Stardock announces Object Desktop!

Advanced environment targets both corporate and retail markets

September 25, 1995 -- Canton Michigan--Stardock's long awaited desktop
environment, Object Desktop was announced today. Targeting both the
corporate and retail markets, Object Desktop is an advanced desktop
environment that "turbo-charges" OS/2, improving the system's performance,
flexibility, and ease of use.

"Object Desktop is an IS Manager's dream!" said Oliver Franklin of Frankson
Information Management of Artarmon, Australia. "It makes OS/2 much easier
to use and a much more productive environment. My customers have found
that Object Desktop reduces their training costs while significantly
improving their productivity."

Object Desktop enhances the existing OS/2 environment with updated icons,
frame controls, and command buttons, and adds new tools designed to boost
productivity and system performance. The new features include the Object
Navigator, Control Center, Keyboard LaunchPad, Object Archives, and
HyperDrive and HyperCache features.

"For all intent and purposes, Object Desktop is like a third party upgrade
for OS/2." said Matt Hite of I/O Magazine. "It's more than a suite of
applications and operating system enhancements--it is what OS/2 advocates
have been waiting for all these years."

Object Desktop provides many ways for users to organize their work. The Tab
LaunchPad allows users to organize programs, data objects, and running
tasks using named tabs. The Control Center offers virtual desktops for
organizing running applications and minimizing window clutter. In
addition, the Control center provides an object launcher, and real-time
resource monitors.

"Object Desktop really delivers the goods." said Alex Bradley of OS/2
Review. "Unlike some products that are all hype, Object Desktop backs up
its claims with solid performance, excellent usability and more. Any OS/2
user or IS manager would have to be crazy to use OS/2 without this
product."

Object Desktop boosts performance with HyperDrive, a feature which reduces
the time required to display data object icons by making a "best guess" at
file types. By storing folder contents in RAM, the HyperCache feature
speeds up the display of folder views. One of the most impressive folder
performance improvements is Browse Mode, which displays the contents of a
subfolder in the parent window. Less memory is utilized and desktop
clutter is minimized because new windows are not opened each time a nested
folder is opened.

"I haven't been this excited about a product since OS/2 Warp itself." said
David Barnes, Senior Marketing Manager at IBM Personal Software Products.
"My competitors recently released a product that has some nice features.
But Object Desktop gave me everything they have and a lot more (and on a
more solid foundation--OS/2 Warp!). Object Desktop will be the first thing
I install on any of my systems from now on!"

Object Archives enable users to work with compressed files as Workplace
Shell folders, without the extra steps of entering commands to archiving
and unarchiving files before performing tasks such as opening, copying or
saving the files. When objects are stored in an archive, the compression
and decompression tasks are performed automatically. Object Desktop
provides disk compression that uses safe, standard compression
standards--ZIP, LZH, ARC, and ZOO. Users can view and manipulate data from
within archives, and in many cases, run programs directly from archives.
Best of all, because Object Desktop uses standard compressed file formats,
users can copy compressed archives to other machines that don't have
Object Desktop and work with them there using the standard archive
executables (such as Unzip).

"Object Desktop brings the OS/2 desktop up to its potential and, in doing
so, brings it up to date. And it does it so well, I predict it will be an
instant hit and best-seller for OS/2 for a long time." said Nicholas
Petreley (InfoWorld, June 19, 1995). "No one who sees it will want to do
without it. Keep your eye on this company--Stardock knows what OS/2 should
be and it looks as though it is single-handedly transforming the operating
system into that ideal."

The Keyboard LaunchPad provides a fast way to configure keys for opening
any object. While graphical user interfaces have increasingly alienated
keyboard users, Object Desktop brings together the best of both worlds.
For example, users can launch a command line by associating an OS/2 window
with Ctrl+Alt+Spacebar or other keyboard sequence.

These features only scratch the surface. Many analysts, consultants, end
users, and journalists have long requested the powerful features that
Object Desktop brings to OS/2.

Object Desktop delivers both power and ease of use in a single package. Two
years in the making, combined with input from thousands of everyday PC
users, helped ensure that Object Desktop provides an advanced user
interface design coupled with a rich set of must-have features.

"The developers at Stardock have answered the wishes of every OS/2 user by
providing system-level tools and objects that are tightly integrated with
the OS/2 Workplace Shell to combine the very best interface elements of
major PC operating systems today--OS/2, Apple Macintosh, and Windows
95--for the OS/2 desktop." said Theo Mandel, Ph.D. and author of "The
GUI-OOUI War: Windows vs. OS/2 The Designer's Guide to Human-Computer
Interfaces." "Object Desktop contains the best set of tools and utilities
I've ever seen for the OS/2 desktop. As a user interface consultant and
author, I use Object Desktop as an excellent example of user-centered
design and object-oriented technology."

To ensure reliability, Stardock developed an extensive beta program for
Object Desktop which included thousands of users with a wide range of
configurations. A great deal of emphasis was placed on ensuring that
Object Desktop would work on every OS/2 configuration imaginable.
Moreover, a CID-enabled installation and national language support for
English and German will also be available from Stardock shortly after
release.

"Make no mistake, our marketing goal with Object Desktop is simple: every
PC with OS/2, whether running in the enterprise or in the home, should
have Object Desktop. Stardock will do whatever it takes to make this a
reality," said Brad Wardell, President of Stardock Systems, Inc.

Object Desktop will begin shipping on October 2, 1995 with a suggested
retail price of $99.95. Stardock expects the typical street price to be
significantly less than that. Site licensing and wholesale pricing sheets
can be obtained from Stardock at 313/453-0328 (fax 313/453-1480) which are
priced to sell in large volume.

More detailed information on Object Desktop can be found on Stardock's
World Wide Web site: http://oeonline.com/~stardock/.

STARDOCK SYSTEMS, INC.
7977B Ronda Drive
Canton MI, 48187
Email: stardock95@aol.com
 
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