.

The problem, and the reason this plan might still succeed, is that people are completely apathetic these days. I don't know if it's something in the water, but just a few years ago the mere *suspicion* that Microsoft *might* be spying on its users would cause a universal riot. Now we know for sure and NOBODY CARES.

So, in a way, it can be said we will deserve whatever we get, because we were too busy watching Netflix and other things to bother fighting for our rights and privacy.

Linux is definitely not a good environment for commercial applications: it's Open Source, people got used to everything there being free and that is what they now expect. Of course, nothing in life is 'free', as we all need to eat. Besides, Linux already has its fair share of docks: Cairo dock, Docky, etc...

Apart from that, these days there are very few developers in the world capable of - or willing to - do these kind of applications, at least on Windows: owning the source code means nothing if you have nobody to work on it. The only dock that is currently still in active development, as you know since you mentioned it above, although indirectly, is Winstep Nexus. All the others are dead or in limbo.

The vast majority of developers have also moved on to managed code. The problem with managed code is that it is incredibly bloated and simply does not have the performance required to make dock-like applications. It's ridiculous, just look at how long it takes for a basic .NET UWP app to simply OPEN and pop up on your screen!

For some reason Microsoft is NOT eating its own dog food (no major MS application is written in .NET or has been converted to UWP, they are all Win32 C++) although it has no problem peddling it to others.

In the old times, when Moore's law ('processing power doubles every two years') was still in effect, hardware advancements would eventually mitigate this added slowness, but Moore's law is no longer true, and hasn't been for a very long time (in fact, Microsoft was counting on it while it was developing Vista, but it didn't happen, which is one of the reasons Vista ran like a dog on the hardware of the time). We have reached physical limits, in terms of die size, thermal dissipation, etc, so exponential performance increases are a thing of the past.

If anything, we are now going backwards (Meltdown and Spectre).

The problem is that users don't really have a choice but to stick with Microsoft and Windows, as I suspect MS would be HURTING BADLY right now otherwise. Apple is no different than Microsoft in this respect (in fact, they're worse!) and all their products are terribly expensive, and Linux, even after all these years, is STILL not ready to replace Windows ease of use, etc... At the very least it is still *perceived* as an OS for techies and not for the Joe Users of the world.

When Linux was new, applications were horribly expensive because, as was explained to me when I asked about an application on the phone once, "the Unix pricing model is in effect for Linux applications."  Sourceforge and GNU put an end to that.  But I would pay for a great Linux application, such as a Linux port of Corel PaintShop Pro with AfterShot Pro.  People pay for Linux all the time, in terms of support contracts for the OS, and applications.  Some people just go to Sourceforge or GNU for free applications.  Commercial users and seriously committed Linux people do buy applications.

The Mac should be the second line of defense.  It was well on the way to becoming that in the mid 1990's, when Apple licenses Motorola and others to make Mac-compatible hardware with Mac OS pre-installed.  But when that took off, Mac abruptly stopped licensing hardware.  Without the free market driving innovation, the Mac will never be attractive to many people.

Linux is a learning curve, and its apps are a learning curve.  But there are commercial organizations that use RHEL under maintenance contract with supported application suites.

LOL. So many people here don't seem to get it. It's called "big business". Anyone seriously think that this miserably few amount of posts here and elsewhere is gonna sway anyone? I notice some WinStep avatars here. There's an alternative. Nexus is better and, afaik, still in active development. There is no more hope for ObjectDock. Give it up.

Ok, then if this is the major problem (UWP) why can't compatibility settings overcome the problem and if so why doesn't SD say so instead of just saying "you're out of luck, and we don't care".

Nice plot.  But it combines Windows 3.x, Windows 95/98/ME, Windows 2000/XP, Windows Vista/7, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10.  A post by a Stardock person a few months ago showed that people browsing Stardock pages had under 25% of Windows usage, and about half use Window 7, which reflects the world out there.

I use OD under Windows 10 Pro and love it.  I tried Winstep for a few weeks and found the tabbed docks pre-populated with useless links, large, and difficult to customize.  On my Object Desktop tabbed dock, I have ten or so tabs, each with ten or so apps, and can't give those up.  Yes, Winstep's scaled dock at the bottom of the screen was a clone of OD's scaled dock and seemed to scale when Windows 10 was closing a window and such, but I didn't see any difference in responsiveness of the icons.  Altogether it took up 25% of my screen and I had to peek at my OD tabbed dock to get at my 100 or so custom icons.  Eventually I uninstalled it.

The problem with OD with Windows 10 as I understand it is that it doesn't support "universal apps," the touchscreen-controlled full-screen-only apps for tablets and phones.  I have none of those and don't plan any.

Ok, this certainly justifies an intervention to clarify a few points (sorry Jafo): while I certainly agree with the 'different strokes, different folks' argument, as you can't argue with personal preference, that doesn't seem to be the case here. 

I think this is what happens when people try something new expecting things to work the same way they did before.

The Shelf (tabbed dock) in Winstep Xtreme and Nexus Ultimate is fully customizable. Therefore, if it uses too much screen space for you, resize it. If it has links in its default configuration that are useless to you, just remove them (right click, delete). If it has tabs that do not interest you, remove those too (right click, delete) and add any tabs that might be of interest to you (right click, add new tab).

I'm mentioning this last bit because the Shelf also supports special function tabs, like Folder tabs, Desktop tab, My Computer tab, Recent Documents tab, Control Panel tab, Documents tab, Themes tab, Apps tab, and many others, all capable of displaying different things and with different functions - and all with full drag & drop support. There is a reason Winstep does not call the Shelf a simple 'tabbed dock': because it is SO MUCH MORE than that.

Nexus also features what must be the QUICKEST and EASIEST method to customize dock and Shelf icons, but, of course, first you need to learn about it: once you've populated the dock with all the applications you wanted via drag & drop, you THEN open the folder containing all your favorite icon images and start dragging those PNG and ICO files straight INTO the shortcuts in the dock. You'll be done in less than a minute: no need to waste a LOT of time right clicking -> Item Properties -> Change Icon for each item, you just drag that PNG, ICO or TIF image file and drop it directly into the item in the dock - and Bob's your uncle!

I don't want to say more than I strictly should to counter argue what you said because even though Winstep and Stardock have always been on friendly terms, this is still an OD support thread.  So I will only add this: all the things you complained about can be easily and quickly changed, and everything new has a learning curve. All that probably happened is that moving on to another application would end up being a lot of work for you - nobody is looking forward to customizing over 100 icons again, after all, especially not if you don't know the trick above yet.

Jkbeard. Member Number: 331635

JcRabbit, Member Number: 261

This alone should tell you a lot.

As for the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt), show me ONE SINGLE INSTANCE where I have done that.

As for 'advertising', I am writing from the Wincustomize forums, which have been hosting Winstep themes from the very beginning.  This is not advertising, advertising is when I post a new release announcement in the Wincustomize forums with the blessing of Stardock and the Wincustomize moderators, as I have done many times before.

What I did above was reply to direct criticism, which I don't agree with, of Winstep products. Anyway, if you want to discuss this further (as well as providing proof of FUD), please take it to another thread and I will be more than happy to oblige.