This fall Object Desktop users are in for a real treat.  WindowBlinds 5 alpha 1 is expected to come out sometime this month.  Moreover, WindowFX 2.5 is nearly complete and it has some cool new features such as taskbar previews and a Ctrl-Tab feature that lets people cycle through their running programs quickly and more visually than the existing Alt-Tab method.  More to come. Stay tuned..

If you don't already have Object Desktop, now's a good time to get it. There's an upgrade path also for people who have one of the stand-alone programs of it.  Object Desktop users get everything already available for it plus all updates and new programs we add for a year after purchase!

Our story so far..

In 2000 Stardock released DesktopX which gave Windows support for desktop objects. These objects could be used to build entire desktops or exported as mini-applications called "widgets".

DesktopX became pretty popular with millions of users downloading it and trying it out.  Unfortunately, most of the content created by developers looked like it was made by developers.  3 years later, a Mac developer released Konfabulator which also created mini-applets.  They wisely included a series of incredibly polished looking widgets that showed off what could be done.  Combined with excellent marketing, Konfabulator became very well known.

In 2005, Stardock released DesktopX 3 which also came in a Pro version that could create gadgets.  Gadgets are like widgets except they don't require the user to download an enabler. The gadget contains the executable code within it it needs to function. 

In July 2005, Yahoo acquired Konfabulator rebranding it Yahoo Widgets.  The question came up, what is DesktopX's future? Why would developers create widgets/gadgets for DesktopX over making them for Konfabulator?

The answer came in September 2005 with Microsoft's announcement of Microsoft Gadgets.  From an end user point of view, Microsoft's gadgets are identical to Stardock's gadgets.  However, under the cover, Microsot's gadgets are different and use what we'll loosely call the shared Gadget specification that I will discuss below.  The bottom line is that by Windows Vista, gadgets are gadgets are gadgets. The reason for developers to target using DesktopX rather than Yahoo Widgets is that DesktopX's gadgets won't require additional downloads and will support Microsoft's gadget technologies.

So what is going to be the shared gadget specification?

1) Exported gadgets can be .EXEs or .GADGET.  But only .GADGET files will be able to be docked on the Windows Sidebar.  We hope for both implementations to work on Stardock ObjectBar (see screenshot above).

2) A .gadget file is a container file (.ZIP or .CAB renamed). 

3) Inside the .gadget file are:

• A Gadgets.xml file that describes what the gadget is and provides its security settings.
• A XAML file that describes the visual elements of it
• A .CS file (or other scripting file) that handles the logic of it
• A PNG file that acts as the preview/icon for it

A .gadget file is essentially the same in concept as a .dxpack file today except that .dxpacks contain INI, XML, and PNG files.

What will make the next generation gadgets interesting is Avalon (Windows Presentation Foundation).  Vector based, 3D accelerated content.  You will be able to make gadgets through a variety of methods.  Microsoft's "Sparkle" app would be one example.  DesktopX would be another way. How developers make gadgets will likely come down to their own preferences (and cost -- DesktopX Pro is only $69.95).

Stardock plans to write a plugin that will allow existing gadgets to run on the Windows Sidebar.

DesktopX will have a few examples as a gadget development platform in that it is designed specifically for creating this kind of content (desktop content -- .desktops or .gadgets or widgets).  Whereas Sparkle is a generalized platform with the developer having to do more of the work themselves.  To use a paint program analogy, Photoshop is popular partially because it comes with tons of filters and other things that are handy to artists.  The convenience comes in the form of included tools for making the kinds of things people who created gadgets are likely to want to make use of.

The point being is that there won't be a bunch of different types of gadgets specifications.  Our goal is to make DesktopX to be able to create Avalon based gadgets and provide a path for users and developers to take maximum advantage of all the cool new features coming out in Windows Vista.  Of course, this won't happen overnight. Windows Vista is still a ways off. 

In the name of journalism or whatever the heck I'm doing, I spent hours today carefully and painstakingly evaluating the new Windows Vista games. Then I took some screenshots and uploaded them to my WinCustomize personal photo album (do YOU have one? Why not?). 

Anyway, Microsoft has revamped the existing games completely -- even Mindsweeper and introduced some new ones to the mix.  Check out the screenshots and thus validate the hours I spent "researching" this article...

The games that come with Windows XP are pretty dated.  But with Windows Vista, Microsoft has gone back to the drawing board.  Included in Vista is a whole slew of updates to classics along with some new games including a pretty nice chess game.  Check out the screenshots below.

The new chess game is pretty impressive.	Minesweeper gets a much needed update	Mahjong! Yes!	I'm not quite sure what this game is..	Microsoft's dialogs are getting better.
Solitair gets an update too.

I liked what they do with the Vista scrollbars.  You can't really see it in this screenshot but they are pretty gray and non-descript normally but when you mouse over a scrollbar, it changes into what you see here which looks nice.

Over at MicrosoftGadgets.com, Mac zealots are giving new meaning to the term uninformed fanatic.  This week, Microsoft announced Microsoft Gadgets.  As has been discussed, gadgets are similar to widgets except they do not require the user to download a run-time in order to use them. They're stand-alone entities.

Microsoft's gadgets are designed to be used on Windows Vista (and on XP via Avalon) and can sit on the desktop, be placed on the Windows Side-bar and be put onto the web.

Mac zealots started foaming that Microsoft was ripping off Apple.  A pretty impressive display of chutzpah considering Apple ripped off the concept from Konfabulator.  Some Mac users tried to argue that no, that's not true, Apple's desktop accessories predate it all.  Balderdash. I knew Apple accessories.  Apple accessories were a friend of mine. Dashboard is no follow-on to desktop accesories.  It's interesting to note that Mac zealots only discovered the wonder of desktop accessories AFTER Dashboard had been announced.  In the 5 years DesktopX had existed, not once did a Mac user say "That's a copy of Desktop accessories".  Similarly, you'd be hard pressed to go onto the Konfabulator forums and see an early post from someone saying "Isn't this just like desktop accessories?"  In short, the desktop accessories comparison was manufactured by zealots to cover the fact that Apple got caught, again, ripping off its ISVs.

So it's rather ironic to hear them argue Microsoft was ripping off Apple.  If anyone should be mad, it should be Stardock.  After all, DesktopX was the first mini-application enabler that allowed end users to easily create them.  The DNA difference between DesktopX's widgets/gadgets, Konfabulator, Dashborad, Kapsules, etc. is relatively small compared to the difference between them and something like desktop accessories (or hypercard or Incan clay tablets for that matter). 

But you haven't heard Stardock complain about Microsoft's gadget strategy even though it's identical to Stardock's.  People all week have been asking us for our reaction to Microsoft's announcement.  Similarly, when Yahoo bought Konfabulator, we were asked for our reaction.  How would it affect DesktopX? We didn't really say much.  This week, users everywhere discovered the reason we've been so quiet.

I'm not the only one who finds the latest example of historical revisioning by Mac zealots galling.  Paul Boyer, who was created DesktopX objects back in 1999 (as in clocks, mp3 players, drive monitors, you get the idea) without knowing programming (he's a graphics designer) is appalled as well.  Check out the article below.

And stay tuned to more information on the Stardock/Microsoft gadget evolution. Exciting things are afoot.

Let me get this part out of the way - Windows Vista is the first Microsoft OS that I can say I'm genuinely excited for.  It's just a technological wonderland that is building for the future.

There's been a lot of screenshots of Vista on the net, I decided to take a closer look and see areas that Microsoft is still working on. Remember, this is a beta so warts are a normal part of it.

See the link below to see some more candid shots of Windows Vista..

Avalon aka Windows Presentation Foundation is one of the major focuses of Microsoft here.  In fact, Avalon is getting more emphasis at PDC than any other new technology in IMO.

Its Goal: Replace GDI (which is nearly 20 years old) with a new graphics system that takes advantage of the latest advances in graphics hardware.  But replacing GDI is a bit of an understatement.  It replaces GDI in the same way that spreadsheets replace counting on ones fingers.

It lets people create applications on the desktop that have the same kinds of graphical performance as a PC game.

What do developers have today? GDI, GDI+, DirectShow.  We've done quite a bit with these things (ObjectDock, DesktopX, WindowBlinds, etc.).  But they are still limited.

Future development should make use of Direct3D, Windows Media Foundation, Windows Presentation Foundation (Avalon).

So how about Direct3D vs. Avalon?  Direct3D provides much finer control but also requires more work.  Avalon, by contrast, is designed to allow people to do visually exciting things with less effort but isn't nearly as low level. Incidentally, Direct3D 10 will only be available to Windows Vista users.

What's nice about Windows Vista's new display driver model is that the GPU is virtualized so multiple applications can share the processor cleanly (something that you can't do on Windows XP currently). 

Windows Media Foundation is a new set of APIs to handle audio and video playback  They are being set up to replace DirectShow and Windows Media SDK.  One of the benefits is WMF is that it provides better resilience for audio and video.

Menawhile, Avalon (Windows Presentation Foundation) is designed to encourage the use of resolution independent application development through the use of vector-based content.

Vista looks good but they still haven't gotten rid of the ugly icons in some places.  PLEASE change the icons throughout the system. 

An alternative way of doing Alt-Tab. It looks good but I didn't find it that practical.  The primary Alt-Tab method is fancier than the Windows XP alt-tab but noticeably slower.  I like slick but I don't want it to noticeably slow me down and I do a lot with Alt-Tab.

The sidebar and task preview (something we are working on for WindowFX too).  The sidebar now is merely a container for gadgets which is absolutely sweet in theory.  I like the concept a lot.  However, right now, the gadgets are apparently implemented in DHTML.  I relaly don't see that as a practical thing.  I'd like to see them switch to have gadgets be Avalon based with the noborders switch on.  I think gadgets would be a great way for Microsoft to get people to start using XAML. Note: This is not necessarily what the Sidebar is going to look like in the final version. This was a beta version that was shown at PDC.

Gadgets can be pealed off and live on the desktop as well.

New file save dialog. I like the design but if you look closely, Windows classic can still peer through so there's still some fit and finish to be done there.

And for fun, here's a screenshot of my Windows XP desktop running Object Desktop with the WindowBlinds 5 beta (public beta in a week or two):

WindowBlinds 5 on XP can do semi-transparent borders and Start bars and runs fast on fairly low end hardware.  On Windows Vista, WindowBlinds 5 will make use of the new Windows Vista compositer to allow for much more advanced skinning than we've seen previously.  Much of the next-gen skinning will be back ported to Windows XP (though users with install the Avalon libraries on XP will likely benefit). 

Overall, Vista's a really good experience.  But I do hope there's an overall fit and finish guy over there so that things like ancient icons and inconsistent fonts get fixed.  Some of these icons have managed to survive since Windows NT 3.1 (1994).