The ObjectBar 2.0 beta

So many features, so little time

from JoeUser Forums

If you have Object Desktop no doubt you've noticed that the ObjectBar 2.0 beta has finally arrived.

Note that this is a early beta so please bear in mind that we'll be adding a lot of features to it that are currently missing.

The three big features in this beta are:

  1. New virtual desktop manager. It's VERY early please keep in mind we'll be adding a lot of new features to this.
  2. All new cleaned up user interface designed to make it much easier to work with bars and such.
  3. Widget support.  You can embedd DesktopX widgets into your ObjectBar. This is incredibly cool. However, this feature is not designed so that end users will start stuffing widgets into their bars arbitrarily but rather for ObjectBar theme creators to be able to have a lot more flexibility. In other words, it is not being designed so that you can just go out and grab any old widget and throw it in there. The widget should be designed with being put into ObjectBar (so while you can put swimming fish into your bar, it's not designed for that and it'll do weird things no doubt).

You have to have Object Desktop to get this beta. If you don't have Object Desktop you can get it at www.objectdesktop.com.

objectbar
4,848 views 21 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
So my question is that I could only download the betas if I bought the objectbar (not shareware versions)?
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I don't see v2 on the list, I'm still stuck with 1.99g[b].003


Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
LeeTx; that is the V2 beta, you have the most up too date build installed.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
PlanetH0PE; only Object Desktop subscribers have access to betas.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ok, When will the version that can move the menu out of the program, like in the Stardock News: https://www.stardock.com/newsitem.asp?id=866 because thattd be cool.

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks for the answers
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Is there anyway we can replace the missing functionality from version 1 of the control center? (Namely opening an explorer to a specific drive letter when you click on a drive meter)?

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
Brad, why can't i get rid of my desktop icons? I have looked for the option to hide them when ob is activated, but can't seem to find it...

Everything else is really quite nice...especially adding to the bar.
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Sorry, double post
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
I have 1.99g(b).003 and I'm getting lots of crashes. Happy to send you the theme if you'd like to try recreating. I'm suspecting it's the use of "use active application's menu" that is causing trouble, but of course cannot confirm.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I thought it would be a help to others to see someone at Stardock (or in the community?!?) post an Object Bar 2 enhanced theme that incorporates and shows off some of the features of OB2.

The OB theme gallery hasn't been updated in *quite* some time.

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
This is an interesting beta and I hope this is a place to provide feedback.

1. when i add or remove programs that is not always reflected in the objectbar quick start or start menu.

2. i have not been able to add or remove from the quick start bar

3. when i remove a program it remains in the start programs list

4. when dragging items from the desktop to the quick start bar they get 'lost' and are never displayed

when will the next update appear and will any of these be addressed?

thanks

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
While OB2 apparently does great things for those who wish to use it, they can do so only on XP.

For my money, OB shines most as an XP-like replacement for the TaskBar & StartPanel on Win2k. Win2k compatibility was promised with OB2 (many many many moons ago), and (annoyingly) SDC's description of OB still touts support for Win98, ME & 2K, but the installer still requires XP. Brad posted a long mea culpa about the lack of progress with OB a month or two ago but I don't see any signs that development is progressing.

I suspect Jeff Bargman, OB's developer, has left SD - if not, he's certainly been completely invisible for the past year. I think there is noone left with OB in their in-basket, despite Brad's post. If someone was working on it, we'd have had something in hand long ago.

I don't mean to rag, and I know the number of OD customers using Win2K is small, but if the rest are anything like me, they're going to be using it for at least another 2-3 years, maybe longer, and I hate to see OB's Win2K support abandoned. The last OB1.x update was released 10/04 & there are still some nasty varmints infecting that release.
Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top
I would just like to add to Daiwa's comments about the OB2 installer requiring XP.  I also use Win2k, and I find that this inability to install OB2 is very annoying, especially as the new Control Center beta installs and works fine on Win2k.  Like Daiwa, I am not ever intending to update to XP, and will likely keep it on this PC as long as the PC keeps working.  If OB2 is not ever going to be capable of installing on Win2k, then Stardock should say so now (and update the pages they are using to sell Object Desktop), so that I can consider whether I should keep subscribing to OD at my next renewal.  Too many of the OD components now will not work on Win2k.
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
MS says that Win2k has some life in it (at least until 2010): http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=3071 but it's not being updated by them anymore.

The Register stated that 48% of PCs were running Win2k in June of last year.

Those two facts would indicate that there might be a market for OB development.

I've seen Jeff respond on the forums recently. Based on previous support and this "manifesto" ( http://stardockblog.joeuser.com/ )I'm going to assume that Stardock will follow through on their goals.

I would like to see some developer journals for the the non-game business side of Stardock. I think they have done a lot of good for Stardock in teh GalCiv community. ( https://www.galciv2.com/Journals.aspx ).

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Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I've seen Jeff respond on the forums recently.


That's good to hear & I stand corrected.

Is there an OB-specific forum somewhere? Other then the OB NG?

And while 48% of PC's were running 2K last year, the percentage of 2k users registered with Stardock was well under 5% the last time I saw numbers quoted here, hence the emphasis on XP-compatibility I suppose.
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Is there an OB-specific forum somewhere? Other then the OB NG?


Under the Stardock Support forum there is a OB.

As far as teh newsgroups go . . . that's just depressing. I remember last year Brad said that they were going to get more attention . . . I haven't seen that. I go there maybe once a month but the activity is so low . . .I won't bother for much longer.

Win2k was (is) a nice OS but I can't see it getting much attention by anyone. Do drivers still get written for it?

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Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Zubaz -

All I see under Stardock Support (in the WC forums) is DesktopX, IconPackager, Object Desktop, ObjectDock and WindowBlinds - no ObjectBar. How are you getting to it?

Thanks.
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I also use Win2k, and I find that this inability to install OB2 is very annoying, especially as the new Control Center beta installs and works fine on Win2k.


The frustrating part is that Win2k support was promised from the beginning; when it ran into a problem with the first 1.99 release, they said it was just an oversight, some XP-specific code that hadn't been taken out or something and that the next 1.99 release was going to fix it. It was after that that the installer balked on Win2k, saying OB required XP, & it's been that way since.
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
How are you getting to it?


SDC Discussions.

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Doh. I see it's a subgroup under Object Desktop for some reason. The heirarchy seems non-intuitive, but much about SD & their software is like that.

Thanks, Zubaz.