[452] in comp.os.os2.announce archive
NEW RELEASE: Stardock's Object Desktop version 1.02
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (wardell@ibm.net)
Thu Dec 7 09:48:36 1995
To: os2ann.DISCUSS@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 1995 10:44:54 GMT
From: wardell@ibm.net
Reply-To: wardell@ibm.net
Submitted by: Brad Wardell (wardell@ibm.net)
Source: Brad Wardell (wardell@ibm.net)
Date received: 1995 December 5
Date posted: 1995 December 7
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Stardock releases Object Desktop update!
Best Selling Desktop Environment now Faster and More Powerful!
New version twice as fast as original!
Canton Michigan--Object Desktop continued its reign as the top
selling OS/2 product for November, but Stardock has not been
resting on its laurels.
"Saying we're pleased with Object Desktop's sales would be a
gross understatement," said Bradley Wardell, President, Stardock
Systems, Inc. "This month we expect it to appear in the major retail
chains and our current resellers are running all sorts of co-sponsored
promotions with us to ensure that users upgrade their OS/2 systems
to the Object Desktop environment. But one stumbling block was
performance on 8 meg 486 systems. We want 100% migration to
our environment and that simply won't happen if some users with
a 486 and 8 megs of RAM find they suffer a performance hit. In
November, we made a major breakthrough in the performance
arena. The new version roughly doubles Object Desktop's apparent
performance."
The Object Desktop update (v1.0.2) is now available on all of
Stardock's support sites as FixKit #3 and is free to existing
customers. Because of the unexpected sales rate, Stardock is
already having to do another manufacturing run of the product
which will include v1.0.2. Users have been happy with v1.0, so this
significant improvement will likely come as a pleasant surprise.
Object Desktop transforms the existing OS/2 system into a more
powerful, easier to use, and much more appealing system to run.
Hot features such as Object Archives, which allows users to treat
a ZIP/LZH file as a normal folder, have been a major selling point
with both end users and corporations looking to standardize on
these wide-spread compression formats. Another hot feature,
HyperCache, is the first third-party caching software developed
for OS/2 and can increase folder access by an order of magnitude
in many cases. The Control Center allows OS/2 users to multitask
more effectively than ever before while monitoring their resources
in real-time. The Tab Launchpad replaces the standard OS/2
launchpad with one that is easier to use and places runnings tasks
into a tabbed category.
"We'd put Object Desktop head to head with any OS environment
available in terms of ease of use. We believe we ve successfully
combined ease of use without sacrificing the power of OS/2," said
Wardell.
Because of the ease of use and visual appeal of Object Desktop, it
has been particularly successful in being pre-loaded on systems.
Europe's leading PC manufacturers, Vobis and Escom, now preload
Object Desktop on all their OS/2 machines, thus making Object
Desktop one of the top selling OS/2 products in OS/2's history in
only its first two months of existence.
"Object Desktop is the first thing I put on all my machines now!"
said David Barnes.
But looks and ease of use are only part of the story. Object Desktop
also comes with the Keyboard LaunchPad which provides a fast
way to configure keys for opening any object. While graphical user
interfaces have increasingly alienated keyboard users, Object
Desktop brings together the best of both worlds. For example,
users can launch a command line by associating an OS/2 window
with Ctrl+Alt+Spacebar or other keyboard sequences.
Several REXX commands such as open.cmd can make life easier for
system administrators who want to simulate mouse clicks in REXX
scripts, and command line users can easily open files that are
associated. The built in editor is not only lightning fast to load but
eclipses the standard OS/2 editor "E" in terms of functionality and
ease of use. Object Desktop but also allows you to control your
system via the "Master Setup" object. Make all your folders come
up sorted, thereby eliminating seemingly empty folders when the
objects are off screen. These features literally only scratch the
surface of what Object Desktop brings to OS/2 2.11 or OS/2 Warp.
Object Desktop delivers both power and ease of use in a single
package. Two years of development, combined with input from
thousands of everyday PC users, helped ensure that Object
Desktop provides an advanced user interface design coupled with
a rich set of must-have features and stability that customers
demand.
"The developers at Stardock have answered the wishes of every
OS/2 user by providing system-level tools and objects that are
tightly integrated with the OS/2 Workplace Shell to combine the
very best interface elements of major PC operating systems
today--OS/2, Apple Macintosh, and Windows 95--for the OS/2
desktop," said Theo Mandel, Ph.D. and author of "The GUI-OOUI
War: Windows vs. OS/2 The Designer's Guide to Human-Computer
Interfaces." "Object Desktop contains the best set of tools and
utilities I've ever seen for the OS/2 desktop. As a user interface
consultant and author, I use Object Desktop as an excellent
example of user-centered design and object-oriented technology."
Object Desktop is currently shipping and can be found at virtually
any retailer/reseller that carries OS/2 software. Its MSRP is $99.95
though the introductory price is only $89.95.
More detailed information on Object Desktop can be found on
Stardock's World Wide Web site: http://oeonline.com/~stardock/.
Email: stardock95@aol.com
Stardock can be reached at 313/453-0328 or 313/453-1480 fax.
