Share with us a screenshot of you ObjectDock'd desktop!

 

You guys are going to love ObjectDock 1.1. There's a ton of little tweaks in there based on requests including a bit of a zooming when you mouse over an icon in a tabbed dock.

Research company Gartner has issued a statement warning businesses to steer clear of Google's desktop search tool until a more robust, enterprise-ready version is released.

While the tool is potentially extremely attractive to employees, Gartner states in a recent research note, IT managers should discourage users from adopting it and instead opt for a more business-ready, secure search engine.

"We have no problem with it being used for personal use," said Gartner research director Maurene Grey. "Our concern is (that) when it is used in a corporation, we have some security and privacy issues. Google says it will collect only nonpersonal data, but in a corporation how can you monitor what's being collected?"

You can read the whole thing [Here].

The Motion Picture Association of America launched a new legal campaign Tuesday targeting the BitTorrent and eDonkey file-swapping networks, two technologies widely used to trade movies online.

Ratcheting up its previous online antipiracy efforts, the Hollywood group is working with law enforcement agencies in the United States and Europe to target and arrest individuals who play a critical role in the functioning of each type of network.

Full article: [Here]

 

Often times it's much easier to chat voice than chat with the keyboard.

To that end there is a program called Ventrilo. We have a server that we put up a long time ago that you are free to make use of.  My friend Alex has a guild called Digital Marines (DIM).  I let them use the ventrilo server as well and they're a good bunch of guys.

First you'll need to download the Ventrilo client:

[Download Here]

Once you have it installed, it will need to point to a server: cs.stardock.com. Put in your userID and password.

There are some tricks to make it work better once you have it installed:

1) Click on the Setup button and make sure you have "Use Push-To-Talk" hotkey and then set the hot key to be something like F12.

2) Turn off the sound effects in the events tab.

3) Turn off the Check for new version in the global tab. We use Ventrilo 2.1, not 2.2 or later. The newer versions only work on newer servers and we haven't had the inclination to mess with updating the server (i.e. if it ain't broke, don't fix it).

Since this requires a microphone, I suggest testing to make sure your mic is working.  The way I do this is load up sound recorder. Start->Accessories->Entertainment->Sound recorder. You can use this to say "Test test test" and what not to make sure the volume is what you ant it to be.  I personally use the Logitech mic that's at Best Buy. It's USB and easier to configure. You do have to make sure that the program is using that Mic. )voice tab, look at the Output device drop down box).

Once you are in, there is a World of Warcraft channel.  My friend Alex already has a bunch of channels set up. Don't go into the PVPing channel since that's strictly for player vs. player.  Generally, I go into the Questing channel in the Delta sub-channel (you'll see what I mean). 

But if you really ever get stuck and need help, look for Jax or Pillz or Vexen. They know WoW inside and out. Just tell them I (Brad/Draginol) sent you. The rest of them won't have any idea who I am (they have no idea who their benefactor is <g>).

If you have any questions, just post here and I'll try to help.

Stardock has released a free "Holiday Desktop" theme. This theme includes everything the user needs to seamlessly change the complete look and feel of Windows XP.

This suite shows off the power of Stardock’s Object Desktop, which allows users to completely customize the look, feel and function of Windows. Once the holidays are over, a user can simply turn it off and return their system to its pre-holiday look and feel. 

The suite includes a visual style that changes the Windows XP user interface, a wallpaper, a set of icons, a calendar, and other goodies.

It uses the same technology that companies such as Alienware, Microsoft, nVidia, ATI, Nintendo and others have licensed to create their own branded desktop environments.

For more information visit:
https://www.stardock.com/products/themes/holidaydesktop
 
Screenshot:
https://www.stardock.com/products/themes/holidaydesktop/HolidayDesktop2004.jpg

The last couple weeks have been very rough at work. I've been doing more hours than I care to.  Last week I did approximately 77 hours.  This week I'll probably do another 60.

Had a major negotiation with a major publisher to license their trademark fall apart today. Months of effort wasted. The terms had been agreed on but the lawyers killed it. Every little detail had to be micro-managed, signed off on by every party, to a scale that was simply unmanageable. It would have cost us as much to comply with the contract's endless (and often arbitrary) compliance requirements as it would have to make the game.  So today we finally had to throw in the towel and say "Thanks but no thanks, this is way too much of a headache for us to deal with." One can only imagine the kinds of headaches are involved in licensing a famous book or movie to be made into a game.

Meanwhile, work here keeps backing up. www.WinCustomize.com is slowly getting fixed up but there's a ton of little bugs on it that have to be taken care of. And those bugs affect JoeUser.com exquisitely. 

The only bright side is that our internal software projects are going well. Got good news from the ObjectBar 2 team, DesktopX 2.4 is nearly ready and ThinkDesk components are coming along nicely. And the Galactic Civilizations II team has some really neat stuff in the works.

I did spend some time today completing the "Prelude to War" campaign for Galactic Civilizations: Altarian prophecy (www.galciv.com).  I think people will like this a lot when it comes out.

But overall, there's just so much to do that it's unbelievable. 

So what ever happened to that ObjectBar thing anyway? You know, the program in Object Desktop that had so much potential to really make Windows into a much more productive environment?

Click on the screenshot to find out. In essence, ObjectBar 2 is almost ready for beta.  One of the big new features in it is that it can incorporate DesktopX widgets.  So rather having to make the ObjectBar "skin" format insanely complicated for doing really advanced looking graph readouts and RSS feeds and all those other goodies people like to put on these kinds of things, users and authors will be able to simply select a DesktopX widget and put it in there. 

As any DesktopX widget/object author can tell you, creating custom looking content for DesktopX is a snap. So you'll still skin ObjectBar in the general sense but the actual "cool" looking readouts can all be done via DesktopX widgets.

The other big change in ObjectBar 2 is an overall simplified way of configuring it. ObjectBar 1.6 (on Object Desktop) is very powerful but very complex to use.  ObjectBar 2 will also replace ControlCenter (there will be a ControlCenter "Theme" that gets included that looks essentially identical to the classic ControlCenter but has more functionality and configurability).

We hope you like what you see.  If you don't have Object Desktop, which is what ObjectBar is part of, you can get it at www.objectdesktop.com.

So what ever happened to that ObjectBar thing anyway? You know, the program in Object Desktop that had so much potential to really make Windows into a much more productive environment?

Click on the screenshot to find out. In essence, ObjectBar 2 is almost ready for beta.  One of the big new features in it is that it can incorporate DesktopX widgets.  So rather having to make the ObjectBar "skin" format insanely complicated for doing really advanced looking graph readouts and RSS feeds and all those other goodies people like to put on these kinds of things, users and authors will be able to simply select a DesktopX widget and put it in there. 

As any DesktopX widget/object author can tell you, creating custom looking content for DesktopX is a snap. So you'll still skin ObjectBar in the general sense but the actual "cool" looking readouts can all be done via DesktopX widgets.

The other big change in ObjectBar 2 is an overall simplified way of configuring it. ObjectBar 1.6 (on Object Desktop) is very powerful but very complex to use.  ObjectBar 2 will also replace ControlCenter (there will be a ControlCenter "Theme" that gets included that looks essentially identical to the classic ControlCenter but has more functionality and configurability).

We hope you like what you see.  If you don't have Object Desktop, which is what ObjectBar is part of, you can get it at www.objectdesktop.com.

You can't choose to have faith in something.  You either have faith or you don't. And when it comes to most religious issues the most faith I can manage to muster is the faith that there may be some greater being, some higher power that ultimately created the universe.  Beyond that, my faith is lacking.

My friends who have faith cannot understand this aspect of myself anymore than I can understand their ability to have faith in their particular religious choice. It's beyond me. I simply cannot bring myself to have faith in the teachings of any man-made theology. Nor can I accept that any of the theologies being presented are "divinely" provided.

For example, I fully understand the nature of Christianity. In fact, I'd argue I know it far better than most "Christians" I know.  Christianity boils down to this: If you accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior then you will be able to join him in the kingdom of heaven.  It's as simple as that. If you truly believe in Christ, then you will be saved.

Not believing in Jesus as your lord and savior does not mean you go to hell. Not in the sense most people think of it anyway.  The bible is vague (at best) about the alternatives.  Having faith in Christ is simply you accepting an invitation to blessed path after the end. Not accepting that invitation leads to the unknown.  My point being, my problem with faith is not based on the oft-spoken issue of "What about the people who have never heard of Christianity? Do they all go to hell? Does that mean that everyone else is going to suffer?"  Because that's not actually what most Christian theologians believe. The alternative to the kingdom of heaven isn't eternal pain and torment. The alternative is unknown (though you can get into a lively debate as competing passages of the old and new testament, translated umpteen billion times get thrown back and forth).

But for me, faith in Christianity (or any religion that shows there is more to the world than the physical) is something I desire but am incapable of. It's that the specifics of each religion almost always fall apart on closer, objective inspection.

I know, for instance, that Jesus was not born on December 25th. At least, the preponderance of evidence is that he wasn't born on December 25th.  The date was simply put there after the fact by the early Catholic church to make it easier to convert pagans.  Easter is the same thing with its taking place conveniently during pagan fertility festivals. I've known this for years. But that wouldn't really disturb my faith. The actual dates of the birth and death Christ are arbitrary.

But things get more difficult when the preponderance of evidence indicates that the concept of "immaculate" conception of Jesus came much later (in fact, the books of Luke and Mark and such didn't even get written for decades after the fact). And the more you dig into the historical accuracy of Christmas the more the whole thing unravels.

Christianity, as a sect, really boiled down to something pretty specific at the beginning. Jesus was leader of a particular group of Jews. He was tried and crucified for sedition. Two days later, a number of eye witnesses claim they saw and spoke to him -- that he had risen from the dead.  And enough people believed -- had faith -- that this was the truth that everything eventually snowballs from there (with a big help of St. Paul who, btw, had never met Jesus in all likelihood). Like I said, the more I've looked into the specifics, the more it unravels.

For me to have faith in such a specific vision of religion would require proof. Real proof. And of course, that's the catch, proof denies faith. I'm not looking for a reason to have faith, I'm looking for proof and I know such proof that would satisfy me doesn't exist. You either have faith or you don't. And I don't.

Not having faith is nothing to take pride in. It makes me feel a bit ill to see some pretentious atheist try to claim intellectual superiority for his faith of believing that the universe just spontaneously came into being. That's a faith that has about as much "scientific" proof behind it as believing that the universe was created 6 seconds ago by 3 green fairies who gave us all these memories.

As faiths go, I would much rather believe that there is an omnipotent being that is concerned over our welfare to the point that he sent his own son to die for our sins to enable us to join him after we leave or mortal coil. That sure beats believing the universe simply sprang into existence and that after we die there is nothing.  But I have faith in neither belief.  Simply put, I don't know what happens after we die.  But I cannot have faith in the specifics of Christianity. I'm just not the faith kind of guy. I need evidence to believe something.

I don't think you need to have faith to be a happy person. Nor do I think you need faith to have a fulfilled life.  The home I live in is full of love and joy. There is no emptiness due to the lack of faith or religion in our lives.  But at the same time, I truly wish I could have faith because I very much want to believe that there is more to this world than what I can see and touch (or that others have seen or touched whose credibility I trust).  But I cannot muster that spark.

And so I can enjoy warmth and comfort of Christmas because of its earthly goodness due to the presence and love of friends and family. But I can't enjoy it due to its otherworldly meanings.