Slashdot Mirror

Stardock never claimed to own the IP. They claimed to own the name.

No, Stardock clearly is claiming they own the Star Control IP. They are not claiming that they own certain things.

They did this despite knowing Stardock had acquired the Star Control IP in 2013 and knowing before hand our announcement schedule. Their actions created confusion in the market as to the origin of Star Control games which is why we have trademark laws.

Think of it like this: "You can make a 'Star Wars' game, but you CANNOT use Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, or any other character, or vehicle, shown in any of the movies, nor can you use the Empire, the Rebellion, or any other named character."

I don't understand your point. If you make a Star Wars game, you need permission from the copyright holder. Currently that owned is Disney as they purchased the IP from Lucas Arts. Any game and material including characters is subject to what the IP holder (Disney) will allow. If they allow you to create a Star Wars game but no Han that is within their rights.

So what do you do? You make Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Er what? BioWare worked out a licensing deal with Lucas Arts to make the game. The main reason Luke, Leia, Han, and Chebacca are not in SW: TOR is that it happens 3,000 years before their timeline which would make including those characters nearly impossible as the Star Wars universe does not deal with time travel stories.

StarDock is trying to make Star Control: The Old Republic.

Which requires the permission of the IP Holder which appears to be Ford and Reiche

When they got wind that TfB was making a sequel to UQM, they sued.

This is literally the opposite of what happened. Stardock reached out to Paul & Fred regarding buying the IP and wanted them to collab on it. They declined. Years later, when Stardock was about to release their Star Control, they again spoke with Paul & Fred. Paul & Fred stated they ALSO had a game they planned to make, to which Stardock said "awesome, let's cross-promote! Here's our intended announcement date" which P&F used to pre-empt Stardock's announcement with their own.

P&F initiated all legal challenges. Due to the nature of Trademarks (defend it or lose it), Stardock had no choice but to counterfile because otherwise they'd lose their trademarks.

Don't take my word for it. Brad Wardell posted their email correspondence. https://www.stardock.com/games...

Paul and Fred's side: https://www.dogarandkazon.com/
Stardock's side:
https://www.stardock.com/games...

Basically, Stardock wanted to do Star Control and paid $400k for what they believed would enable to do it legally from Atari, and reached out to Paul and Fred to get them onboard, but Activision blocked that. Paul and Fred asked they not use the species and such verbatim, though at the time the legal picture is fuzzy (Atari probably sold *all* rights to Star Control 3, which would seem to include most of the species and ships, even if SC1/SC2 picture is fuzzier), so Stardock agreed.

When Paul and Fred *could* do something, things went sour quickly, with Stardock going crazy that they would be *competing* with Paul and Fred rather than cooperating with them.

I think the ownership of the content beyond the brand is fuzzy.

Star Control was owned by Accolade, and didn't go with Paul and Fred. Accolade was able to release Star Control 3 using a different development team as an example of this seeming to be the case, using the brand and the characters. Stardock paid $400k for this.

It's worth reading both https://www.stardock.com/games... and https://www.dogarandkazon.com/ to see both sides.

It's been -- gosh, about two decades -- since I last used StarDock's WindowBlinds. Is it a viable option to override today's horrible flat UIs, replacing them with skins with distinguishable elements? I'd rather a distinguishable if dated user interface -- something that looks like Windows 2000, Motif or earlier-gen OS X (up to, say, 10.6) -- over today's flat-and-bland monstrosities.

Yes, Windowblinds used to be just a nice to have, but now it's essential if you actually want your OS to look usable. I'd recommend getting the full object desktop package, which includes window blinds and some start menu tweaks; even fully animated backgrounds, although that will have your PC doing extra work, using more power etc

It's been -- gosh, about two decades -- since I last used StarDock's WindowBlinds. Is it a viable option to override today's horrible flat UIs, replacing them with skins with distinguishable elements? I'd rather a distinguishable if dated user interface -- something that looks like Windows 2000, Motif or earlier-gen OS X (up to, say, 10.6) -- over today's flat-and-bland monstrosities.

Stardock

If you want a slow Windows PC, download Stardock and make Windows look like a Mac.

Stardock's Groupy is a beta product that is already doing this... so... are they just taking ideas now?

Now, waiting for Microsoft to get rid of those fugly Metro tiles attached to the desktop Start menu. This is a DESKTOP environment, not a phone or tablet.
How about practicing what you preach regarding Continuum?

And while you're at it, why not make the Start menu more functional and sensible? At least implement something from Stardock's Start8, Classic Shell or Vistart.

The real last step is getting the WinRT APIs and environments up to snuff so they can be seamlessly used alongside Win32 applications on the desktop.

You mean like this?

I am no fan of Windows 8, however it biggest problem is its face not its core or its capabilities. Compared to a few years ago (when the: common, random, and jarring full screen interruption was a blue screen of death), this is the world upside down.

Hell.. opening a PDF in Windows 8 is still a goddamn nightmare.

It is?

3.) Metro programs can't run in a window. This makes them inconvenient for multitasking, which is common for desktop users but not for tablet users.

Wait, what?

You should tell that to Stardock..

http://www.stardock.com/produc...

The only advantage I can think of for Modern UI/Windows Runtime in Windows 8 is that it lets you buy an app once and run it on both your Windows RT tablet and your desktop PC.

That's not an advantage.

There is zero reason that metro programs cannot be hosted in a window, see ModernMix.

There is no reason for the fullscreen mode garbage.

http://www.stardock.com/products/?from=nav

Don't.

It's a computer - a tool. Bend it to your will, don't bend to it.

How do you "remove metro"? It keeps rearing its ugly head, and some functionality seems to have migrated to it.

He means that you should spend money on the expensive Operating System you already wasted a bunch of money by buying Stardock's ModernMix product.

ModernMix replaces the Metro shell and hosts all the craptastic Metro programs in normal windows on the normal desktop.

The fact that you have to buy third party software to get something which should have been the default Out of the Box Experience is one of the many reasons not to use Win8 ever.

Hopefully Balmers replacement will either backtrack on this and remove the Metro UI from the desktop or they'll just run Microsoft into the ground of irrelevancy. Either way works for me.

There's already one, it's called Start8 and it's done by Stardock and has corporate deployment support.

There's already one, it's called Start8 and it's done by Stardock and has corporate deployment support.

http://www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

can save windows 8

http://www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

can save windows 8

You don't need Windows 8.1 to fix the problems in Windows 8.
What you need is three programs:

• Start8: Gets rid of the metro start screen, mouse sticking corners, restores a fully functional Windows 7 start menu. http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/
• WindowBlinds: Customize the look of the OS to get rid of the metro styles and brings back rounded corners on windows. http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/
• ModernMix: Allows you to run the "full screen" parts of Windows 8 in windows. http://www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/

I had to get Windows 8 for work and there wasn't much choice. I struggled with it until I found those. I don't need Windows 8.1, Microsoft can go to hell.

You don't need Windows 8.1 to fix the problems in Windows 8.
What you need is three programs:

• Start8: Gets rid of the metro start screen, mouse sticking corners, restores a fully functional Windows 7 start menu. http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/
• WindowBlinds: Customize the look of the OS to get rid of the metro styles and brings back rounded corners on windows. http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/
• ModernMix: Allows you to run the "full screen" parts of Windows 8 in windows. http://www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/

I had to get Windows 8 for work and there wasn't much choice. I struggled with it until I found those. I don't need Windows 8.1, Microsoft can go to hell.

You don't need Windows 8.1 to fix the problems in Windows 8.
What you need is three programs:

• Start8: Gets rid of the metro start screen, mouse sticking corners, restores a fully functional Windows 7 start menu. http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/
• WindowBlinds: Customize the look of the OS to get rid of the metro styles and brings back rounded corners on windows. http://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/
• ModernMix: Allows you to run the "full screen" parts of Windows 8 in windows. http://www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/

I had to get Windows 8 for work and there wasn't much choice. I struggled with it until I found those. I don't need Windows 8.1, Microsoft can go to hell.

corporate use is moving windows 7 now or has been done (some software is still stuck on xp)

Windows 8 added a lot stuff that is not needed and then they just had to mess up the UI and make it into a big 1 app at a time touch screen setup that fails on big screens and with lot's of work flows and to top that they killed the start menu in the old desktop as well.

Now all MS needs to do is to make this part of the base os https://store.stardock.com/product/ESD-SDS-W1225. I don't corporate people going this a way as windows updates can mess it up.

let Metro apps run in a window on the desktop + add back windows 7 start menu. With only 1 control plan is realty all they need to do.

You can get the first two for $8 right now. I just did this for my parents who said, "Learning something new at this point just isn't a good idea."

It is taking the rotting corpse of the dead horse out of its horse casket, standing it up so that some horse believers can still hope it is alive, and beating it.

It's done. If you want a Start menu, pay $5 to Stardock.

This is the only OS in the world that people complain about NOT having a menu to access applications. It's ok that OS X has never had a Start menu. And I thought Windows was dumb, Linux rules. But all these "expert" users who claim to run Linux or OS X as their primary OS sure seem distraught by something that shouldn't affect them often because, after all, they wouldn't use Windows if their life depended on it.

If they weren't trying to make sure Metro apps could compile cross-platform with little extra work they could just mandate that Windows 8 Desktop apps must offer a desktop mode also regardless of whether they use Metro or not.

The weather app isn't something I'm going to go to several times a day. But when I do, I want to look at a lot of details. But the Metro use case doesn't apply to everyone.

Eventually I see them just putting a Metro app inside a virtual "full-screen" window that maximizes back to real full-screen Metro mode similar to how ModernMix does it. No extra effort from the programmer. All apps should deal with varying screen sizes anyway. Especially since they usually have a mobile counterpart with a much lower resolution.

Soon they'll come up with dragable frames around each app.

On the downside, Windows will cost $4.99 extra to cover licensing the technology from Stardock:

http://www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/index.asp

This start menu blends well with Windows 8's theme, replicates all Windows 7 start menu features, and has options to boot to desktop and disable hot corners. Only caveat is that it does cost $5, but is probably the best polished Windows 8 start menu out there.

NO! NO! NO! Wtf is wrong with all you babbling morons? 8 is the best OS MS has ever produced, you just need to get rid of metro which is, Hello?, easy.

Stardock seems to have made a way to test your theory. You can use Start8 to bypass the start screen on boot, heading directly for a desktop with start menu, then you can use ModernMix to run metro apps in a window; the app layout still appears to be full-screen sized with two scrollbars, however, so it's not precisely what you're talking about. Those apps are $5USD each though, so I've only personally acquired the first (as no metro apps I've seen seem useful on desktop).

I think I read that Windows Blue is adding the ability to use metro apps at different sizes, so perhaps it'll be possible to do it properly at some point. At least it's proof that implementing what you're talking about would be really easy for Microsoft to do.

Stardock seems to have made a way to test your theory. You can use Start8 to bypass the start screen on boot, heading directly for a desktop with start menu, then you can use ModernMix to run metro apps in a window; the app layout still appears to be full-screen sized with two scrollbars, however, so it's not precisely what you're talking about. Those apps are $5USD each though, so I've only personally acquired the first (as no metro apps I've seen seem useful on desktop).

I think I read that Windows Blue is adding the ability to use metro apps at different sizes, so perhaps it'll be possible to do it properly at some point. At least it's proof that implementing what you're talking about would be really easy for Microsoft to do.

Window the Metro apps, which seems to work surprisingly well and adds the missing close button!:
http://www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/
http://retroui.com/retrouipro.asp

What annoys me with Metro apps is that they live in a separate world from standard desktop apps. You don't see them on the taskbar. The Metro task switcher doesn't show multiple desktop apps either, just "Desktop". Luckily Alt+Tab still cycles between all running apps. Full screen Metro apps are just goofy on a 1920x1200 display.

Or you could get Windows 8 and path $5 for something like Start8 to add back the start menu. I don't think the average user would know the difference between that and Windows 7.

buy out stardocks modernMix (metro)

http://www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/

and make the desktop with a start menu the default on bigger screen displays

Windows 8 isn't that bad.
Just add the start button back.
http://stardock.com/products/start8/ is my fav but does cost $5, http://www.classicshell.net/ is free.
5 more dollars to put all those "apps" back in a window with an icon on the taskbar http://stardock.com/products/modernmix/
And here is a great article for switching default apps back, getting rid of the swipe screen, etc.http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/software-and-web-apps/how-to-make-windows-8-look-like-windows-7-50009546/
Tell people you are a Consultant and you can charge them to do this stuff for them.
And just when you think you've charged everyone money for fixing what Microsoft broke, Microsoft will do you a solid and sell them all something else they hate and will pay you to "make work like it used to."
Oh and if you think Microsoft is desperate and just burning money to be like Apple, you're right. They are offering a $100 an app for up to 15 apps for college students to write pretty much anything and fill their apps store with crap for Win8. Google for one of their App Camps and make yourself some quick cash.

Windows 8 isn't that bad.
Just add the start button back.
http://stardock.com/products/start8/ is my fav but does cost $5, http://www.classicshell.net/ is free.
5 more dollars to put all those "apps" back in a window with an icon on the taskbar http://stardock.com/products/modernmix/
And here is a great article for switching default apps back, getting rid of the swipe screen, etc.http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/software-and-web-apps/how-to-make-windows-8-look-like-windows-7-50009546/
Tell people you are a Consultant and you can charge them to do this stuff for them.
And just when you think you've charged everyone money for fixing what Microsoft broke, Microsoft will do you a solid and sell them all something else they hate and will pay you to "make work like it used to."
Oh and if you think Microsoft is desperate and just burning money to be like Apple, you're right. They are offering a $100 an app for up to 15 apps for college students to write pretty much anything and fill their apps store with crap for Win8. Google for one of their App Camps and make yourself some quick cash.

One concept that I've always given Brad Wardell (CEO of Stardock) kudos for is realizing that pirates are not your customers. They aren't even potential customers. You then have to keep that idea in mind when you do your market research to see if the price your customers are willing to pay are enough to justify your production costs.

Check out Stardock's new program ModernMix. It lets you run Metro apps in a window complete with close, minimize, and maximize widgets. Plus they show up on the taskbar. Makes multitasking possible again... you know the original point of Windows. Too bad it costs money, this should have been built into the OS! http://www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/

I use CentOS/Gnome, OSX and Win 7 and 8 and hands down 8 beat them all. The minimalist UI looks fantastic, task manager is mind blowingly awesome, but the one that took me over the top was the new copy/move dialogs. MS really nailed it with this new feature. Shows a graph of move activity, current speed, etc. but even better when it sees that you're trying to copy another file to a location that you're already trying to copy to, it cues it up rather than try and make two simultaneous transfers. On top of that you can pause/resume transfers. No longer will people say “wtf why does it say x seconds left” because they’ll clearly see that the transfer speed ebbs and flows. When you try and move files to a location where the file name already exists it gives you a very nice grouped choice dialog so you don’t have to click through prompts, this actually removes the need for “yes to all”, hard to explain without seeing it. I would say that this copy/move dialog like this would sell me on any system, it’s that good.

And of course it plays windows games, which is the primary reason for consideration in the first place. Hard to beat win 8 with all that.

Oh yeah, before I forget, fuck metro and whoever made it they should get some terrible STD. Fuck the start menu, I never liked the old one, the new one just makes me want to rip my eyes out with a spoon, but at least they removed the damn useless start button.

I've never been a fan of Stardock, but ModernMix actually seems like a good idea (for once). It allows you to run metro apps in a window. And they also have a start menu replacement for people who actually liked the old start menu, but I am not one, so you can find that link on your own if you're interested.

... while Stardock's Start8 was the best of the best but is like $20 or $30 or something like that. ...

It is $4.99. Where are you getting your information?

Aside from the Metro UI, Windows 8 isn't all that different than Windows 7. In fact, I think it is a little more efficient on the back end. The problem with Windows 8 is the Metro UI. For non-touch devices, it is horrible. I installed Start8 for $5.00 in order to avoid Metro but still use Windows 8. Now, Start8 boots me directly to the desktop and I have a Windows 7 style menu. I get the back end improvements in Windows 8 with the UI of Windows 7.

Yes, a few:

Start8: http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/
ViStart: http://www.lee-soft.com/vistart/
Classic Shell (has the benefit of being FOSS): http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/
Pokki: https://www.pokki.com/windows-8-start-menu

http://www.lee-soft.com/vistart/
http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

There are lots of alternatives.

Start Menus:
Classic Shell
Pokki
Power8
RetroUI
Start8
StartMenu8
Start Menu X
ViStart
Win8StartButton

Launchers:
7stacks
8start Launcher
Appetizer
Blaze
Executor
Fences
Find and Run Robot
Key Launch
Launchy
ObjectDock
Rainmeter
RK Launcher
RocketDock
SliderDock
ViPad
Winstep Nexus
XWindows Dock

Take your pick. This is just a small list. I know there are many more out there.

This is extra text because Slashdot is lame and says my comment has too few characters per line:

A computer program (also software, or just a program) is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer.[1] A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor.[2] The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute the instructions. The same program in its human-readable source code form, from which executable programs are derived (e.g., compiled), enables a programmer to study and develop its algorithms.

Computer source code is often written by computer programmers. Source code is written in a programming language that usually follows one of two main paradigms: imperative or declarative programming. Source code may be converted into an executable file (sometimes called an executable program or a binary) by a compiler and later executed by a central processing unit. Alternatively, computer programs may be executed with the aid of an interpreter, or may be embedded directly into hardware.

Computer programs may be categorized along functional lines: system software and application software. Two or more computer programs may run simultaneously on one computer, a process known as multitasking.

There are lots of alternatives.

Start Menus:
Classic Shell
Pokki
Power8
RetroUI
Start8
StartMenu8
Start Menu X
ViStart
Win8StartButton

Launchers:
7stacks
8start Launcher
Appetizer
Blaze
Executor
Fences
Find and Run Robot
Key Launch
Launchy
ObjectDock
Rainmeter
RK Launcher
RocketDock
SliderDock
ViPad
Winstep Nexus
XWindows Dock

Take your pick. This is just a small list. I know there are many more out there.

This is extra text because Slashdot is lame and says my comment has too few characters per line:

A computer program (also software, or just a program) is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer.[1] A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor.[2] The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute the instructions. The same program in its human-readable source code form, from which executable programs are derived (e.g., compiled), enables a programmer to study and develop its algorithms.

Computer source code is often written by computer programmers. Source code is written in a programming language that usually follows one of two main paradigms: imperative or declarative programming. Source code may be converted into an executable file (sometimes called an executable program or a binary) by a compiler and later executed by a central processing unit. Alternatively, computer programs may be executed with the aid of an interpreter, or may be embedded directly into hardware.

Computer programs may be categorized along functional lines: system software and application software. Two or more computer programs may run simultaneously on one computer, a process known as multitasking.

There are lots of alternatives.

Start Menus:
Classic Shell
Pokki
Power8
RetroUI
Start8
StartMenu8
Start Menu X
ViStart
Win8StartButton

Launchers:
7stacks
8start Launcher
Appetizer
Blaze
Executor
Fences
Find and Run Robot
Key Launch
Launchy
ObjectDock
Rainmeter
RK Launcher
RocketDock
SliderDock
ViPad
Winstep Nexus
XWindows Dock

Take your pick. This is just a small list. I know there are many more out there.

This is extra text because Slashdot is lame and says my comment has too few characters per line:

A computer program (also software, or just a program) is a sequence of instructions written to perform a specified task with a computer.[1] A computer requires programs to function, typically executing the program's instructions in a central processor.[2] The program has an executable form that the computer can use directly to execute the instructions. The same program in its human-readable source code form, from which executable programs are derived (e.g., compiled), enables a programmer to study and develop its algorithms.

Computer source code is often written by computer programmers. Source code is written in a programming language that usually follows one of two main paradigms: imperative or declarative programming. Source code may be converted into an executable file (sometimes called an executable program or a binary) by a compiler and later executed by a central processing unit. Alternatively, computer programs may be executed with the aid of an interpreter, or may be embedded directly into hardware.

Computer programs may be categorized along functional lines: system software and application software. Two or more computer programs may run simultaneously on one computer, a process known as multitasking.

Stardock has a fix for that! Of course, it would have been better if MS hadn't removed it in the first place.

I don't want a candystore on my desktop, so no win8 for me.

One app and all your problems are solved