ObjectBar is a program that is designed to enable users to create their own replacement Start bars or Finders or Wharfs or what have you. It's fully skinnable and can even inherit WindowBlinds skins. When it was first released, it was quite popular.  But over time, its popularity faded.  Windows XP provided a temporary boost as users of Windows 2000, 98, or ME could use ObjectBar to make their Start bars look like they do on Windows XP. 

Today, however, most users have Windows XP.  And that put in question the role of ObjectBar moving forward.  Some users questioned that ObjectBar could be superceded by DesktopX.  After all, DesktopX lets you create anything that might be on your desktop.  But DesktopX isn't really designed to create bars.  DesktopX doesn't include built in support for making menus and dynamic content has to be scripted. 

By contrast, ObjectBar is focused on one thing - making bars and menus. Even the existing version, 1.6, which is two years old, is better than anything else out there when it comes to having a good  combination of being able to create real Windows desktop bars while still being flexible enough to have them come in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

The role of desktop bars historically

Most people use desktop bar type programs for one of three things: a) Replacing their Windows Start bar with a MacOS Finder-like bar. Replacing their Windows start bar with a Start bar with more features.  c) Adding a Longhorn like bar to their Windows desktop.

That isn't to say that's the only thing people use these kinds of programs, it's just that that is the most common reasons for using them.

Above are examples of ObjectBar 1.6 in action.

So effectively, that's how these have been used.  They can do a lot more than this. There are great themes out there that do some amazing things and there are other programs similar to ObjectBar. But none of them, including ObjectBar, have ever captured the imagination of users in the same way as say full GUI skinning programs like WindowBlinds or widget enabling programs like DesktopX and Konfabulator or desktop building programs such as DesktopX, Litestep, Talisman.  So why is that? Why is the popularity of these kinds of programs limited primarily to those users who want to emulate the Mac finder Bar or the Longhorn dock?

The Next Generation arrives

The reason these desktop bar programs have always remained limited in popularity is that frankly, the Windows Start bar is a pretty good design. And even if it's not ideal, and it's not, the bar programs require way too much work to configure, skin, and customize to have that "perfect" look.

Skinning can only take you so far.  And besides, you want your bar, wharf, whatever to have the same look and feel as the rest of your GUI.  So right there, that kills off most of these desktop bars.  If I'm changing my visual style but my third party desktop bar has its own look, it looks odd.  Some people can overlook that if the desktop bar provides enough functionality to offset that.  But realistically, those that do stick with desktop bars are confined to those users who can find matching skins (which brings us back to them being used largely as Mac finder bar emulators and Longhorn dock emulators since there are lots of skins that fit that).

What some desktop bars have tried to do to make them more compelling is to try to incorporate various popular features directly into the bar program.  Features such as weather monitoring, clocks, CPU meters, RSS feeds, etc.  The problem with that is that the skinner is left with either having to come up with a complex skin to support it or a generic skin where each panel on the bar looks the same.

There's another solution, however.  Widgets.  Anyone who's created a widget can tell you that it's a lot easier to customize the look and feel of a widget than it is to try to create a skin for anything that's remotely as complex.  ObjectBar 2 allows users to add DesktopX 3 widgets to ObjectBar bars!

ObjectBar 2 Highlights

ObjectBar 2 is designed to be useable by everyone -- not just power users.  Here's a list of features in ObjectBar 2 that Stardock hopes will make it reach a new level of usefulness and popularity:

• DesktopX widgets and gadgets can be used inside of bars natively.
• Seamlessly uses your current WindowBlinds visual style
• New, simple configuration interface
• Simple skin editor for creating your own skins
• Export your creations as programs for others to use
• Full Integration with the new Stardock Virtual Desktops

We'll shortly have a guided tour of ObjectBar 2 but here are some highlights:

Simpler User interface for modifying your bars. Just pick what you want in your bar from the left and move it over into your bar.

Add DesktopX widgets or gadgets to your bars as if they're native - including alpha blending support within the bar.

Create your own skins, have it use your current WindowBlinds skin, or a skin created by someone else.

Creating skins is now a simple 5 step process. That's because it's now assumed that anyone who wants to create something really fancy would likely want to do it as a widget.  Hard core skinners can still create really fancy skins using the same methods as SkinStudio 1.6 (the skin format is just as powerful).

Full integration of the upcoming new Stardock Virtual Desktop program.

Export your creations as programs that can run on any system that has the ObjectBar run-times installed.

The Next Phase

In the next few days, release candidates of ObjectBar 2 will show up on Object Desktop.  Object Desktop is Stardock's premiere suite of desktop enhancement programs.  ObjectBar will also be available on its own. Stay tuned..

To be one of the first to see ObjectBar 2, you'll need to get Object Desktop (www.objectdesktop.com). With Object Desktop you also get DesktopX, WindowBlinds, IconPackager, and countless other programs.

Stardock has expanded its support options with the new Stardock support forums that are designed to supplement Stardock's existing News group peer user support channels.

The new forums are a derivative of the forum technology found here on WinCustomize.com but have some modifications designed to make them as fast as we can. 

They cover Stardock's complete set of products -- not just Object Desktop but the games and ThinkDesk as well.  Check them out.

Well the experiment with Firefox skins (https://www.wincustomize.com/Skins.aspx?LibID=38) finally came to an end. 

We don't remove sections on WinCustomize.com but only the most popular sections remain highlighted. Last month, 0 new skins were submitted. In fact, it's been going on 2 months since there was a new Firefox skin put in.

This paves the way for Trillian and other galleries to get a shot.

AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Instant Messenger, etc. have all kinds of interesting "goodies" that you can download of them. Avatars, Emoticons, Winks, Backgrounds, etc. And probably even more than we're thinking of.

The question is, should WinCustomize have a section to support these kinds of things? Let us know.

IBM's latest power user ThinkPad is the T42.  The T series of ThinkPads provide the best combination between raw performance and portability.  The ThinkPad T series is what I use when I travel to demonstrate our latest software.  It's portable enough that I can lug it around but still powerful enough to show off our various programs.

The T42 I received from IBM is a bit heavier than the T40 it is replacing (about a pound -- 5.7 pounds).  While a relatively small difference, it is something I am definitely noticing as I lug it around.  But I am amply rewarded with a 15 inch display (instead of 14.1 inches).  Other details include a 1.8Ghz Pentium M processor.  The M series of processors aren't like other processors. The Ghz doesn't really tell the story.  In terms of every day usage, it "feels" about as fast as my 3Ghz desktop in terms of computing power. With the larger battery installed, it gets around 5 hours of real world battery use which means I can watch movies and what not on a cross-country trip.

My configuration also includes the IBM Multi-Burner DVD/CD-ROM drive burner drive which lets me make both CDs and DVDs.  The native display resolution is 1400x1050 which is quite useful when doing development, video work, or graphics design. Bundled software allows me to hit the Fn-Space bar to toggle between its maximum display and various lower "zoomed" displays for when I browsing or writing an article (such as this one).  The actual adapter is an ATI Radeon 9600 Mobility which translates to meaning I can play most of the latest games just fine on it if I want and this is also important for me since I'm coding parts of Galactic Civilizations II on it.

One feature I didn't really notice when I ordered it but am finding I really like is the new Finger Print reader (see #9 in the shot to the left). Instead of using a UserID and password to logon, I just put my index finger the finger print reader and it logs me in.  It's well, it's pretty damn cool.

The bundled software IBM has included has finally reached the point where I don't immediately try to scrub it all off.  I still remove most of it as it makes the default boot time take forever (IBM take note, IBM Messages is annoying!).  One piece of bundled software in particular I like --  IBM Active Protection.  Basically it monitors the stability of the machine in real time. I mean the physical stability. So any jarring or rapid movement and it'll instantly turn off the hard drive. 

One feature I've noticed other reviews haven't mentioned that is very important is the new way the battery is handled. In previous versions of the ThinkPad, the battery would keep charging even when plugged in. So IBM batteries tended to die out after around a year. But now the "Improve Battery Health" feature lets you turn that behavior off.

The included 802.11g connectivity has very impressive range (much the same as the T40's 802.11b).  IBM also includes a lot (arguably too much) wireless network software to make it "easy" to connect to a wide variety of networks.  In practice, I don't find this to be that useful as Windows XP SP2's wireless network features are more than enough.

In terms of usage, the ThinkPad T42 keyboard has keys that are spaced and sized the same as a desktop keyboard. The result is that moving from your desktop to the ThinkPad is a smooth transition.

There's not much to complain about here, overall it's a fantastic laptop for the power user. If you need a workhorse laptop that works both as a desktop and is quite portable, you can't do much better than IBM's ThinkPad T42.  Now how things will go with Chinese PC vendor, Lenova in charge remains to be seen. I have been using ThinkPads since 1994 and can't even imagine using any other laptop (particularly one without a trackpoint).  But for now, the ThinkPad T42 is my laptop of choice.

Ever wanted to try your hand at programming but felt like you had to write pages and pages of code to just get something to show up on screen?

That's where DesktopX comes in. With just a few lines of code, you can do all kinds of cool things.  In this example, in less than 10 lines of code you can make something that acts as a cursor pad on screen that moves a ball around. Check it out for yourself.  You can get DesktopX at www.desktopx.net.