Tell us what you'd like to see us work on for Object Desktop this year.
New apps? Update existing apps? You let us know.
ShadowFX is still a program and compatible with Windows 7, 8 & 10.
I dont seem to recall having ShadowFX available in Object Desktop when I reinstalled it onto my new Windows 7 build the other day. I dont think it came up in my Programs List in Object Desktop, because I was specifically looking for it. I looked in WindowsFX to see if it was included in that package. Great features that Windows FX has, but sadly, I did not find any shadowing in there when I looked.
By the way - I am a loooooooooooong time Object Desktop user - going all the way back to January 2002.I never used a Windows OS without it since.
ShadowFX is only for Windows 8 and 10. https://www.stardock.com/products/shadowfx/
I remember the days when It was available on Windows XP.
I would like to see it available for Windows7.
They made this when Win 8 came out. You must be thinking of something else. All it does is enhance the shadow around the windows of the default theme. Doesn't work if you have WindowBlinds applied.
There was shadowing surrounding the windows in a stardock product back in the xp days. There were many shadow styles to choose from. I do believe shadow fx was the title. Or it may have been pat of windows fx.
It deffinetly was during the Windows XP days this product or feature was available.
Sorry I was wrong it is 8/10 only.
There is no market for apps for Windows 7 only as it is a dead operating system. We try to make new apps and updates work in Win 7 but an app for Windows 7 specifically makes no business sense.
ShadowFX does not support Windows 7 as the default OS theme has part of the shadows as the corner of the frames which means the ShadowFX shadows would not match correctly.
I have no idea about the restrictions with "UIS 4" type frames, but if you take away the png and going back to "Magic Pink" I am done skinning! Also, If the WB support for skinning the startmenue (also with transparent png) is taken away that would be a total DISASTER.
To get peoples interest in skinning and in the site also being able sell skins you have to be able to offer something Cool and Interesting.
-Also if it works as it is now, why "dumb it down" ??
To get more interest you should do the opposite in my opinion -Own it, adding new features as so many others have been lost.
Want to bet? I am sure there is a huge population of people and companies still using Windows 7 out there. According to StatCounter's Desktop Windows Version Market Share Worldwide - April 2019 statistics, 33.38% of the market still uses Windows 7, myself being one of them.
Exactly what LightStar said.
I have two home computers running Windows 7 (post Z97 hardware), and a laptop running Windows 8.1. I dont have any plans to upgrade my home computers to Windows 10 after January 2020.Half of our business PCs at work are still running Windows 7. This will change though as we will roll out new PCs to those Windows 7 PCs throughout the remainder of the year.
Oops.
The problem is the majority of those installs of Win7 have no interest in having custom shadows
We would need to sell a minimum number of copies to make it economically sensible and we already have a product for 8/10 and know based on the sales of that product that this is unlikely for a market that is shrinking.
Ive made a list of what I would like to see come back. Here is a complete list of what my Stardock Object Desktop should comprise of:What I use (and would like to see kept):Object Dock (please bring back the weather dock !!!)Window BlindsFencesWindows FXDeskscapesCursor FXIcon PackagerIcon DeveloperStart 8 (I use it on my laptop that runs Windows 8 because I cannot stand Microsofts overhaul of the start bar)Skin StudioTheme ManagerTweak 7
What I would like to see come back:Desktop XIcon XObject BarBootSkinsRight ClickShadow FX - I know others have said it is available in Windows 8 & 10. I still remember making use of numerous of shadow effects in Windows XP and thought it was a stand-alone product back then. Maybe it was incorporated in WindowBlinds back then ? Or maybe it was Windows FX and contained shadowing effects around the borders of a window back then ? I remember that with this program (or whatever the program was called), you can perform shadow effects and also make special effects when moving windows, or opening and closing windows, and menus the way Windows FX does today (which I am making use of). And yes, I even made use of the transparency levels of moving windows back then which i still do today. Using the shadow effects did take a bit of a hit in performance when opening and closing windows, or when moving a window back during those XP days.
Someone whos been a long-time Object Desktop member like me for well over 10 years has got to remember this feature somewhere back in the Windows XP days. I could not have been the only member using this feature here back then.
I dont make use of Tiles or the Tile Skin Editor. If those programs are sacraficed to bring back the other programs, and to keep Windows 8, Windows 10 Start Menu to work like how the Windows XP Menu does (more so than windows 7, because I like seeing the full list of programs available), I would not miss these programs.
Thanks for looking !!!
Oh I would love to bring these back. I think RightClick is a possibility but the others? Probably not.
DesktopX was my obsession for years. I love it. But Microsoft has so locked down the desktop that you can't just run a lot of these things anymore.
We have a pie-chart somewhere of what people actually use. It's dominated by Start10, Fences, Groupy and DeskScapes. Everything else is a sliver.
I will say that I would love to see a new ObjectDock. But it would need to be largely a rewrite. The Weather dock is gone mainly because no one has a free feed anymore.
Frogboy -
Thanks for your input.
Are you the creator or the person in charge of Object Desktop?
Mike, he is the owner.
Thanks.
Frogboy - I really enjoyed using your products for nearly 20 years. I look forward to using it for another 20 years
Is there any chance to include in Object Desktop - O/S 2 2020 edition OS? I onceused O/S 2 Warp. I think it came on 15 floppy disks.
??
Yes, it was that many.
Is there anything DesktopX could do that XWidgets or Rainmeter can't?
I use Rainmeter for the Steampunk themed items.... not so much XWidget, though I haven't checked it out enough to know what is available.
On another note.....
There's only one thing I've asked for in ObjectDesktop, and that's to be able to add and store desktop shortcuts to IconPackager so that they can be changed in the one operation rather than having to change each individually to match the applied theme each time it is changed..
It shouldn't be too difficult a proposition, adding a menu item to find the items, either by creating a pathway process or using drag and drop It would make Iconpackager a more complete and useful customisation program.
In the plus year that I've been asking I have never received an answer one way or the other
I would like to see windowblinds and skinstudio update, so it would be possible to change the color of the text on the left side of the windows explorer, also in skinstudio so it is possible to open different skins in tabs
Is anyone still skinning Xion? That was a powerful skinning engine that was really easy to created with because it used layers (and layer names) as controls. I wish SKS used something similar.
The old ShadowFX was really powerful (and fun) but as shadows were incorporated into Windowblinds it became less exciting. I LOVED the dynamic lighting (that you can sort of see in the CursorFX shadows if you enable it).
I use to skin Xion, a lot (but sadly it's not being used/downloaded much), loved how it worked, from a skinning perspective. I too loved how it used layers, and how it handled animations as well, to incorporate that into SKS, would be awesome.
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