Suggestions for Stardock....

By remixedcat
in Microsoft (Windows)

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

remixedcat

Posted
Posted

Please note... anyone can add any suggestions to them as well here....

I have been a fan of Stardock since 2000. I have really liked thier products and company.....

PLEASE NOTE!!! I AM NOT GOING TO DISCUSS THE LAWSUIT IN HERE DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BRING THAT UP!

I am aware that they own 40% of this site... I am not afraid, however to call them out on a few things...

First of all I am in love with Fences. It has kept my desktop neat since 2010. It's been an amazing piece of software to tons of people.

I just found out today that it isn't free anymore. That kinda makes me mad. I know that you work hard on your software and all that.... but you had it free all this time and you seem to be doing fine financially....

so why did you do it? I hope that there is a good reason.

I know that you now have the "Portal" feature where you can turn a fence into a file manager window, however was that really necessary? Could you have stuck that in the pro version? That seems like more of a pro feature to me.

I guess everyone's gonna stick with the old version as long as they can.....

I also hear of the start8 thing as well.... again, the same.....

why why why?

  • MightyJordan
  • Like 1
Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1111263-suggestions-for-stardock/
Share on other sites
Grand Master

Brandon H Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

i don't understand why either

the Free version gave you the basic features that made it a nice app, while the Pro version also gave you a bunch of nice bonus features

it was a great system they had going on, why change it

and why change Start8 to pay-for when you had already promised to keep it free, that's just bad business practice

  • remixedcat and KRazpopov
  • Like 2
Rising Star

jamieakers

Posted
Posted

I'm honestly not trying to flame-bait here, but I honestly had no idea Stardock were still in existence. I thought they closed their doors after WindowBlinds for XP. My suggestion would be to invest in some marketing as I can't imagine I'm the only person who think they've disappeared into the abyss.

Grand Master

remixedcat

Posted
  • Author
Posted

That's fine.... Many don't think they exist anymore... and thanks to people like you coming out and saying this... might help further thier need to improve and realize that if this is how people hear of stardock again... making a bad decision.... that ...will hurt them even further.

This is not just about 10 bucks... I have no problem at all paying for it....

It's about changing your mind and flip flopping on things... like the start 8 thing.... not about money.... it's about emotions... You can't expect people to accept being jerked around like this....

I'm sure that there may be alternatives popping up soon and rivaling your features now....

Grand Master

Arceles

Posted
Posted

That's fine.... Many don't think they exist anymore... and thanks to people like you coming out and saying this... might help further thier need to improve and realize that if this is how people hear of stardock again... making a bad decision.... that ...will hurt them even further.

This is not just about 10 bucks... I have no problem at all paying for it....

It's about changing your mind and flip flopping on things... like the start 8 thing.... not about money.... it's about emotions... You can't expect people to accept being jerked around like this....

I'm sure that there may be alternatives popping up soon and rivaling your features now....

Fences is neat... but I've found far more useful this app:

http://xwidgetsoft.deviantart.com/art/XLaunchpad1-08-Mac-Launchpad-for-Win-2012-7-31-287497352

Grand Master

+InsaneNutter MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

Its a shame there is no free version any more, same with Start 8. However I can understand why this has been done.

I have used ObjectDock 1.90 since 2007 and it does everything i want. I have never felt the need to upgrade to the paid version. I can see that happening with Start 8 / Fences too, people are not going to pay if a free version exists that does everything the user wants.

At the end of the day nothing stops you from keeping the older free version, however if people want updates and new features i guess that person need to decide if its worth paying for a more updated version.

Fences is neat... but I've found far more useful this app:

http://xwidgetsoft.d...-7-31-287497352

I don't like desktop icons, however that does look pretty awesome! :)

Grand Master

spaceelf

Posted
Posted

Well, they are giving away Fallen Enchantress to a lot of people who bought Elemental before a certain date, so there is that. But I imagine the number of converts from Free to Pro was just not high enough to make the old system worthwhile.

You might get a direct answer though, since they're obviously around here.

Grand Master

+InsaneNutter MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

I couldn't honestly say having never looked at Stardocks books, as someone else mentioned you dont really hear about Stardock a lot, so who knows?

I agree i would like the apps to remain free, however at the end of the day i can understand why this is not the case.

Grand Master

spaceelf

Posted
Posted

I couldn't honestly say having never looked at Stardocks books, as someone else mentioned you dont really hear about Stardock a lot, so who knows?

I agree i would like the apps to remain free, however at the end of the day i can understand why this is not the case.

they have books?

Grand Master

HawkMan

Posted
Posted

Stardock makes enough with Windowblinds and thier games don't they? or have sales went down so they have to find new ways to keep profits up?

Good business practice, sell one app and spend thousands of man hours on other and give them away. I'm guessing you don't run a business ?

My guess why they decided to charge for fences is that noone bought the pro version, and thus that project ended up going very red in the budget. So something had to be done.

As for start 8. Personally I don't use it as I find it completely necessary replicating functions in win8 that already work better. But they actually did promise to keep it free. I suspect something of the same happened. The app got a lot more expensive tomake and maintain than they first expected, and economically, they had to charge for it.

Grand Master

remixedcat

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Well the portal thing prolly would have gotten people to buy the pro version alone.... so they should have just added that to the pro version...

Thing is they got rid of thier gateway drug... the thing that gets people hooked on them...

I was very close to buying start 8 BTW.... but after they did this.... that kinda makes me put that off till I find out more about the reasoning behind this....

Grand Master

remixedcat

Posted
  • Author
Posted

well stardock is in detroit area.... must be preparing for something... so they need some more money to help cope or bail out.. LOL.... that has to be the reason... LOL...

they need money for the zombie invasion... to get supplies..

mabye that's the best way to think about it.....

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Posts

    • Microsoft explains why PowerToys 0.100.0 is faster and slimmer, there are new features too

      By matthiew · Posted

      I just looked on my computer and there are settings and log files for utilities I have never even turned on!
    • O&O ShutUp10 3.1.1104

      By Copernic · Posted

      O&O ShutUp10 3.1.1104 by Razvan Serea O&O ShutUp10 offers a simple yet effective way to take control of your Windows privacy. It provides access to almost 50 privacy-related tweaks, most of them hidden or not easily accessible to the average computer users. Using a very simple interface, you decide how Windows 10/11 should respect your privacy by deciding which unwanted functions should be deactivated. Using ShutUp10 you can easily disable Windows Defender, turn off telemetry, disable peer-to-peer updates, turn off Wi-Fi Sense, disable automatic Windows updates, turn off and reset Cortana and more. ShutUp10 allows you to create a System Restore point before you apply any changes, so that you can revert your system at any time if you run into problems. O&O ShutUp10 is entirely free and does not have to be installed – it can be simply run directly and immediately on your PC. And it will not install or download retrospectively unwanted or unnecessary software, like so many other programs do these days! O&O ShutUp10 Free and Premium The latest version brings O&O ShutUp10 Premium, expanding the app’s long-standing privacy controls with automatic enforcement of user-defined settings. Instead of manually rechecking options after every Windows update, users can set their preferred privacy configuration once—or apply recommended settings in a single click—and the tool continuously monitors them in the background. If Windows 10 or 11 re-enables disabled features or introduces new data collection paths, Premium restores the chosen settings automatically without user intervention. The free version remains available and fully functional for manual adjustments, offering the same core privacy controls for Windows. However, the Premium tier is aimed at users who want long-term, hands-off protection, adding automatic reapplication after updates, ongoing monitoring, and optional notifications to ensure privacy settings remain consistent over time. O&O ShutUp10 3.1.1104 changelog: Added “Show Differences” button in the overview panel “Don’t show again” option for the restore point prompt Ctrl+F keyboard shortcut for search/filter functionality Detection and linking of system-wide and user-specific setting associations Automatic search while typing PREM: Option to preserve notification counters and timestamps across application restarts PREM: Reset blocked settings button in the Settings dialog PREM: Informational message when no settings are blocked PREM: Update check can also be triggered from the menu PREM: Notification deduplication and activity log summary feature Improved L005 “Disable Windows Location Service”: Version-specific split (up to Windows 11 23H2) and new variant for Windows 11 24H2+ L001 (Disable Location): Added Night Light warning to the description in all languages Search now detects setting IDs even when ID display is disabled and offers to enable it Detection and removal of Copilot/AI desktop apps in RecallTerminator Optimized High DPI support PREM: Reset button is now only enabled when blocked items exist – setting IDs are shown in the confirmation dialog PREM: Updated tray icons with higher-resolution versions PREM: Activity Log timestamps now use localized date and time formats PREM: Tray icon status now uses OK/Warning indicators and localized tooltips PREM: Recall folder detection switched to service-based detection PREM: Copilot uninstallation now provides UI feedback and improved verification Fixed Description text was not displayed correctly for the last item and disappeared when clicking the scrollbar Crash when clicking a search result heading or the […] button PREM: Installation path is now correctly preserved during upgrades PREM: Tray icon was not reliably removed when exiting the application PREM: Main window was not displayed correctly in single-instance mode PREM: Incorrect display of the & symbol in tray icon tooltips on Windows 10 PREM: Fixed notification flooding after sleep/standby PREM: Dashboard was not refreshed after applying recommended settings during onboarding PREM: Progress bar was not reset after deleting Recall folders PREM: Fixed service startup failures PREM: Fixed incorrect drift detection when Automatic Protection was disabled PREM: Notifications now correctly count all deviating settings when protection is enabled PREM: Registration Wizard was shown after sleep/standby despite a valid license Download: O&O ShutUp10 3.1.1104 | 76.4 MB (Freeware) Download: O&O ShutUp10 32-bit | ARM64 View: O&O ShutUp10 Home Page | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • New Site Moderation

      By +Edouard · Posted

      Fascinating...W h i t e P o w e r is now also asterisks out.  
    • New Site Moderation

      By +Edouard · Posted

      In the past few days I have noticed two odd moderation activities. First, when I posted the term 'White Nationist Christian' it was asterisk's out. When I changed it to **** it was allowed! Second, in the Politics is a ###business thread I was allowed to post that the GOP is a party of p e d ophiles but I was censored  when I posted the GOP are a party of p e d ophile protectors. Wtf Neowin. Please explain.
    • Latest Rufus update improves new Windows 11 install method

      By WITHOUT-ME · Posted

      send him paypal

  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      Vincian earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • First Post
      Jocimo earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      suprememobiles48 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Windows Guy earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Prasann earned a badge
      One Month Later

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      547
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      166
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      86
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      66
    5. 5
      neufuse
      65
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!