It's hard to believe 2008 is starting to come to an end.  The yearly snapshot of Object Desktop is starting to come together. This year, however, we're doing to do some things differently.  First, we're going to release a lot of updates/new features with the snapshot instead of releasing putting things out bit by bit in the months leading up to it.  This way, the release is more of an event.

Object Desktop Today

Let's first start off with Object Desktop as it is today:

Object Desktop is a suite of desktop enhancement utilities that allows users to transform their Windows experience. It comes in two forms: Object Desktop and Object Desktop Ultimate.  The Ultimate Edition is designed for power users while the standard

edition is designed for everyone else.

The key parts of Object Desktop are:

• WindowBlinds - which can change the Windows GUI.
• IconPackager - which can change the icons of Windows all at once
• DeskScapes - which can provided animated wallpaper
• SoundPackager - which lets users package and share sets of sound schemes
• DesktopX - which lets users create and use widgets and desktops
• MyColors - which lets users apply professionally created themes that completely change the Windows experience. And Object Desktop users get 4 free ones per year.

Object Desktop Ultimate adds:

• TweakVista - a utility for getting the most out of Windows Vista
• WindowFX - a utlity that lets Windows XP users add special effects to their PC
• SkinStudio - an application that lets usres create skins
• IconDeveloper - an icon creation utility
• ObjectBar - let users create and use their own replacement UI elements to Windows
• IconX - Lets users enhance the Windows XP desktop icons
• LogonStudio - lets users create and use their own Windows XP or Windows Vista logons
• Keyboard LaunchPad - lets users assign hot keys to common actions
• RightClick - lets users replace the desktop right-click menu with one of their own creation

So that's where we are today. Anything not listed above is something that is already probably set to legacy already.

Object Desktop Tomorrow

Now, someone who purchases Object Desktop right now gets everything we do for an entire year which includes Object Desktop 2009.  Below are the things we're working on for Object Desktop 2009. All of this is subject to change but this gives you an idea of what we're hoping to accomplish/do within the next year when Object Desktop 2009 is released.

Things that are going to go away...

Some programs are going to be phased out (existing users will still be able to download the latest version):

- IconX is going to go away. Sorry. I like this program too but making it work on Vista would be virtually impossible.

Things that are going to go into maintenance mode (no longer updated):

- ObjectBar. This is one of my favorites but we need to rewrite this to keep it up to date and at that point, we would release a new program based on today's requirements.

So there's the bad news.

Things that are going to get attention for Object Desktop 2009

+ DesktopX.

+ RightClick.

+ Keyboard LaunchPad.

+ SoundPackager.

Things that are going to get a lot of attention but may not be available on the release of Object Desktop 2009 but should be released within a year depending on Windows 7's release date.

+ DesktopX 4.0 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

+ WindowFX 4.0 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

+ WindowBlinds (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

+ SkinStudio (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

+ DeskScapes 3 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

Also, anything that doesn't work on Windows Vista 64-bit by the time Object Desktop 2009 ships gets pulled (other than WindowFX). 64-bit is the future.

NEW THINGS we hope to have available either on the release of Object Desktop 2009 or shortly after:

+ Theme Manager 3.0. Major update, everything everyone was hoping for.

+ BootSkin Vista.

+ StyleVista 1.0. (Ultimate Only)

NEW THINGS that are in development

+ Fences (Ultimate only)

NEW FOCUSES IN DEVELOPMENT

We are looking at Windows 7 closely and one of the things we are going to be looking to do going forward is developing more software that improves system performance and usability as well as improving productivity.  Keep a close eye out on Impulse.  It's not just a download manager, it's a platform. Expect to eventually see a lot of "cloud" features in Object Desktop that help make Windows faster and easier to use.

To learn more about Object Desktop, visit www.objectdesktop.com.

Stay tuned!