Opinionated techie Articles - Brought to you by JoeUser

The insecure CEO

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

Jeff Schader, the CEO of his home-based art contracting company "The Skins Factory" has decided to write about me (again). Historically, Jeff writes some of the most vile things, later realizes how it makes him look, and then deletes it. So to ensure he doesn't do that with this, I'm going to spend my lunch hour today responding to it with it fully quoted so that he can't do what he usually does and delete/hide his words when he later is shown to be wrong or nasty.

Here's wh...

FrogBlog: April 2008 (very late)

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

There's so much going on that I have no life. Life at Stardock is changing so rapidly. It was just a couple years ago that Stardock was an $8M company. This fiscal year ends on June 30th and it's looking like Stardock is going to break the $20M mark. If all goes well, we'll double that again next year once certain big projects get launched this Summer.

The skinning world I know and love continues to evolve. The "power user" market for skinning has pretty much peaked. That i...

Some thoughts on Hyperdesk

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

When it comes to skinning the OS, I'm a fanatic. I've been into changing the look and feel of the OS for nearly 15 years now. From Object Desktop on OS/2 to working on the very first GUI skinning program on Windows, skinning is a passion of mine.

Over the years, I've seen a lot of programs, companies, and ideas come and go. On the software side, there's been great programs like eFX and Chroma (to name two) along with the ubiquitous WindowBlinds. On the content side, there'...

Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor Info Guide

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor Info Guide By Brad Wardell
Designer and AI Developer

Title: Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor

Description:
Expansion pack to the award-winning PC strategy game, Galactic Civilizations II

Requires:
Galactic Civilizations II: Gold Edition or Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords + Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avata...

Discipline on the floor

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

There's something to be said about walking into a room and seeing that the 18 month old has thrown all the books on the floor making a big mess with the top most book being the book on discipline. I think she's sending a message.

Loud-mouthed CEOs

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

I have a lot of obnoxious opinions on a whole range of issues. But I never allow my personal opinions to be injected into software. Our customers are buying products and services from us. They don't want to be forced to deal with my diatribes.

But on-line is a different matter. If you're visiting my blog or reading one of the off-topic forum categories on one of our sites, something I write might pop up. I value my freedom to say what I want more than anything. I'd sooner close ...

Highlights of what's new in Twilight of the Arnor

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

New opening cut-scene of course...

Gamma Testing: Gameplay Example for Twilight

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

So here we go, we're in the final stages. Lots of features being tweaked. The computer AI has been enhanced. I will go so far as to say that it is about twice as intelligent as the last publicly available beta. If people find this AI unsatisfactory well, they can go write their own game.

So in my testing, I want to make sure that the AI personalities are doing a good job and just make sure all the new content is working right.

Setting up a custom civilization....

The existence of for-pay stuff doesn't hurt you

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

I read a news announcement about a new freeware program that does some cool stuff. I check it out and it is vastly superior to an existing freeware program. Yet when I read the comments, the new, superior freeware program is being flamed. Why? Because the guy making it also offers a for-pay version that has more features.

I check out the forums of a game I enjoy playing. Normally people are singing the praises of this game. Now, the forum is full of flaming and angst. Why? Because the devel...

Object Desktop 2008 Info Guide

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

Take Windows to the next level

A look at how to completely transform your Windows experience.

MyColors: The Public Launch

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

After a full year of effort, Stardock has officially launched MyColors to the general public.

Tempting fate

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

So the new bees have arrived. I got 4 packages of them today and my son and I installed them into their new homes. We were horribly inept while doing it as the picture shows (I'm reaching down to pick up the queen cage that I dropped).

Definitely not for the faint hearted.

The Team Up

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

There's me on the left and Chris Taylor on the right immediately following the signing of the Demigod publishing agreement.

JoeUser vs. ImpulseDriven

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

ImpulseDriven.net is an alternative virtual community site much like JoeUser.com. There is a lot of overlap between the two in terms of content but ImpulseDriven has more game and software categories and excludes the political and religious categories.

The two have considerably different UIs as well.

So which UI do you prefer?

a) JoeUser.com

or

b) ImpulseDriven.net

Korx vs. Thalan vs. Arcean vs. Korath vs. Humans

Draginol — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:10:23 -0400

Who would win if the human player stepped out of it.

Let's find out if the AI improvements are making a difference..

Early game: Gray = Korx. Orange = Arcean. Dark brown = Korath. Purple = Thalan. Blue = Humans

Year 2: Gray = Korx. Orange = Arcean. Dark brown = Korath. Purple = Thalan. Blue = Humans

Year 3: Gray = Korx. Orange = Arcean. Dark brown = Korath. Purple = Thalan. Blue = Humans

Planets: ...