Review of: |
| Connectix Corporation
has released two new programs that appeal to the artistic as well as the
functional in computer users. Both come with brief documentation and both
come on CD-ROM medium. The first, Desktop Designer, allows (encourages?)
a personalization of the desktop that many might want, but few would choose
if the learning curve is too steep or the results inefficient.
Both are also 1.0 releases and so it's important for the consumer to set realistic expectations. The installation was smooth and uneventful (as we hope all are, but so rarely experience) and took up 24 MB of hard drive space. (Although given the nature of programs and media files these days, the space is not excessive.) Soon, I was playing with screen savers, backgrounds, and other such settings as I have never done before. What made it easy was that the Desktop Designer "parks itself" as a choice in the "Display properties" of right-clicked screen. Further, the user can always return to the original settings, should the new ones become tiresome. One attractive feature of the background choices (whether the Golden Gate Bridge or a Jurassic Park scene) is that the scene changes to reflect the real-time changes occurring in the computer itself. For instance, as the day passes, the lighting changes and reflects the changing position of the sun giving different shadow effects. This reduces the likelihood of boredom from the same scene all the time. Nine themes are available with the typical installation and more are available from the CD. A feature that's very appealing is the large preview screen that gives a realistic (with various desktop icons atop the selected theme) preview. This is especially necessary with the complex color of the photo backgrounds and how well icons can be detected or not. With the San Francisco theme the cursor changes variously from the Transamerica Building (as a pointer) to an undulating Golden Gate Bridge or a bouncing trolley car (while in the wait stage). It certainly reduces the likelihood of boredom. Desktop Designer 1.0 is a worthy program and at $28.95 seems to be a good value. I suspect that most folks who buy the program will be quite satisfied with its performance, pleased with the added variety to their computing environment, and delighted that these were achieved with little effort. Desktop Designer 1.0 requires Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0, Connectix can be reached in various ways: WWW: http://www.connectix.com/; E-mail: sewsupp@connectix.com; Fax: (650) 571-5195; Phone: (650) 571-5100 or (800) 950-5880.
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