STARDOCK SYSTEMS, INC. 7977B Ronda Drive Canton MI, 48187 Stardock announces Object Desktop! Advanced environment targets both corporate and retail markets For Immediate Release Monday, September 25, 1995 Contact: Brad Wardell (313)/453-0328, (313)/453-1480 FAX, Email: Wardell@ibm.net 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. Press kits are also available. More detailed information on Object Desktop can be found on Stardock's World Wide Web site: http://oeonline.com/~stardock/. Email: stardock95@aol.com