We had a good meeting tonight on-line that talked about DesktopX 3, Multiplicity, WinCustomize, and more! For those of you who were there, hope you had a good time.
What is Multiplicity? It's a program that is designed to multiply the computing power of individuals by allowing them to manage multiple computers as if they were a single computer.
It works by having N computers and at least N monitors but only 1 keyboard and mouse. The keyboard and mouse are hooked up to the primary computer and with it, the user then controls each of their computers by sliding the mouse over onto the monitor that is attached to the corresponding computer. So in effect, it's like a multi-monitor PC except that I'm multiplying my overall computing power which in turn improves my productivity.
For power users, Multiplicity is the logical destination to maximize what one can do in a given moment of time. I say that as someone who, for years, bought SMP machines with the hope of being able to never be interupted in what I was doing by the computer. OS/2 SMP, NT SMP, etc. never quite did that. I always found myself having to wait for something. This become particularly noticeable when I started tossing more monitors onto a single PC.
Multiplicity eliminates that by letting magnify what I can do by simply tossing more "boxes" under the desk. And let's face it, many people these days have more than one PC. Sure, at least one of them is probably not state of the art, but it's probably more than enough for reading mail, doing instant messaging, etc.
With Multiplicity, much of its goodness is in its usability (and for those who doubt this, they'll be able to download a demo version because if you're sitting there thinking "What about KVM switches?" or "What about program X?" then the solution is being able to see it for yourself).
It's not just that it provides a universal clipboard between all your machines. It's not just the idea that you can now control a PC and a Mac together. It's not just that you can copy files and folders between machines with a simple copy and paste action. It's in the details. It's in the UI.
So how would one use Multiplicity? Kris Kwilas, who works at Stardock, has a few examples he can rattle off the top of his head:
Remote desktop, radmin, VNC, and the like are great solutions for bringing the remote desktops to your main PC.
Multiplicity needs another monitor hooked up to secondary PC (up to 6 of them). There's no getting around that for the moment (by design). If you don't have 2 PC's and 2 monitors, it's of no use to you.
Let me give some examples. Until you've used it, imho, you don't even realize that you've been missing something without it. Which is what the trial version will be for!
- Have you upgraded your main PC at home but the other one isn't quite ready to collect dust in the corner of your office? Have you ever emailed yourself a file or burned a CD to get it 6 feet across the desk to another machine?
- Do you have a laptop or a tablet? Are you on the road and when you come back to the office, you want to control everything from one place?
- Would you like to play games on one PC will still being able to surf the web and IM on the other? Or play multiple accounts in a MMO game at once (yes, people do this, I was surprised too!).
- Do you develop software for a living or hobby and need to test it elsewhere? Are you an artist and want to be able to work on something else while a render or filter happen?
- Do you have to test software on multiple configurations? Some people do have a half-dozen mice and keyboards on their desk.
- Do you need more "desktop" to monitor something that can go on a secondary machine while you continue to work uninterrupted in your main one?
As for myself, I use it at work because I do a lot of compiling one one machine and a lot of graphics design on the other and those of you in my shoes know how that can be. I am thinking of throwing a crap box for a third and having it dedicated to instant messaging and chat and such.
It really came in handy on my recent media tour. I needed to get a bunch of screenshots of GalCiv II. But every time I ALT-ESC'd out of GalCiv, it would crash. So what I ended up doing is having GalCiv II run on Machine A, hit print screen, then move my mouse to machine B and paste the screenshot into Photopaint. Then I saved the files, zipped them up and copied them back to Machine A by right clicking on the ZIP file, choosing copy, then moving my mouse over to Machine B where I have my protable hard drive already hooked up, right clicking and choosing paste. And sure, with network shares I could have copied too but compare the productivity difference in just that one trivial example.
I also use it when my son and I play World of Warcraft. We have two accounts. So he plays and I play. We sit next to each other (killing wolves and bandits together - father and son
Most of the time though I use it in totally seamless mode. That is, just like a multi-monitor setup, I just move my mouse to the other screen and control that box. In our lab there are configs with many machines hooked up to it. It's very handy for testing.
That isn't to say we have dumped our KVM switches. Our server room uses that and it works great for that. It's not really designed to compete with that. But there are probably people who use KVM switches who would be better served with Multiplicity just as there are people who might be using VirtualPC who might be better served this way too. There's a lot of potential overlap depending on what you're doing.
Try out Multiplicity for yourself.
There's been a lot of questions regarding the announcement of the new Stardock product, Multiplicity. The article linked below will explain a lot more about it and why we think most people who have multiple computers in their office may be inclined to get it. Check it out!
Our original goal was to have a gamer's version of Multiplicity that would be called MobMaster. This way, we could market Multiplicity to gamers under the name MobMaster without people thinking that Multiplicity itself was mainly for gamers.
During development, Robert McNaughton noticed how much better Massively Multiplayer games could be played with Multiplicity. In fact, I have two World of Warcraft accounts and I use Multiplicity to control two characters at the same time. The real advantage of Multiplicity can't be seen in a screenshot but rather in action -- it's incredibly seamless.
So anyway, we figured it would be cool to make a gaming version of Multiplicity to explicitly target MMORPG players and other types of gamers. Very often I'll play with just a single character in WoW and while he's running to Iron Forge or whatever I'll just move my mouse to the other screen to check Thotbott or browse the WoW forums, check email, etc. Because I can move my mouse back and forth so quickly and easily, it's very natural to work this way.
The problem we've run into is that we just don't have the "marketing bandwidth" as they say to promote two distinct products. Even as is, we have to explain to the press how Multiplicity is different from say a KVM Switch or different than some open source program that in theory lets you do something similar (but doesn't work the same in practice) or even how it's different from remote control software.
So as a result, we've had to put all our attention on Multiplicity. So we still have this site. MobMaster is Multiplicity. So when you buy MobMaster, you're getting Multiplicity. Just realize that if you're a gamer, particularl a power gamer with many computers, Multiplicity really is a killer app.
If you pre-order Galactic Civilizations II (or have an active TotalGaming.net account) you will be able to get the major betas of Galactic Civilizations II.
For those of you unfamiliar with betas, it's important to realize that a beta isn't like getting the final game except with some bugs. In March, Beta 1 will show up and since the final game isn't expected until end of this year or even early next year, you can imagine how much will be missing.
So here is the schedule at present (subject to change)
March: Beta 1
Goal: Compatibility and performance. How well does the new 3D engine work? Does it blow up on people? What hardare issues will people have?
Feedback we need: If it doesn't run on your computer or has some problem, we need to know your hardware specifications, what OS you're running, etc.
Feedback we DON'T need: Spelling errors, complaints about missing features, "suggestions" on UI, complaints about game balancing or "that it's not fun" (beta 1 won't be fun, we'll make it our business to ensure it's not fun in order to keep focus on the compatibility and performance
May: Beta 2
Goal: Performance/Compatibility still. But now with the focus moving towards user interface design. Is the UI looking okay? Is it intuitive? Are the basic game mechanics easy to figure out? Can you play the game without needing a manual (the game will have a manual but a well designed game shouldn't need much of one)
Feedback we need: Suggestions/complaints on UI. Crashing issues. Performance and compatibility.
Feedback we DON'T need: Spelling errors, complaints about missing features, , complaints about game balancing or "that it's not fun" (beta 2 should be playable but it won't be balanced yet). "First off, you spelled 'manufacturing' as 'manufaturing'. Secondly, I can't believe that a capital ship only takes 4 months to build but a fighter take 3 months. Hello? Why bother with a fighter?"
August: Beta 3
Goal: Fun factor. Replayability. Game balancing.
Feedback we need: Are there cheese factors in the game? How is the AI doing? Is the game fun? What features do we need to add to make it more fun for you? How are the graphics looking? This is where the game plays as a reasonably complete war game. The only major elements that won't be in would be fleets and diplomacy.
Feedback we DON'T need: Spelling errors, wishing it was just like
October: Beta 4 (and beyond)
Goal: Polish, making sure it's really fun. Diplomacy makes it in. Fleet battles get in.
Feedback we need: Typos and spelling errors. Usability features that make the game more approachable. Tweaks that make the game more fun. Gameplay tweaks. AI tweaks. UI and graphical tweaks. This is where we need to make sure diplomacy is fun and interesting. We have to make sure that the battles look good and aren't tedious and such.
Feedback we DON'T need: Suggestions that would completely change the game "You know, you really need to have tactical ground invasions done in 3D. Frankly, the game sucks without it."
Hope this helps!
In DesktopX 2, a widget developer would create several objects on the desktop and then attach bits of scripting to each one based on what they wanted it to do. This made it easier to create fairly simple widgets but more complex ones were a bit of a pain because DesktopX 2.x couldn't really create new objects.
That changes in DesktopX 3. In DesktopX 3, you can control everything in your widgets from a single script. One place this makes things easier is in terms of dealing with user input. In DesktopX 2, the object being clicked on was the object that had to handle the input. This could be a pain in the butt. DesktopX 3 lets callbacks be in the same script.
So let's say you have a widget with several buttons on it. Each button is an object. In DesktopX 2, each object would have to have a script to deal with what happened when the user clicked on that button. In DesktopX 3 a new API exists:
function Object_OnLButtonUp(szObjectName, x, y, bStatus)
{
}
So now you just supply the object name and you can handle its inputs from a single script.
You can read the full article by clicking on the link below.
This is the first in a series of journals I plan to write about the evolution of DesktopX into version 3.
So let me give you a background on this because some people may think "Why so much written stuff on this thing? What's the big deal?"
DesktopX has traditionally acted as an environment where people could put objects on their Windows desktop, and then combine them together to either design a complete desktop or as a mini-application and then export them as a desktop (a DesktopX theme) or as a program for others to use (a widget).
The reason why widgets are such a big deal is that since the Macintosh was released in 1984, we've only had to two types of "things" that would show up on your desktop. You have icons, which are just little static pictures. Or you had full blown applications. There was nothing in between. They either were full blown programs or they were just pictures.
I don't normally toot our horn too much on this issue but because some other programs have tried to imply they somehow came up with this concept, DesktopX was the first program to actually deliver on the concept of having interactive content on your desktop that could be created by end users.
The idea for this isn't new. IBM, Apple, and Microsoft all wanted to have something that was more than an icon but less than a full blown program. Something that could exist on your desktop that wasn't much harder to create than an icon and was a lot less complicated to make than a traditional application.
In DesktopX 2, a widget developer would create several objects on the desktop and then attach bits of scripting to each one based on what they wanted it to do. This made it easier to create fairly simple widgets but more complex ones were a bit of a pain because DesktopX 2.x couldn't really create new objects.
That changes in DesktopX 3. In DesktopX 3, you can control everything in your widgets from a single script. One place this makes things easier is in terms of dealing with user input. In DesktopX 2, the object being clicked on was the object that had to handle the input. This could be a pain in the butt. DesktopX 3 lets callbacks be in the same script.
So let's say you have a widget with several buttons on it. Each button is an object. In DesktopX 2, each object would have to have a script to deal with what happened when the user clicked on that button. In DesktopX 3 a new API exists:
function Object_OnLButtonUp(szObjectName, x, y, bStatus)
{
}
So now you just supply the object name and you can handle its inputs from a single script.
Some of these things won't be in 3.0 but they are things I'd like to see in DesktopX at some point:
This is by no means my entire list, but these are some of the "biggies" I have on the list. 
This Friday Stardock's development team is going to host an IRC chat conference on its chat server (irc.stardock.com) in the #stardock channel. For those of you not as familiar with IRC, you can reach it through Stardock Central (you'll need to type /join #stardock once you connect).
The primary topic of discussion will be DesktopX 3 and DesktopX 3 Pro. However, there will also be room to talk about other things such as Multiplicity and other programs that are about to be announced this week.. Hope to see you there!