I used Object Desktop from Stardock some years ago on OS/2 Warp and it was a good time/bad thing. While I liked the functionality and what you could do, it took on some negative karma when it caused stability problems for me. If you ever used Warp, you know that while the Presentation Manager was not very pretty (by default), it was very functional. Its object orientedness was totally awesome. It was the only OS I ever used that let you build a floppy-based image that would boot a completely different DOS version with all the settings that you include.
I had not taken a look at OD 2005 until recently when my drab XP desktop and laptop seemed to need some relief or at least a bit of something different. Truth be told, I missed things like roll-up windows and virtual desktops where other things could be running. I also wanted different themes and skins on the desktop. I end up looking at the big HP laptop, or my Downstairs Desktop, every day now. Its a beautiful laptop to work on but one needs some change.
There are a few essentials in the package that will do some wild things with windows that show through but not to the desktop. If you set up transparency, it shows the windows underneat it and not the root window. Whoa! Now that’s cool. It also has a group of “widgets” and “objects” which are little apps in their own right. You can skin the toolbar, create new right click menu items, and just plain have fun. But I think you need to have a system with some horsepower or things may drag a bit.
If you want a complete taskbar replacement, you can do that as well; but I like redoing the existing taskbar and menu’ing area with some changes in fonts and colors. Its interesting that many of the features that brought me to this solution on XP has been around with Gnome for years. I used virtual desktops both in X and in console mode for many years on Linux and rolling up a window to get it out of the way is something that’s been around in the 50 or so Windowing Manager for a long time.
I tend to use Windows XP Pro only for the applications that i find I need now every day. I need Visio and Project. I like one and the other one is a pain sometimes. But the reality persists. If one is a tool user out there like me, you got to use what you got to use. A friend of mine over at Sputnik told me “one uses the correct tool to get the job done”. Its true whether you are gardening, building airplanes, or using a computer. Some of the things that Object Desktop now bring actually allow some productivity; but in reality, if you end up staring even at an attractive laptop screen for hours a day, you might as well have some pretty buttons and widgets and stuff.
