OS/2 Shareware BBS: 34 AVI/34-AVI.zip/odvideo1.zip/od_art.sds

Text File | 1995-09-24 | 12KB | 237 lines

Object Desktop: OS/2 Strikes Back!

With all the hype surrounding the release of another "32bit" operating
system, you might forget the fact that the world's most popular existing
32bit operating system has some exciting new software coming out
for it.

Last November, OS/2 Warp was released which was the first version of
OS/2 aimed at all PC users instead of just the corporate sector.  Now,
almost a year later, a near constant stream of native OS/2 applications
are starting to become available.

Probably one of the most exciting new products for OS/2 this year is
Stardock's much anticipated Object Desktop.  Object Desktop is arguably
the best and most advanced desktop environment ever developed.  Every
user interface from Macintosh to NeXTStep to Windows95 has had to
struggle with making their environment easy to use for novices while
allowing experts to tap into the hidden power of the operating system.
Each of the aforementioned interfaces has had limited success in this
area.

Today, Object Desktop brings the best of both worlds.  A powerful yet
easy to use environment available on the world's best 32bit operating
system -- OS/2.

"Why was OS/2 chosen for this product?" is one of the first questions
reviewers and other members of the press ask Stardock Systems, according
to the media relations personnel at Stardock Systems, Inc.

Kurt Westerfeld, Project Manager of Object Desktop, has an interesting
story:

"We started developing some advanced Workplace Shell classes about three
years ago.  At the time, OLE from Microsoft was in its 1.0 stages;
people were just starting to deploy that and were finding some real
problems with its object model, COM [Component Object Model].  However,
IBM's SOM [System Object Model] wasn't being used that much back then,
either, and there weren't many Workplace Shell objects being developed
by OS/2 ISVs.  It was commonly thought that Workplace Shell programming
was very difficult, but also very rewarding from the standpoint of
integrating new capabilities into the operating environment.  Extensible
shell technology just wasn't being used to its fullest potential.  The
ideas remained compelling, however: take an already great product, like
OS/2, and make it much better.  OS/2 was the only system that provided
the hooks to make a product like Object Desktop possible. And that
exclusivity persists today.

"We did some preliminary designs on what we could do with Workplace
Shell enhancements, and listened carefully to what OS/2 users wanted.
As we developed new objects, doors started to open, light bulbs went
off, and the product took shape.  Object Desktop is the result of an
evolutionary development approach.

"Iteration was key to making Object Desktop the killer product it is
today.  Each person, each group we took it to had more to add.  Object
Desktop resulted from continuous refinement and development of the
Workplace Shell."

Object Desktop comes from the same company that brought us one of the
top selling OS/2 products of 1995--Galactic Civilizations--which
recently won OS/2 Magazine's  Editor's Choice award at OS/2 World.  In a
little less than a year, Stardock has taken the OS/2 market by storm by
releasing high powered, high quality OS/2 products in a timely fashion.

"When we entered the OS/2 market in 1994, we believed the problem with
the OS/2 market was not a lack of users but a lack of quality
mainstream applications that are priced reasonably.  Stardock views
OS/2 as a mainstream non-niche OS player.  With over nine million users
and few native applications to choose from, it literally represents the
best opportunity for new software developers to gain market share and
grow.  OS/2 needs a strong and successful ISV to be able to say 'see, if you
develop for OS/2, you can be successful!.'  We intend to be this ISV"
said Brad Wardell, President of Stardock Systems, Inc.

Because of the new territory Object Desktop explores in the world of
leveraging the power of OS/2, Stardock created one of the largest beta
programs ever seen in the commercial OS/2 arena.  Users with a multitude
of hardware configurations, software add ons, etc. were involved in the
five month public beta testing of Object Desktop.

"We view the stability of our objects and how well they blend into the
Worplace Shell as paramount to our success.  All of our customers, from
corporate IS managers to end users to VARs, demand rock solid
reliability.  It is our stated goal to deliver this level of
robustness." said Westerfeld.

So what does Object Desktop offer?  What makes it so compelling?  What
is all the fuss about?

Probably the first thing you will notice is the startling improvement it
brings to the "look" of OS/2.  Titlebar buttons are modified, a close
button added, scroll bar buttons made to look cleaner, folders have an
etched status bar underneath them.  But beauty is only a minor component
of Object Desktop and demonstrates the emphasis on details.

Some of the key components of Object Desktop include:

Object Navigator.

Probably the first truly object-oriented file manager on a PC (certainly
the first on OS/2).  Object Navigator combines the object-oriented
features of OS/2's Drive objects and with the power of an industrial
strength file manager.  Besides being able to manage long file names on
FAT file systems, it can also display objects OS/2 shadow objects,
program objects and displays the proper icons for associated data files.

HyperCache.

One of the complaints users have about OS/2 is the disk activity that
always seems to occur when opening folders.  Even on the most powerful
PC available with 64 megs of memory or more, opening folders in OS/2
results in disk overhead.  With HyperCache, this becomes a thing of the
past.  You decide which folders to cache and from now on, those folders
are cached upon boot up and kept in memory as long as the system is up.
Because caching objects takes up less memory than a conventional disk
cache, valueable RAM is conserved while improving the responsiveness of
the Workplace Shell interface at speeds previously unseen with OS/2's
standard disk cache.

Enhanced Folder.

Object Desktop "replaces" the Workplace Shell folder by using SOM
technology.  Don't be mislead, however.  Replacing a Workplace Shell
class does not mean completely eradicating it--it means that
enhancements to that type of object are made to all objects of that type
on the OS/2 Desktop.

This replacement to the standard OS/2 folder provides features such as a
status bar on every folder.  The status bar provides information on the
number of objects in the folder, plus the number of bytes taken up by
objects in the folder, the number of objects selected, and the number of
bytes used by the objects selected.  You can also turn on "HyperDrives"
within a folder to have Object Desktop "guess" at what type of file an
object is, thereby eliminating yet another disk access.

The replacement folder also offers a performance feature called "Browse
Mode", which many early Object Desktop users say "fixes" a fundamental
flaw in most GUI's: desktop window "clutter."  When Browse Mode is
enabled and a folder inside a folder is opened, the current folder
window is updated with the contents of the sub-folder and an "up arrow"
appears on the title bar.  Best of all, this feature appears to greatly
speed up the time to display a folder's contents!

Overall, the Enhanced folder can significantly improve the performance
of the Workplace Shell.

Enhanced Data File.

Just like the Enhanced Folder, this feature replaces the standard OS/2
base data file class and provides a fast, integrated Workplace Shell
editor.  Once you use the Object Desktop file editor, you'll never want
to use the OS/2 System Editor again.  Because of the way it is
integrated into the system, a "Text View" is added to all data file
objects list of possible views.

Object Archives.

By using industry standard compression formats such as .ZIP, .LZH, .ZOO,
and .ARC, the Object Desktop Object Archives feature doesn't seek to
introduce a new compression standard, but to leverage already accepted
standards to provide seamless compression integration into your system.
Object Archives transforms all of your archived files into Enhanced
Folder-like objects.  This allows you to work with your compressed
archives as if they were a normal folder.  You can drag and drop folders
and files to an archive and then view your data, or run many of your
programs right from the archive.  For many users, there will be no need
for a proprietary third party compression product.

Control Center.

One of the most powerful and visible components of Object Desktop is the
Control Center.  One could easily spend an entire article just
discussing the capabilities of this powerful feature.  It allows you to
manage multiple desktops, monitor your system's resources, and even
launch programs and browse folders.  Some simple but effective
capabilities include a digital clock, a CPU monitor and a swap file
monitor.

Keyboard LaunchPad.

Many users who have moved to OS/2 (or Windows) from plain DOS have
complained that user interface designers abandoned users who prefer to
access their programs with the keyboard instead of a mouse.  Object
Desktop offers hope to those users with the Keyboard LaunchPad.  You can
now associate programs (and any other object type) with a keystroke
combination.  Now, you can get to your projects or programs with a
single keystroke.

Task Manager.

Object Desktop replaces the drab OS/2 Window List with a more powerful
and intuitive Window List.  The Enhanced Window List allows you to run
programs from a command line with command recall, filter out common
tasks (such as "Desktop-Icon View") from the list of running programs,
and even provides the much asked for "Alt+Tab" task switching
functionality found in Windows.

Tab LaunchPad.

When OS/2 Warp came bundled with the "LaunchPad" Warp users were pleased
with the advanced single-click and drag and drop interface. However,
screen real-estate is always at a premium on a powerful multitasking
system like OS/2, and users were somewhat dissatisfied with the amount
of screen real-estate the LaunchPad used.  Enter the Object Desktop Tab
LaunchPad, which solves this problem while maintaining the same or
better level of Workplace Shell integration and "launching" capability.

With the Tab LaunchPad, objects are accessed in groups or tab
categories.  For example, you can create an "Applications" tab to place
common applications, or a "Communications" tab to place objects that
access the Internet.  If you are a games afficionado, why not have a
"Games" tab (such as Stardock Galactic Civilizations, Avarice or Star
Emperor)?  A special tab, called the "Tasks" tab, is provided that
allows for switching between running programs with a single click.

Summary.

Object Desktop is truly the next generation desktop environment for the
next generation operating system--OS/2.  Only OS/2 has a coherent object
model that allows a third party to greatly extend and enhance the shell.
IBM's System Object Model (SOM) and Workplace Shell provide unique hooks
and "plumbing" that make OS/2 the superior PC platform--and with Object
Desktop it is even better!  Years of research and development make
Object Desktop a powerful, easy to use, and stable environment that will
significantly improve your productivity and decrease your training
costs.

Whether at home or in the corporation, Object Desktop is the must-have
product for all OS/2 users and administrators.